It has been about a month since we put in the winter garden and things are finally starting to grow, as you can see. The bok choy and lettuce are coming in the fastest but everything seems to be moving along nicely. So far, the biggest problem has been slugs, much more so now than they were in the summer. I’ll be putting in new, and perhaps additional, beer traps but am considering using coffee grounds as well. The acidity of the grounds prevents the slugs from crawling over them, it can also burn your plants too though. I suppose I could purchase a pesticide of some sort but we’re trying for an organic garden and I don’t want to see it come to that.
D thinks we can start harvesting lettuce from the garden now… I still think the heads are a little too small and Id like to give them a few more weeks. The arugula and carrots both seem to be doing fine. We didn’t lose much seed to birds or other granivores and it looks as if we’ll have plenty of both by harvest time:
I didn’t take any pictures of the celery or onions but they seem to be doing fine, especially because it appears the slugs are uninterested in them. Not enough leafy greens I suppose. The only other plant we have growing is cauliflower and while they seem to be doing fine they’re a long way off from harvesting. Seeing as they have to flower first and then be germinated and then… Well, you (should) know how plant sex works.
In general, despite the pest problem, the winter garden seems to be progressing well. As long as these plants don’t stall on us like the tomatoes and zucchini did in the summer garden and we don’t have a cold snap this season should be a success!
watch out for the arugula, that thing can grow like a weed and take over. Looks awesome, tho.