Mad Cat Garden | February 2021

In January and February it was very hard to think about or even imagine working in the garden. For most of that time, our yard was covered in snow.

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But as Feb wound down, we started thinking forward to Spring and we even got the seeds out to get started.

This is the first year that they garden was extremely dormant for the three most wintery months. We will see what that means for Spring, if anything. Perhaps it is just the natural cycle of things.

What was happening in your garden in February?

Mad Cat Garden | December 2020

Every month for the last few years, I have looked back at the pics I took of the garden the previous, and gone over them in this column. And this month, I don’t have any. I have no pics of our garden from dec 2020.

Crazy.

I could have simply skipped this series this month, but that just didn’t feel right. This year was such a great year in our garden in many ways and this has given me an opportunity to look back over 2020 and our garden.

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In January, the photos look bright and sunny! There was chard and a radish still growing in the garden. There was also snow that month, so it wasn’t all off to a sunny start. It was sad to remember our jackfruit trees and see them as small babies, thriving. Jan felt full of potential, but too early for lots of growth.

The groundhog predicted an early spring and much of the family was out observing the garden in Feb. We worked on the compost, and saw out onion of two years still surviving the winter. Inside the jackfruit was growing and we were rearranging the house to keep them and other seedlings in the sunny spots.

In March, especially towards the end saw so much change and growth in the garden. Inside seedlings and sprouts were going strong and we were quickly running out of space! Luckily by the end of the month we moved a few things outside! We got lettuces and other leafy greens to plant outside as well. The blueberries were budding, the onion growing, and all over the garden, plants were starting to peak out of the earth. Around the neighborhood, we also started seeing other people prepping their own gardens!

In April, there were peppers, peas and other plants jumping up under the grow lights inside. Lettuces, kale, cauliflower, and more were started in the outside beds. Herbs we planted the month before were taking off in our front beds. We were also trying new experiments with beds. We took a shelving unit that came with the house when we bought it, and had been living in the basement for years, got new life as a 5th backyard bed.

In May, more herbs, more new beds, tomatoes, raspberry bushes, flowers and a pile of dirt!

In June our radishes had already gone to seed, brussels were brusseling, lettuces and kale were huge. Peppers were starting and we were branching out with new veggies, like edemame. Summer was here and the garden seemed small but was starting to feel quite lush. Blueberries were popping up and we were already fighting the birds to get a few for ourselves. And out onion was huge!

In July the lettuces had bolted, we had basil, mint lavender, the blueberries were getting ripe and eaten before we could taste them. We had shishitos, tomatoes, and greens to eat. But the garden was still in a blooming stage. By this time in 2019, we were over flowing with fruit and veg. This year this the garden seems a bit stunted.

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In August flowers were blooming, raspberries were berrying, and we were harvesting zucchini, a new veg for our garden. We were eating from the garden a lot at this point. this was the height of the garden, but we were still surprised that the garden wasn’t as lush as the previous year.

By September, the garden was winding down and I was writing about the joy of using up our last veg and eating the end of our favorite summer meals. We had also finally put up our green house and were starting to populate it.

In October the morning glories we re still going strong and we were pursuing our new new favorite pastime of seed saving. This was the month we saved the most seeds. We saved out own seeds and we also went foraging for seeds. We hope to use a lot of the seeds we saved in the spring and summer of 2021.

In November we had packed the greenhouse almost full and we were cleaning out the beds. We still had our brussels which never fully matured and we never picked. We were still eating lettuce and kale from the greenhouse.

And now, in December, the beds are bare. All the plants that hibernate in the winter are doing so. We moved as many flowers as we could into the greenhouse but it’s getting harder to keep it warm on below freezing nights. We thrifted a space heater and has it helped add some warmth on the coldest nights. We are starting now, to think about the new growing season. Our grower friends are buying seeds and we are all making plans for 2021.

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What was your garden like in 2020? Did it thrive or was it sparse? Was it what you expected or was it surprising? What are you plans for 2021?

Herbs

One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.

I got this magazine style how to book at the Bradley Beach Library Sale this summer. Herbs: How to Select, Grow and Enjoy by Norma Jean Lathrop was written in the 80s but is still relivent today!

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Interesting and informative, Herbs gives you a solid base of knowledge to grow herbs on any scale.

I really enjoyed this book even though it is not, like a riveting read. This instructive manual, had sections for how to choose, propagate, transfer, plant, and use a wide variety of herbs. Some you may know and some you may not be familiar with. This books includes a long list of different herbs, their uses and properties. It also contained a section of profiles of gardeners around the world. I really liked hearing about the different people’s gardens and how they felt about them. I also liked that there is a section on some of the magical and medicinal uses of herbs. I really enjoy that almost every book on herbs mention their magical properties. I read Magical Herbalism earlier this year and liked how these were connected. I would highly recommend this book to those looking to start their journey growing herbs, those who are interested in gardening in general, and those who like gardening books.

Are you a gardener who likes reading? Or a reader who likes gardening?

This book was mentioned in my November Wrap Up.

More about books here:
BookTube
Goodreads

Mad Cat Garden | October 2020

It was an interesting month for the Garden. Most of October was dreary, rainy, and sparse in the garden. But there were moments of brightness and sun. For some reason, I didn’t take too many photos this month, so the Oct tour of the garden will be specific.

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At the beginning of the month, our morning glories were still going strong and even coming up through every break in our concrete patio. We love the morning glories and want to think of a way to train them better next year.

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We have been moving things into the green house, trying to get everything we want to save (or try to save) inside before the first frost. When the sun is out, it’s so nice to peek inside the walls. We have some foraged furniture and shelves inside, but it’s not big so it’s a fun puzzle to try and fit everything.

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There was a lot for this month, we lost a lot of our last tomatoes and peppers as they were shook of the bushes.

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Our pineapple sage went to flower this month and it was brilliant!! The flowers are beautiful.

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Our orange thyme mascot is still doing well and got a little company for October.

What was your garden doing this month?

The Joy Of Using Up

The other day I realized that we are almost out of tomato season. It happened quicker this year than last year. But each time we pick tomatoes there are less then the last harvest, more are unripe or rotten before we can get to them and each bush produces less. No more tomatoes and cheese, no more salsa and fresh sauce, no more tomatoes garnishing our salads and pastas. It made me sad.

But then, the weather took a cold spell and I saw a potato. Mmmm, I thought, we haven’t had potato soup in forever!

Part of being as zero waste as possible is eating with the seasons, eating what’s available when it is ripe and fresh. One might think that this is restricting, but really, it’s only the joy of using up. All winter we eat great and hearty winter veg and in the summer, those are set aside to have fresh light summer fruits and vegetables. A perfect balance and nothing is given up.

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