Monday, October 29, 2012

Grow Op


It's always been my dream to have a vegetable garden year round. I read about winter hardy vegetables but I wasn't sure how any plants could endure the rainy, cold Vancouver winters. My summer garden was pitiful. My greens and beans did well but every thing else came up as spindly little plants with little  produce. I couldn't even grow zucchinis! I also became lazy with the watering... but I'm sure it was a bad season in general ; ) 

When I get an idea in mind I usually go full force or drop it quickly. After some more reading I decided that a winter garden would be worth a try. I took the boys to the local nursery in a stroller, prodded Levi out of his seat so I could wheel home a huge bag of fertilizer and picked up a variety of vegetables (spinach, radishes, mixed greens, chard and kale). The boys went to visit their grandparents because I had been feeling overwhelmed (which never happens) and I took advantage of the time to weed and seed. I wanted to protect my vegetables from the cold so my handy husband built me two cloche covers with piping and plastic drop sheets. He found every thing at Home Depot for a fraction of the price that a cloche kit costs. 

Despite my neighbour's dog digging a hole in one of the beds, seedlings began to pop up after a few days. 


We had to get our cloche up quickly because the first frost was approaching. It isn't pretty but it serve's it's purpose.
Do you plant winter vegetables? Tell me what grows well!

2 comments:

  1. You've got lots of goodies to look forward to! I planted red cabbage (yummy braised and with goat cheese!!) and black kale (for my salads and shakes) growing in our backyard. This is my first year attempting winter veggies too! I was too late for leeks, which I was excited about... next year, I guess.

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  2. Rosa, braised cabbage with goat cheese sounds so good! Good look growing!

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