The Vegetable Garden in January

What can I say really? It’s January and my vegetable garden is awfully sad. The winter air has been colder than Tennessee cold should be.  If I were by myself I might be brave enough to get outdoors but bringing my almost 7 month old son outdoors during the day really isn’t an option. He’ll get his fill of gardening for sure but not in 30 degree weather. Needless to say many projects that I would love to have tackled already are going to require some patience.

Take for instance the tomato beds from 2010:

Here’s how they appeared last June.

And now here they are in desperate need of cleanup. Quite the change isn’t it?

Or one of my small raised beds in desperate need to henbit eradication.

One project I really want to get going is the vegetable garden remodel, maybe I can in February. You can see some of the stone ready to go for the center circle bed. I really can’t wait to get out there and start moving dirt!

There isn’t much to show in the garden right now. Some garlic, some strawberries, and some cilantro. One of these days I’ll get around to building that hoop house to keep year round spinach. Maybe in 2011?

A little cleanup, a little remodeling and a little weeding – I just wish I could get outdoors! 

Please – NO MORE SNOW!

6 thoughts on “The Vegetable Garden in January”

  1. Dave,

    I turned a garden box into a hoop house. I spent an hour, $18 and I had the plastic already. Eating mustard greens, kale and lettuce every night these days. Better make one next year so you won't be so sad this time again next year.

  2. We've got a great crop of snow around here, it's been nice and cold with snow on the ground since the first of Dec. I'm happy as this does a fab job of protecting the perennials, they always do better after a snowy winter.

    I do have some spinach/mache/arugula/celery under plastic in a few raised beds. They're waiting until Feb to start growing for my salad plate.

    Cheers, hope your weather warms so you can get out soon. Real Vitamin D sure is good for the gardner's soul!

  3. I'm with you 100% on "no more snow" Dave!! We've got about a foot or more that's been here since early December of last year, and since it stays so cold here during the winter months, most of that hasn't melted, and won't even begin to melt till around March!

    I left My Old Kentucky Home in 1988 and have never adjusted to these dreadful and dreary cold and snowy northeastern winters!

    COME ON SPRING!! (And my new book "Through the Seasons with The Write Gardener.")

  4. Randy,

    You're right I need to get on it! I have the plastic just need the pvc.

    Susy.

    That real vitamin D is in rare supply this time of year! Although they are talking of a nice Saturday!

    Meemsnyc,

    This snow just keeps on coming – I'll predict next weeks weather – cold and snowy!

    TC,

    I'd be tempted to move back in a more southerly direction! I remember the winters when we lived in PA lots of white stuff. I definitely enjoy the milder winters of the mid-south!

  5. The calendar still says WINTER… gotta embrace it Dave, and be thankful for the moisture it brings. Without it in my gardens, they'd be rationing water next summer in our state.

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