February, 2012, Extended 2011 Fall and Overwintered/Spring Garden!

We have had the mildest winter I can remember since returning to the Pacific NW about ten years ago.  The good? Nothing died, really.  The bad?  Lots of stuff grew little heads or small leaves and then bolted.  Darn it!

Soooooo, I kept telling myself not to do it, but I broke down and ran to the local Fred's and bought myself too many starts...with the exception of the garlic and onions--the squirrels pretty much dug up ALL my garlic in the fall (I think I counted only about four shoots coming up--I planted around 60).  So, 6 nice-sized transplants is welcomed.  In addition, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong with the onions the past few years, so yet again, I bought myself a back-up 6-pack.

Here's how everything looks today:

I just put the plastic back on the little hoops last weekend, February 19, 2012.  I pulled tons of bolting stuff out and planted my transplants (see below).  And look at that broccoli!  It grew ALL winter--that's how mild it's been here.  Several of my broccoli plants intended for fall just didn't quite grow but then took off around January.  Incredibly weird if you ask me....

Teeny cauliflower!

Teeny broccoli!

Overwintered beets, kale, swiss chard and radishes.  They're looking fantastic!!

The newly planted bed on Feb 19th--I left the Georgia Collards (they've been growing since mid-summer, 2011), overwintered celery, some of the kale and swiss chard, some broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.  Then, I planted transplants of pak choi, lacinto kale and cauliflower. In a bucket, I planted the 6 garlic.  In the blue potato bin I placed a bunch of my fall-grown potatoes!! This made me so happy!!

I just harvested this stuff on Feb 19, 2012--kale, broccoli, radishes and celery.  LOVE it!!

Never too late? I'm going to post some pics from this past summer, 2011!

I really did have the best of intentions--I was going to be a superstar youtuber AND blogger, detailing every aspect of my 2011 garden...I have hundreds of pics of my garden and yet I've posted nothing since June! So incredibly wrong!  Isn't that how it always goes?

So here we are at the end of February, 2012.  I want to take this time (it's cold and rainy out, I'm sick, what the heck?) to post a few highlights from the past 8 (yikes!) months or so:

JUNE, 2011

JULY, 2011

After all that time, this is what I got.  I am not growing carrots again!!

This was a transplant I put out in mid-June.  I actually grew two heads of cauliflower this year!! Woohoo!

My sick black baby and his brother, enjoying the good life.  Ed, the jet black cat, had kidney failure.  He always wanted to be an outdoor cat, so we put up the very flimsy garden fencing and let 'em at it.  It really was the best. summer. ever.  Amazingly, neither of the boys tried to escape! Old age, I guess...

This is a great way to save your scallions.  Just cut them up and freeze in a freezer bag.  They're absolutely fine, delicious and I can't even tell they're frozen when I throw them in salads.  The other stuff is dehydrated zucchini chips and pulp crackers.  :) Yummy!!

One of my many harvests. :)  Of course, I tried to arrange everything so it looked like more was there than there really was...

Another first--successfully growing an artichoke!! Yes, it was TEENY, but still.  Really fun.  

I had such high hopes for this Jack O'Lantern.  I think it topped out at around 2 pounds!! 

Ah, homegrown catnip...

The spring organic potatoes, some of which I used to plant another fall crop.  

Fall and winter seeds!! 

One of my biggest red onions.  I clearly need to read up on which ones to grow out here and when to get them in the ground.  This was HUGE compared to most of them...

AUGUST, 2011

Fall potatoes!! I've learned my lesson--always plant these things in a separate container.  I think I'll be surprised by volunteer potatoes in my raised bed for years to come...

Okay, I'm going to break this post up into another one (for the fall pics)!!

Fall, 2011, Garden!

So here continues my quest to get my pictures uploaded.

SEPTEMBER, 2011

The only cabbage I've ever successfully grown! Why is that stuff so hard to grow?!

Fall veggies-mostly started from seed.  Broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas (bush-which I don't really like. I prefer pole), cabbage, collards, kale, swiss chard, celery, lettuce.  Interestingly, it didn't really grow much during the fall.  Again, not sure why?  The fall weather seemed to be much milder than our very cold and wet spring.  Hmmmm... 

That is the SAME broccoli I transplanted in April, 2011.  I think this is round 3 or 4 of new shoots with their own heads! It was absolutely nuts.  Wish I could remember where I bought it...

Cabbage, brussels, broccoli, cauliflower, swiss chard, celery, kale and lettuce-all from seed for fall pickings.  Like with the other bed, things grew funky in here.  I got a beautiful cabbage, most of the lettuce, a few chards and one broccoli.  Everything else just didn't take off--oh, except for the celery.  After a loooong period, it started going I think in mid-November!! 

100% homegrown salad! (Well, minus the olive oil, salt and pepper).

OCTOBER, 2011

These are seedlings I intended for overwintering--radishes, beets, swiss chard and kale.  They did exceptionally well!!  But, we did have an extremely mild winter...

My last harvest--I think it was 10-31-11.  I just planted some of those organic potatoes last weekend!

The stuff I grew for overwintering and spring growing--unfortunately, it was so mild that some of the stuff barely grew but has already started bolting (like the broccoli and cauliflower).  Other stuff in there:  radishes, brussels, cabbage, leeks, spinach, lettuce, kale, celery, beets, and last summer's parsley (I couldn't pull it out).

My beloved Ed. RIP to the greatest cat in the universe!!