It has been months since I mentioned the winter garden hasn’t it? That probably has something to do with the fact that, at least here, a winter garden is a hands-off process. I don’t have to water the garden as it either rains or dew it sufficient to keep the plants happy, I don’t have to tend to the plants very often seeing as their not giant bushes overwhelming nearby plants (like zucchini and tomatoes.) We planted it and promptly forgot about it until we need something like spinach, bok choy, or celery.
Oh, there was one pest… one that has somehow managed to survive the below freezing temperatures:
Beer traps don’t seem to work as well in the winter and either did nightly pick-ups. We finally broke down and picked up some iron pellets which make them stop eating, but that doesn’t put an end to the breeding these pests do. Who know slugs were so big on sex? The only real victim of the slugs has been the lettuce and cauliflower. Their leaves have been chewed all up and slug slime covers what is left, which means what cauliflower I have is tiny and, so far, inedible.
So far we’ve eaten spinach, bok choy, celery, arugula, and some lettuce from the garden. The carrots are still too small as are the onions. Despite the lack of lettuce I’m still calling this season’s garden a success
Success is right! Come spring many of those plants will liven up This is my worst winter yet for pests. Some kind of freeze-proof caterpillar of, ultimately, huge size showed up for the first time and decimated @ 50 plants. Damage has stopped, so I guess it morphed to coccoons. The slugs and snails are up at midnight or when raining. I snip them in half with pruning shears. That way they suffer briefly–I hope–and I don’t have to touch them.