Gardening In LA
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Garden Coaching
    • Speaking
    • Photography
    • Writing >
      • List of Articles
  • Blog
  • News
  • Monthly Tips
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
    • July
    • August
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
  • Events
    • Submit Your Garden Events
    • Botanical Gardens' and Other Organizations' Garden Events
  • Jobs
  • Web Links
  • Newsletter

Depth of Winter

12/12/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Looks and feels like winter. This morning's clouds revealed snow down to about 3000 feet!
Picture
Purple People Eater Angel's Trumpet.
Picture
...and its seed pods about to scatter its seeds.
Picture
Violet cutie.
Picture
Lettuce transplants under fruit-tree netting to keep munchers away.
Picture
Carrot sprouts.
Picture
Bok choy and garlic chives under spreading artichoke leaves.
Picture
Amish Snap peas coming up.
Picture
Yellow chard's first harvest of outer leaves to allow inner ones to continue growing and being harvested.
Picture
Kishu mandarin fruitset.
Picture
Cauliflower transplant under fruit-tree netting to deter munchers.
Picture
Peruvian Daffodil, Spider Lily, Hymenocallis festalis.
Picture
Upcoming nasturtiums.
Picture
Pruned Salvia greggii.
Picture
Artichoke sprouting several new shoots.
Picture
Tomcat Apricot pruned to 6 feet. I leave most interior branching to provide lots of foliage to hide ripening fruit from marauding critters.
Picture
Bat-faced cuphea.
Picture
Solanum antonnetii, blue potato bush.
Picture
Thai Delight bougainvillea.
Picture
Tithonia, even with branches broken down by rain, blooming continues.
Picture
Red epidendrum orchid.
Picture
Begonia's perky and still blooming in this chilly weather!
With the Winter Equinox coming shortly -- at 1:47 pm on Wednesday, December 21 -- the depth of winter bodes the possibility of frost for our gardens. This year, however, our gardens already have the best protection from minimal frost damage – the rains have thoroughly saturated the soil, so plant roots are able to have fully absorbed available moisture, and foliage cells are plumped to forestall severe damage from lower temperatures.  And yet, those gardeners who long for summer sun and tomatoes will enjoy the fact that the Winter Equinox also signals the beginnings of longer days – a whole 2 minutes each day!
 
Harvesting
     For those of us concentrating on harvesting cool-loving crops like broccoli, bok choy, chard, lettuce, spinach and other greens, we’re in heaven now.  The crunchy crispness of those plumped-up leaves accentuates the flavors and are what it's all about.   
   Harvest leaf crops by removing only the outer leaves, letting the smaller three or four center leaves develop further. Thus, the plant continues growing -- and you continue harvesting -- throughout the season until spring warmth causes the plant to go to seed.
 
Keep Sowing and Planting
     Adding more seeds and plants to the garden is on the task menu through the end of March at least and possibly even longer if temperatures remain coolish. 
     Some seeds or baby plants to consider adding are chard, cilantro, kale, leeks, Bibb and buttercrunch and romaine lettuces, mustards, green and bulb onions, flat-leaf parsley, peas, radishes, and savoy-leafed spinaches.
     To help concentrate daytime warmth and increase seed germination, cover the bed with clear plastic sheeting. Anchor down the edges with soil or rocks to keep out slugs and other critters who love the succulent sprouts, and to keep the sheeting from blowing away.
     Larger transplants to add to the garden include globe artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower, horseradish, rhubarb, cane berries, grapes, and strawberries.
    Plant more spring-blooming bulbs early this month, and save some to plant from mid-February through mid-March for extended bloom through late spring.
 
More Frost Protection
     Protect citrus from cold damage by wrapping the tree trunks in newspaper and covering the foliage with plastic sheeting (but keep plastic propped up away from touching the foliage, as this may conduct the frost directly to the foliage and increase damage).
     Cold soil and dry winds can cause the rinds of ripening fruit to develop bleached blotches, and leaves to turn yellow where the sun strikes.
     Move dish cacti and succulents and potted trees under cover for protection from cold and rain.
 
For more monthly tasks, go to December
 
For holiday decorating from the garden, go to Holiday Décor From Your Garden - 11/19/19
 
For more frost protection techniques, go to Frost Threatens – How to Protect Our Gardens - 12/1/19
 
For more winter major-topic blogs, see Homepage


0 Comments

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

© 2015 Yvonne Savio. All Rights Reserved.                                                                                                                                                         Web Design by StudioMAH.