Monday, January 26, 2015

Winter Greenhouse...Cold Weather Crop

We had the longest summer last year. I thought it would never end. I absolutely loved it! I just couldn't imagine the warm sunny days were ever going to end. It was the end of October and I was still in shorts and tees harvesting and playing in the square foot garden.
I just didn't have a good concept of time and season! I was mesmerized by the gentle warm breeze and sun on my shoulders. I was hypnotized into an altered state of consciousness that made me believe there was only one long season. Summer.
Unrealistically I decided to plant some cool weather crops. Lettuce, spinach, turnips and a few carrot seeds. I lovingly tended the very tiny sprouts pushing through the warm soft dirt. They were tender and trusting and believed in my endless summer.
All of the sudden, literally overnight, a cold spell was headed our way. I was dazed by this news. I was still wrapped in my warm summery cocoon and unwilling to leave it.
I couldn't bear the thought of my sweet mini sprouts freezing in the overnight lows. I should have planted them a month earlier and given them a fighting chance! In a panic I recruited Hubs. I told him I couldn't stand by while these little green specks in the dirt froze to death! We had little time and less planning. Hubs rooted through the garage and wood pile to see what he could come up with. The design was less than perfect. The materials recycled and thrown together. But...the little greenies would be covered from the cold and wind...


Really...it was an experiment. A science project. The cold and wind settled in. We gave the little sprouts a nice drink of water, covered them in their plastic bubble and crossed our fingers. We didn't open it up for fear the cold weather would seep in. I remembered a long forgotten school project where I had to build a terrarium. I hoped it would rain inside this enclosure...but, I had no idea if it would work. Two and a half months later I realized it might actually be working.


The inside of the plastic is full of moisture...I waited for an unseasonably warm day before peeking in. I didn't get my hopes up. (yes I did)
It is concerning that it is the end of January and the weather is once again unseasonably warm. We had a week or two of snow in December and a terrible wind storm that dropped the temps below zero and howled past our windows at 80 miles per hour. Oddly, it has now been in the 50's Fahrenheit for most of January.  And so, I peeled back the heavy plastic and hoped for a miracle.



Miracles happen regularly in gardening. Although it isn't a huge harvest, I have fresh baby spinach and turnips and a bit of lettuce. I'm grateful. I'm happy. I'm thrilled to have garden to table produce for at least a couple of weeks. I don't see any sign of those carrots, but who knows?...Miracles happen in gardening and I'm not ruling anything out yet.


I took enough sweet spinach to my girl's house for monthly pizza night. They made an amazing spinach and pumpkin seed pesto for some of the pizzas. (I love my kids...)
I harvested another bowl full of blessed spinach and we enjoyed a lovely organic homegrown salad for dinner tonight. Soon I will make some sort of turnip soup. It's not much, but it is a glimmer of things to come.
Gardening is a miracle. It feeds the soul as much as it feeds the belly. Bonus...it's FUN!
P.S. Next year we plan to make a proper hoop house...I will be more prepared...unless that endless summer puts me in a coma again...

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