I am always willing to try something new, and this year we planted our very first winter garden! We had moved our garden boxes (again) to a new, permanent location. I didn’t want to leave them bare over the winter, so I decided to try my hand at a winter garden. We planted the garden back in mid-October and it’s doing quite well.
Our new garden location consists of only four garden boxes, a huge downgrade from our massive raised bed garden that took up half the yard. The children needed more room to play and I got too busy to tend to a garden of that size. At least for our winter garden ,four boxes seem to be enough.
In our first garden box, we have assorted salad greens. My favorite part of a spring garden is the fresh lettuce, so I was most excited to have lettuce again in my winter garden. We have had a couple of warm days since October which caused some of the green lettuce in the back to bolt, but other than that the lettuce is growing beautifully and is a delicious treat.
In our second garden box, we planted bok choy. I use this in stir fries or sauté it by itself with some ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and soy sauce, usually when I don’t have a vegetable side planned for dinner. It is nice to be able to go out into the garden and have it ready to eat in minutes. You may notice that I have some re-growing where I cut it. It’s the gift that keeps on giving! We have had some caterpillars enjoying our bok choy as well, so I’ll have to think of something to stop them next year. I prefer to avoid using pesticides, so if you have any natural remedies, do share!
“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” -Genesis 1:29 (KJV)
Our last two garden boxes contain broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and celery. We haven’t had anything to harvest from them yet, but they are still growing. Broccoli normally does well for me. I have only planted cabbage one other time in the spring and it got all eaten up by pests, so I am hopeful the cabbage grown in the winter garden will have more success. This is my very first time growing celery. It’s still very low to the ground, so I don’t really know if it’ll grow or not. I had wanted to plant kale instead, but our garden center was out, and I figured since I use celery in most of my soup recipes, it’d be nice to always have it on hand.
That’s it as far as what vegetables are growing this time of year. I have decided that this will be an annual garden, as this first year is doing so well. I also planted these pansies to add some beautiful color to the garden. They’re on both sides of the arbor.
Lastly, look at these blueberry bushes! I love the beautiful red color in winter, as it continues to add some interest at the back of the garden.
I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our Winter Garden. Come back soon!
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