So another year has begun. I'm so happy for 2011 to be over. Although it was my best garden to date, I really struggled with parasite issues and other sickness. I'm definitely hoping for 2012 to be an amazing year!
I was so sick in the fall that unfortunately, I didn't get my beds prepped for winter as I would have liked. So today I went out and assessed the damage. I was surprised and elated that I still have leeks, scallions, and parsley that can still be harvested. The swiss chard may be okay, but it does look wilty from the freezes we've had the last couple of days. My biggest happiness is that the strawberries look just fine also, except for being very weedy. I am very fortunate that this has been a mild winter so far.
I tried to delicately pull the worst of the weeds from the strawberry bed and covered it with straw. I also added a bunch of straw to the compost as it has too much greens. This afternoon I am going to go over my seed inventory and make some orders. I already know that I'm going to order Heritage raspberries again (and put them inside the fence this time) and some Sparkle strawberries to extend my strawberry season from
Nourse Farms. I'm also going to order onions and leeks from
Dixondale Farms this year. I'm definitely not going to attempt to start seeds anymore until I have a more proper setup for it. It just wasn't working out, and the animals finished off the ones that were trying.
