They Just Won't Die

We have finally experienced the thaw from the Winter Storm of 2017!

Just last week this is what we had in our back yard...

I didn't have much perspective of how deep the snow was on this particular day - I know it was more than 6 inches. I was sure that the plants underneath were done. My husband reported to me that the plants were doing surprisingly well. This, of course, is something that I need to see with my own eyes. It will be hard for me to give an accurate assesement of the status of my now winter crops. An update will come this weekend.

The hoop house had a bit of accumulation in front of it. Both photos were taken on the same day.

I wasn't sure that the Hoop House seedlings that I have been essentially neglecting for weeks survived either. Check this out though...

I'm pretty sure that they would benefit from some sort of plant food or even just a transplant into the bed in the hoop house. They are kind of pathetic...but still alive!

This is the first time that we have attempted doing any kind of "gardening" outside of the regular growing season of Spring and Summer. Actually, it had never occurred to me that we could even do fall/winter crops here until I got Eliot Coleman's Four-Season Harvest. I don't think that I really knew that he has his farm in Maine. MAINE!! They get snow...lots of it too! Also, according to his book  the U.S. gets more winter sunshine than Southern France. Yeah, so I'm not good with my European geography...oop...just checked that out. The US is further south than France...who knew?! Amazing!! So, there is no reason why winter gardening couldn't happen.

Anyway, I'm pleased with how things have turned out so far. We'll make adjustments for next time. I know that I started things pretty late to get anything in the garden earlier than we did this year. Part of the problem was that it was really quite hot in the hoop house for a lot longer than I thought it would be. Come this fall, I'll be able to use the former Bike Garage - which has been converted to being the Garden garage (which it was for awhile early on). Things do come full circle I guess.

Maybe there will be a mini harvest once I can get into the low tunnel this weekend. Kale & Pac Choi await!