Surprises in my Winter Garden

This afternoon, when the alluring northwest sun graced us with an amazing sun break, was the most calm few hours I've had since the whirlwind of the holidays and international travel came to an end. I've been away from my garden for the past few weeks, but today we got reacquainted and despite what I thought, my garden was far from asleep. Of course, that was the original plan. I started planting my fall and winter garden in July with the intention of harvesting vegetables year-round. But that was when I was still in the carefree time known as elementary school teacher summer vacation. Once September came around, I got swept up into the hectic life of work again and rarely made it out to the yard, except to harvest some kale and lettuce a few times a week. Our amazing year-round farmers' market has been my best friend – providing me with delicious, local greens, while saving me on energy when I need it the most. Not only that, when it's cold, rainy, and not to mention dark by the time I get home, I have no desire to be outside. And then, after our out-of-character-for-the-northwest cold snap pretty much wiped out all of my delicate little fall greens, I lost my momentum even more.

So today, when I went back out to the yard to take stock of what was still hanging around, I was delighted with what I found. Huge rutabagas, bulging out of the ground. I've never grown rutabagas before so I'm not sure if that's what they're supposed to look like, but regardless, I was thrilled. I learned during my Seattle Tilth Winter Gardening class that rutabagas are one of the most reliable winter vegetables because they keep so well in the cold ground. I haven't pulled any yet to taste them, but I'm pretty happy with what I can see.

I discovered that my collard greens had survived the cold. They were still as green and as ruffled as could be.

I found my dinosaur kale even healthier than it was in the summer and think I'm on to something. I noticed that during the summer, the bugs were getting to eat more of the kale than I was. But now, during the cold weather season it likes the most, my kale leaves look beautiful and intact. And I think the bugs that were thriving in the summer might have packed their bags and left for the winter. It's amazing, my little ecosystem out back.

I learned that the Territorial Seed Company writes pretty accurate descriptions. Surprisingly, their Wintewunder and Arctic King lettuce varieties survived the huge winter frost. I thought I had lost them all, but was delighted to find these hardy winter lettuces happily tucked inside the cloche.

And when I brushed away some of the soil around the greens growing out of my carrot plot, I was happy to discover bright orange peeking out at me. I pulled a beautiful Autumn King winter carrot out to add to our dinner tonight. While I was no where to be found, my garden was taking care of itself.

Today was also the first day of my Master Gardener program. I was lucky to be accepted, along with 75 other enthusiastic gardeners, to be trained in sustainable and effective garden practices so that I can volunteer in the community. I will be attending Master Gardener classes every Saturday for the next three months. Imagine my delight when I got my January syllabus with course titles such as Botany, Orchard Mason Bees, Roses and Ornamentals, and Organic Gardening for the Home Gardener.

So, I've decided that every week, after I've read my chapters and done my quizzes, after I've attended my classes, diligently scribbling notes into my new binder, I will post the big lessons I came away with that week. Consider this a work in progress – my journey to a deeper understanding of the garden I love so much.

Garden Gem (what I learned from week one of Master Gardener school):

Soil is the basis for everything we do in the garden. It provides our plants with some pretty critical elements: nutrients, water, air, and physical support. I also learned that nitrogen is the nutrient most needed by plants and it's the nutrient that promotes leafy growth. It's also the first number you'll see on a fertilizer label. Finally, I learned that the nutrients in the soil that plants need are not in a form that are readily available for plants (i.e. in their soluble form) until nutrients that come from the minerals in the soil are weathered or until organic matter in the soil is broken down and nutrients are released by helpful organisms like bacteria, fungi, and insects. I learned a long time ago that it was a sign of healthy soil to see earthworms squirming around in it, but now I understand that that's because they are helping my plants access the nutrients they need.