Getting The Gardens Ready For Winter
Although it’s not here yet, we know that winter is on its way and that means it’s probably past the time when we should have pulled the gardens and moved everything indoors. I was very happy to have Jonny home for the weekend to do most of this while I lesson planned and stressed over resume writing. We didn’t get everything done but I feel that we’re much better prepared for when the snow they are starting to predict actually happens.
After my run on Saturday, I helped pull up our last vegetable – kale – so that the beds could be turned over. It didn’t look like much when it was out in the garden, but the plants were huge once we cut them.
We gave away half and still have a kitchen garbage bag of the stuff sitting in the fridge. For the next week all we’re eating is kale! Tonight’s dinner was one of our favourites – Italian Wedding Soup – but for the rest of the week I’ll be trying out four new kale recipes.
Once the kale was out of the gardens I pulled up the rest of the plants, and Jonny planted a few cloves of garlic from our CSA. We’ve never grown it before, but we’ll see what happens in the spring. With the patio furniture moved indoors, and the beds cleared out all we’ve got to do is cover a few plants and rake the leaves and we’re ready until next year.
It’s been a great first year with our gardens and while I’m happy with a little break, I’m already looking forward to starting next year’s crops. We’ll be doing a lot of the same stuff but hopefully only better, and then trying a few new things as well. In the new year I’ll share my plans for next year’s garden once I’ve sorted through my gardening notes and made some decisions (like where would I grow spinach?).
