It's hard to believe it's the last day of 2024. Happy New Year everyone!
Rainfall
- 9th: 1.08"
- 10th: 3.14"
- 11th: 0.83"
- 15th: 0.44"
- 16th: 0.06"
- 18th: 0.35"
- 27th: 0.11"
- 28th: 0.93"
- 29th: 0.83"
- 31st: 0.01"
- Total: 7.78 inches
Temperature
- range of nighttime lows: 19 to 61°F (-7 to 16°C)
- range of daytime highs: 33 to 70°F (0.5 to 21°C)
Weather Notes
- We've had plenty of cold this month and plenty of rain, but never at the same time.
- In other words, no snow.
- But, this is a typical winter weather pattern for my part of the country.
- Which is just as well because if 1 inch of snow equals 10 to 12 inches of rain, we'd be buried in snow about now.
Garden Notes
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When the weather is nice, I continue to tidy up and mulch last summer's
beds with fallen leaves and aisles with wood chips. I'm hoping to stay ahead of the spring weeds.
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Our frigid lows have pretty much killed off everything in the garden except
the kale and turnips. And I still have a few well mulched daikons that I can harvest for kimchi.
- We're getting a few things from the greenhouse (on which we've made progress, update post soon).
Harvested
- kale
- turnips
- daikons
- chicory greens
- chickweed
- lettuce
- Jerusalem artichokes
Photos
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Early December garden lettuce and countertop ripened tomato |
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| Jerusalem artichoke |
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| greenhouse growings |
I don't have many photos because there's not a lot going on. I only planted a few pots of greens for the greenhouse because the interior still needed finishing and I didn't want a lot of pots in the way. But it's almost done now, so I'll be able to show you that soon.
Anybody working on their 2025 garden plans?
Garden Notes: December 2024 © Dec. 2024
21 comments:
No plans for the garden itself yet, but I've begun making small batches of biochar and using my gifted in-home composter to make homemade amendments. Curious how you use your Jerusalem artichokes. I've got an old patch, in too much shade now. It's been neglected, because I never found a way I enjoyed them.
Hello Laurie, welcome! I love that you've begun making biochar. We've dabbled with it but haven't settled upon a good routine to make it.
My favorite way to eat Jerusalem artichokes is lacto-fermented like sauerkraut or kimchi. In fact I add it (grated) to my batches of kimchi. Raw, it's not very digestible and highly gas producing, so we never eat it that way. But I chop it and feed it to my goats that way. We also like it roasted. I chop it and toss it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and other seasonings and then roast it in my toaster oven for half-an-hour at 400 degrees. Very tasty in a mixed veggie roast.
I have only started a list of new seeds to buy. Do you grow the Jerusalem artichokes in the ground or in pots in your green house? I would like to add that to my garden, as we have never tried them yet.
Kristina, mine are outdoors as they are cold hardy and I've had them longer than the greenhouse. Of course, our ground doesn't freeze deeply, so I can harvest them all winter (which is their usual harvest season, after the tops have died back). They do tend to spread, so growing in a container may be a good experiment.
Leigh, the lesson for this Winter has been that the cold and lack of sun in New Home 2.0 is brutal enough that it has almost killed off everything I planted. The garlic and a few grains are (barely) holding on. Looking to Spring to get a re-start.
Thinking about more seeds :) Taking down our old apple tree soon for a dwarf. Happy New Year!
Nancy @ Little Homestead in Boise
TB, that's disappointing, but good information! New locations always come with a gardening learning curve. :)
Nancy, I'm in the thinking stage too! lol
I still have beets in the ground (we've been eating a steady supply of raw beet/carrot/apple salad!), plus kale and a little parsley. The fall garden clean-up is always left to me, and now that I'll be working out of the home five days a week, I don't know how much will get done around here. Taking care of the animals is a given, but a lot of other things are up in the air now.
Michelle, I didn't plant beets but I wish I had. Your salad sounds great. I'm sure garden clean-up will keep over winter. You've got a busy schedule.
Happy New Year and thank you for teaching me how to make great mayo!
Liz, happy new year to you too!
You have one of the most productive gardens I know! I need to give Jerusalem artichokes a go.
May the bounty continue! Our beds are prepped and ready plant come spring. This month I will begin using the winter sowing method to start seeds outside. I have had good results with it the past two years. Blessings!
Daisy, Jerusalem artichokes have been a reliable perennial for me. Also, the chickens like to peck away at them!
I had good success with your method last year, so I'll have to experiment this year, both in greenhouse and out.
Funny you should ask! No gardening, but last night I updated my seed inventory list so I could order anything needed from Sow True Seed before the free December shipping expired. I didn't need much! Happy new year to you and Dan and all your critters :)
Quinn, good for you! Sadly, I missed several free shipping offers. Like you, I won't need much, but it would have been nice to get in on those offers.
No plans yet but soon, I plan to sit down with the seed catalog and let the dreaming begin.
Ed, it's a fun way to garden. :)
Hi leigh. Ranom question, I was trying to remember if you had a really really small wood cooking stove that you retrofitted into your kitchen? If so do you have a link on that I was trying to remember what the layout was, thanks if not I just have the blog is confused
Nancy, yes, I do have a wood cookstove in the kitchen. We installed it when we remodeled the kitchen. I have a photo of it in this post, https://www.5acresandadream.com/2012/11/kitchen-remodel-announcement-done.html (lots of photos to scroll through).
I also have a floorplan of the kitchen for the stove in this post, https://www.5acresandadream.com/2011/04/kitchen-project-attention-to-detail.html.
Are you thinking of getting a wood cookstove? I love mine.
Thanks that's not it however. I think it was somebody else's blog. They had retrofitted a very tiny wood stove into their kitchen where they had taken out some cabinets. Not looking for wood stove right now but trying to find that photo again. Have a great day thanks for your help!
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