quick winter recap

Well it turns out, I did not do a good job of posting over the winter, so here is the brief recap.  Planted a six pack of "green fingers" broccoli with good success.  Next year hope to double / triple that amount and try some different varieties.  Also planted a couple of packets of "mesclun" salad greens and they did well, as did some arugula seeds from a friend.  I will load up the winter garden with these next year.  Experimented with bok choy and that took a while to get going, but then did well.  On the failure side, I still cannot figure out the mystery of the brussel spout.  Maybe, I am starting them too late in the year, they were all still very small, when it is time to get ready for spring.  I almost forgot, I planted some sweet onions (I think they were sweet or 1015, I can't remember which variety.  Hence the blog, I am supposed to be keeping) with moderate success.  They have not gotten really big to date, but they are very tasty.  I pulled out about half of the onions (I need tomato real estate!) and will let the other half keep going.

Some of the broccoli, bok choy, and lettuce mix went to flower / seed.  Most was a beautiful yellow flower that the bees are obsessed with when the weather is nice.  The arugula has an interesting white flower, that doesn't really seem to interest the bee community, I will take a photo of some that is left in the garden for next time.

I also planted some turnips from seed (sparkler variety) and did finally get a couple.  I planted another round during this early spring to see if I can get some more.  Swiss chard was also another failure this winter.  I planted it from seed, but something always eats it before it gets large enough to harvest.  I have moved it to a few different areas in the yard with the same results. I might just purchase full grown chard from the nursery next year and see if that will deter my caterpillar friends.

It has been a strange winter with lots of rain and cold temps, but no major freeze.  I will post the early spring recap next time, complete with neighborhood cats and nematodes....but, for now, I am day dreaming of a garden full of tomatoes, squash, beans, and okra.....

Temps in STX today are 57 / 76.