I found some home remodeling evidence in the greenhouse yesterday. Apparently, Mr. Toad loves his new digs, as he has been here since Fall. I guess the weeds there get a reprieve until he decides to move on.

I was so afraid to venture back into the greenhouse after a six-week hiatus (Read about my long winter here). Would any of my winter greens and root veggies be salvageable? Thankfully, my ex was able to hold down the fort in my absence and cover the plants during the cold spells as well as keep my new seedlings moist. Gardening per se wasn’t being done, but at least he kept a lot of plants from dying.

After a (finally!) reasonable call week, I was able to venture out and get to some projects this weekend instead of simply catching up on sleep for two days. My biggest priority was to put on my creative cap and stage some pics for Abundance Mushroom Company’s future Etsy site. I was finally able to figure out some of the issues I had been having with my nice digital camera and was able to make some adjustments, which greatly improved the color reproduction. With nothing but point-and-shoot camera experience in the past, this is a brand-new learning experience for me. There is so much I don’t know about photography!

Venturing In

Sunday, I finally gathered the nerve to go tour the damage and tally my losses. I did lose a lot: All my radishes were overgrown, hollow, and rotten inside, the yellow winter choy was fully bolted and producing abundant flowers, beets didn’t look too hot, Chinese mustard was wiped out, and the weeds were beginning to take over the unplanted areas.

But all was not lost. While my kale is quite mature and likely pretty bitter, cutting out the thick stems will yield several pounds of delicious, cooked greens, at least a couple meals’ worth. The onions Herman planted are apparently quite happy, as are Justin’s garlics. My experimental iceberg lettuce is doing great. Most of my young second sowing plants are alive and doing well.

My harvests over the next several weeks will be smaller than I would have liked, but I am pleasantly surprised to find a lot of my work is still viable.

I continue to drag my feet on the spring seed-sowing, though. I really need to spend several days in the greenhouse tearing out the bad and preparing everything for my big winter-to-spring transition. Which is looming large-it’s already almost the middle of March! This actually may turn out for the best, though. I do have a habit of jumping the gun and putting my plants out too early.

Until next time, blessings and peace to you!