Winter Garden Waiting

All that garden planning last week made me realize never finished winterizing the garden! I previously ran out of black plastic and then forgot about it. It might be the end of February, but I finally finished covering the raised beds. It would have been a more pleasant experience if I had done this in the late fall, but the important thing is that the beds are finally covered before spring. The black plastic not only warms up the soil in the spring for planting, it’s also an excellent weed blocker. Last year we didn’t put it down before the weather warmed up and we paid the price with several hours of weeding.

 Of course, since it's February and not November, the ground was completely frozen. I couldn't tack down the plastic with ground stakes, so I weighed it down with leftover patio pavers instead. 

The pile of leaves at the bottom of the picture in the bed is an experiment to see if any of the herbs will overwinter. Last spring (after a very mild winter) my oregano came back, so this year I'm seeing if it will happen again. The leaves are for insulation. I'll check back in a few weeks, though it's been so cold I'm not expecting much. 

As soon as the ground thaws I'm going to plant spinach. Spinach seeds like the cold - surprisingly February and March is the ideal time to sow them, as soon as the ground unfreezes. Last year I planted seeds and forgot about them for several weeks, then came back to a huge bounty. Hopefully this year I get the same results!