A line of snow squalls is blowing through northern Virginia today, bringing sharply colder temperatures, or as some might say, more seasonal weather. Late last week, on an errand to the Arlington Central Library, I took some time to see what was doing well there.
Mostly the cold frames have been open, but they're closed for the current weather.
Earlier in the winter, we had installed some cold frames, but even the lettuce wintering outside was doing well. I picked a nice head of oak leaf lettuce that was growing in the square foot gardening container.
Someone's going to find this tasty, I hope!
The broccoli is also thriving, with multiple flower heads. I took some of the larger heads and left the smaller ones to get a little bigger.
I didn’t take any of the collards, and had second thoughts about that when I looked at the picture I’d taken of them. Turns out it didn’t matter much. Don Weber (see Planning the Fall Garden, August 2011) came along behind me and cut quite a few leaves. We both made deliveries to Puwen Lee, who will take them to AFAC when she goes in to work on Monday.
These crafty collards will probably weather the latest cold.
I still haven’t had to buy any lettuce this winter. That has made me want to plan even more cold crops for my own garden next fall. In the meantime, I’m in full swing with planning for my spring and summer garden, and highly recommend Territorial Seed’s Garden Planner. If you have trouble planting too much or too little, this planner spaces things for you. And if you just want to enjoy the winter weather, I won’t begrudge you a cup of cocoa and and a good book.
