Sunday, January 4, 2009

This year . . .



Ah, time for garden resolutions.  Do any of these sound familiar?  This year:  I'll cover any tender plants still in the winter garden before the big freeze.   I'll plant the early spring garden in time.  I'll watch the hives more carefully and manage the bees more skillfully.  I won't say yes to more baby spring chicks.  I'll get soil tests for all my garden spots.  I'll have a long term plan before I start planting anything.  I won't say yes to more baby spring chicks.  I'll install the block walkway to and patio around the garden beds.  I'll plant the late spring garden in time.  I won't plant too many tomato plants.  I'll keep the new spring chicks out of the new spring garden . . .

Still lots of goodies in the garden, as you can see.  Everything is still much smaller than it should be due to the chicken induced, very late final planting, but we are getting enough lettuce and greens, broccoli, and carrots to have something from the garden every day.  I imagine that our final garden harvest weight count would be increased by at least 25 pounds with a proper fall garden, as that is one of the times when our gardens here really shine.  I stopped measuring harvest weights on new year's day, but  I'll add up the final harvest numbers and post them in the top right block on the blog later today.

This year I will eat things from the yard without having to bring them in and weigh them first!  I will, however, try to include photos of garden produce, eggs, and honey being prepared for the table.  They won't always be glamorous.  Take this photo of mixed russian and curled kale sauteed with olive oil and garlic; Frank said he wasn't all that excited about it when he saw it, but then found it was exceptional when he gave it a taste.  I'm finding that greens cut into ribbons and sauteed are much faster and have a very different taste than steamed greens.

It will be a very good year.  (Do you know how cute tiny baby chicks are????)