December in the PNW

After being away for over two weeks I am back in my garden trying to check on the few fall crops left.
On my porch (partially closed in so it does protect from excess rain and harsh winds) I find the Parris Island Romaine, Bronzeleaf and Drunken Woman Frizzy Head lettuces and Swiss Chard gamely hanging in there. The radishes planted on Nov 14 sprouted but still have just the first two seed leaves.
In the garden, my deer netting came loose while we were gone and guess who came to visit? I am down to four broccoli plants and two red cauliflower. Before the deer chomped their way thru the brassicas, I had battled cabbage worms and my plants were still recovering from the attack when I left in mid-November. Now, there are two tiny, tiny red cauliflower heads and two tiny broccoli heads.
My existing garden is set up according to Mel's first book, so I am still pulling weeds to clean up and prepare the rest of the garden.
The fall asparagus crowns arrived just before we left and so were not planted then and the Egyptian Walking onions, Garlic and Shallot bulbs still have to go in the ground.
November had been fairly mild with just two frosts, but the ground here on the Southern Oregon Coast rarely freezes, so hopefully I can get them planted soon and they will still have a chance to get established.
Three table top 4X4s are currently under construction, which had been halted due to missing (make that mislaid) materials. All of the ingredients for the Mels Mix is safely stored and ready to mix as soon as the table top construction is completed. I will be one happy lady when these are ready.
Anyone else in the PNW still active in their SFG?

Home!!!

Furbalsmom wrote:...Anyone else in the PNW still active in their SFG?

Yep, I still go out looking for weeds, but I haven't seen any in a month! I over-winter my carrots and beets in the ground, so I'm out there every week. The cold snap right before Thanksgiving froze my broccoli solid as a rock. I used pruning shears to cut the heads off, and then put them pre-frozen into the freezer. We steamed them on Turkey Day, and they were quite good-crisp and flavorful.

This is the first year I've tried late season broccoli, and I'm disappointed. I planted the first week of August; harvested the third week of November; approx. 105 days. 10 plants yielded enough to serve 6 people. Next year I'll try planting a month earlier, I guess.

The last of my Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed lettuce got wiped out in the freeze, too. Hopefully I didn't plant my onions and garlic too early. So I guess I'm officially done.

I've received some seed catalogs which always help me to start leaving this year behind and to start daydreaming about next year. Next year is gonna be soooooo good!

Furbalsmom wrote:

boffer wrote:Next year is gonna be soooooo good!

+1

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