Two Feet in the Dirt

While we have had a few series of bone-chilling days, for the most part this winter has been milder than mild. As I mentioned, I left both carrots and spinach in the ground. Normally, it’s to be expected that the greens of both these plants will die off over the winter. With the spinach, the goal is for it to remain dormant through the cold winter days and then re-grow its tasty leaves as temperatures begin to warm in the spring. However, with temperatures regularly hitting the 50s over the last month, instead of waiting for spring I was able to get a sizable harvest of fresh spinach just yesterday. This is a lovely winter treat that we were not expecting!

Overall, the biggest work of winter is planning for the season to come. Last week, I mapped out what we will plant when and then moved on to the even more enjoyable task of choosing which seeds to order! It’s always fun to look through the seed catalogues that arrive like clockwork every December and January and see what new or unique varieties are out there. While I’m mostly sticking with tried-and-true options like Dancer eggplant and Carmen peppers, I’m also looking forward to mixing it up a little with some new varieties of heirloom and Roma tomatoes.