It's a New Year in the Garden

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January In The Garden

This month has been one for Jack Frost. There's been mostly mild weather this winter but January brought in frigid, negative temperatures. My heart is also a bit heavy after the sad loss of one of my favorite hens last week. Nevertheless, time keeps moving on. 

I've begun taking down the holiday decorations inside the greenhouse. It was fun to have a new space for decorating this year. I especially loved having this galvanized nativity scene on a shelf below the window. Pretty soon there will be seed trays filling that space.

Greenhouse Struggles

One unfortunate struggle of these freezing temperatures has been keeping the greenhouse warm. I have an oil filled radiant space heater that was doing a great job keeping the space warm enough, but it was no match for the arctic blast. My once beautiful Supersweet 100 tomato plant that was filled with cherry tomatoes is now a sad mess of dead foliage. 

I don't anticipate there being another stretch of such cold weather, but I'm definitely going to have to retool the space with more insulation if I want to overwinter things again next year. One option would have been to move everything inside, but I think sometimes it's good to experience push the limits and test to see what works even if you suffer some loss in the meantime. The garden is a good, low stakes center for that sort of experimentation. 

Winter Garden Prep

Although I was a bit late, I did finally get around to my last bit of winter garden prep before the arctic blast. The strawberries were covered with, what else, straw. While not totally necessary, I prefer having them insulated in extreme temperatures. When the weather start to warm again, we will pull the straw away and use it to mulch the path around the raised beds. 

We also took steps to protect the newly planted blueberry bushes from any critters looking for a little nibble by wrapping them with a bit of garden fence. In years past, I've found that the rabbits especially appreciate the new growth and they nearly decimated a few of my previously planted blueberries.

Spring in the Stores

The magazine rack in stores is full of garden inspiration right now and makes me excited for spring weather. I didn't pick up any of the magazines in the photo, but the greenhouse pictured is just the coziest little scene with a backdrop of snow.

I was happily surprised to find spring bulb planters at the grocery. They smelled of blue skies and sunshine. Is there anything sweeter than the scent of a hyacinth in the middle of winter?

Happy growing, friends! Stay warm!

~Nicole