Karen's Garden Delights Journal
4th week of February 2011

Tunnel Greens It feels like we are through the dead of winter and heading toward spring. It is energizing to have daylight start earlier and last till after supper. Even though a quick blizzard passed through last week, rain and warmth came on its heels to start the melting. The rain actually came en force and caused flooding in our area. We are thankful to be on a hill so the side effects were limited to some gullies worn into the driveway and plenty of mud. Downtown Kidron had standing water with Lehmans suffering significant damage in their store. We hope they can get things back in order quickly.

When things dry out around here I will continue checking what is growing in the coldframes. I was pleasantly surprised to find very green and happy plants under the low tunnels and barrels when enough snow finally melted for me to investigate mid February. I trimmed wilted leaves, pulled a few weeds and harvested plenty of Swiss chard, spinach and parsley. The wire hoops needed a good straightening since the snow and ice load was hard on them and next time I'll place them 2-3 feet apart rather than 4 feet. I took a plate of cold frame greens to two recent Saturday events (Tri-County Health Fair and the Akron Home and Garden Show) and they were the center of many conversations. Some folks were amazed and wanted to know the details so they could raise early greens in their garden, others drooled and wished they had brought vinaigrette and a few simply didn't believe I really picked them from my garden and walked off. Here are the greens and Local Choices at the Eco-Village at the Akron Home and Garden Show. I really enjoyed interacting with the crowd and other vendors plus I led three workshops during the weekend and met environmentalist and tv star, Ed Begley Jr. Since we are tv-less, I didn't recognize him but did enjoy a quick chat with him.

The warm weather on February 18 prompted me to start planting lettuce and dwarf gray sugar peas in the greenhouse plus a double row of Sugar Ann early snap peas and lettuce under several plastic barrels in the garden. That may have been a bit premature for warm ground temperatures but it sure was good winter therapy. Indoors, my early tomatoes are flourishing in 4 packs, lettuce seedings are peeking out and I just started broccoli and cabbage plus more lettuce and salad greens. I'm behind schedule on my onions and leeks but plan to work on planting those flats later this week. I'm watching for the snapdragons to germinate and will need plenty due to two wedding flower orders. One of them is so large (100 plus vases!) that I will be giving seeds and plants to several friends to grow in their gardens for me.

Baby Goats The first babies have arrived! Within twelve hours of each other, the two first time goat mamas gave birth. Both needed a little human assistance to pull out their kid but everyone is very healthy and happy. Baby Hazel has the typical Oberhasli coloring and Harriet is all black which happens occasionally in their breeding. They are adorable to watch romp and our children don their boots and barn coats frequently to go check the goats. There should be more goat kids coming in the next weeks and we are awaiting a Jersey calf from Belle mid-March. New babies are another sure sign that spring is just around the corner.