The Winter Garden

The winter garden is growning quite well.  We spent the better part of October tearing up the old garden beds and putting in the six - new square foot garden 4 x 4 beds.  The first bed on the left, I discovered does not get enough sun currently, so I've rolled some extra chicken wire over it to keep the cats and squirrels out and will plant in it when the curvature of the sun changes.


The bed in front on the right, is full of broccoli and brussel sprouts.  The broccoli is just now forming tiny baby heads.  It will be interesting to see how fast they form.  I have three box covers made out of chicken wire and 2"x 2"x 4' squares.  These are currently covering 2 boxes on the left and 1 box on the right as these do not have all of the squares in use and I wanted to keep 4 legged critters out.


The middle box on the right is boasting healthy squares of radishes, romaine lettuce, parsley, swiss chard and kale which I am harvesting regularly.  Behind the kale and swiss chard is an ailing chive plant which I plan to move to some empty space between the kale and radishes.  Everything has gotten too tall and the chive plant is not happy.


I can happily say that the garlic, kolirabi, and onion sets are all doing quite well.  The kolirabi is beginning to form the bulb which gives the plant the nickname of cabbage turnip.


In a few weeks I will be sewing together some Tater Totes: Potato Grow Bags.  Here in southeast Texas the chart I'm following says I can plant potatoes between the middle of January and the middle of February.    I remember my great Uncle Arthur growing potatoes in straw and this seems to work on a similar principle.  I got my idea for making grow bags from the following website:  http://www.instructables.com/id/Tater-Totes-Potato-grow-bags/  This will be a grand experiement, as I have read that potatoes in the grocery store are coated in a lot of pesticide residue.