Garden Friday

 We're back with Garden Friday, y'all

on this day after Thanksgiving.

The color is wild in these parts,

and will most likely get even more dramatic as autumn lingers.

 The lemongrass experiment has begun.

I snipped off the stalks on the larger of the two plants,

and left the smaller one uncovered to see how it fares over the winter.

Lemongrass popsicles, anyone?

What a sad sight to see the tithonia plants absolutely done for.

This Mexican sunflower did well into the beginning of fall,

but the freezing temperatures and almost daily frost did it in.

We'll be sure to get a head start resowing these in the early spring.

Amazingly, the parsley has sailed through the cold snaps

without being covered or pampered in any way.

This kitchen staple is one of the easiest herbs to grow,

and can be used in so many dishes.

Since I don't care for cilantro, parsley stands in nicely.

 How can you not love a crop that takes absolutely no care?

The garlic and shallots are oblivious to the cold and frost.

They will remain in place until mid-May

when we harvest our goodies.

Without much growing out there,

it is thrilling to see the broccoli thriving.

Being planted in containers allows me to keep it well insulated

with mulch or straw.

It would be easy enough to create a cover for each container

utilizing sheets and dowels, should the need arise.

For now, I'm just letting them enjoy the elements.

The carrots are bustin' out of the tub.

Instead of thinning these out,

I'm trying to let them grow close together,

and will just harvest the larger veg to make more room for the little guys.

We'll see how that works out.

The peas still look good,

even though I stopped covering them.

I don't think anything will come of them,

as there are no flowers to be found,

but I just want to see how long it takes before the cold affects the crop.

These will be planted in earnest in the early spring.

Love me some sugar snaps!

 For the first time, I'm growing a cover crop.

Sow True has a variety of cover crops

and I decided on this "Cover and Color Mix" type.

Five raised row beds were created in the veggie garden for just this purpose.

I showed the process here.

The cover crops were directly sown on top of the beds,

then covered with mulch.

Never having done this before,

I simply emptied out the bag of seed onto all five rows.

The whole kit-n-kaboodle was covered with straw.

The cover crop is supposed to grow right out of the straw

and can be cut down a few times in the early spring.

The remnants feed the soil and balance out the nutrients in the bed.

When it comes time to sow spring veggies,

seeds can be directly sown right through the cover crop.

You can read more about the method here.

Enjoy your weekend y'all!

Keep the gratitude goin'!