Tinkering in the Vegetable Garden

With mild weather the last few weeks we’ve been trying to get caught up in the vegetable garden with weeding and planting. Winter offers a good opportunity to grow a variety of vegetables, particularly herbs and leafy greens. Chris transplanted several dill plants that had self seeded throughout the vegetable beds in an effort to make room for planting onions and other crops.

Chickweed had thrived in both the vegetable and flower gardens already this winter. I’ve been pulling tons of it, and yes, I know it is edible. I just haven’t gotten around to trying it, yet.

We’re a little late in getting our onions in this year, at least for us. My brother who lives in DFW doesn’t put his in until, I think, February. Our onion growing has always been pretty successful around here so I don’t think we’ll have any problems with getting them in later this year.

Most of the greens I planted back in early October are thriving. A few need to get a little bigger before I begin harvesting, but some are almost big enough to start harvesting and eating.

I planted two kinds of parsley and was a little unsure of how they would do as both seeds seemed to take their time in germinating.

I am definitely looking forward to kale salads soon. I love massaging it with some vinegar and olive oil as well as a healthy dose of salt. So good!

In addition to the parsley I planted, I also planted two types of cilantro. I know a lot of people down south try to grow cilantro in the summer and always get discouraged when it blooms (bolts) and I’m constantly having to tell them that it is a winter crop, not spring or summer. It takes some getting used to, knowing that our seasons are different than northern climates!

The mini-gardener likes being out of his stroller these days.

Lastly, on Christmas Eve we planted the sugar snap and snow peas. We managed to get Forest to put two peas in some holes we poked for him, so he’s officially growing his very first plants!

As I type this, on Sunday afternoon—readying this for later in the week when you will be reading it—, it is beginning to rain and soon the cold front that has brought blizzard and snowy conditions to far west Texas and the panhandle as well as tornadoes to DFW, will be blowing through shortly. Our mild temperatures will drop back down to a more seasonally appropriate temperature, which makes me a little bit sad. I really love wearing shorts in December!