The impatient gardener

I had never heard of winter gardening (other than winter wheat) when a friend announced just before Thanksgiving that he had planted a bunch of garlic. So not to be outdone, I scrounged around and found a roadside stand still open that had garlic (of unknown provenance). I bought me a bulb and planted all the cloves, large and small, on November 28. A month later, (Dec 21) with the outside temp 60F in my corner of New Jersey, I planted in the same square a row of spinach (Bloomsdale) and Lettuce (Grand Rapids). I protected the square with translucent painters' plastic laid on the ground. (Too busy, too lazy to build a proper dome.) Well, much to my surprise, the garlic flourished, despite being buried under 2 inches of sheet ice from time to time. Not so the spinach and lettuce - nothing happened for weeks- except that today (1/27/2012) I took a close look after emptying the water off the plastic, and lo and behold my salad had sprouted.

The moral of this little tale is that Yes, Virginia, there is a garden to be had in winter. The seeds will sprout when they are ready.

Of course, now I need to build a dome to protect what I have from the last couple of frosts, March blizzards, and the like.

Can't wait to start making dirt!

Very cool!

How thrilling for you.

I think that's what Wintersowing, that is now becoming popular, is all about. Sow the seeds and let Mother Nature handle it.

That's great! But I thought you were supposed to plant garlic in the winter anyway? Of course I really don't know much about it, to be honest! I did set up a cold frame before it got too cold and, like you, planted some cold loving seeds. Some lettuce, some radishes. I even planted some beets. I managed to harvest the lettuce right after a super hard frost, which froze the plants solid, so I used it like I would have frozen spinach, lol!

I got really impatient for spring today though, and planted some lettuce seeds in a cute little bowl! I'm really excited to see how they'll grow inside.

I have onions,shallots,and garlic that never stopped growing this year.Green and big still.We've really had a mild winter this year.