Winter Garden?

Son and I spent the morning digging out a section of ground to use as our winter garden.  We have decided to move the winter crops into the Rose Garden for safe keeping.  The hillside has more than its share of rabbits and now a nice number of deer that would love to have a late-night snack of spinach or cabbage.  The Rose Garden is fenced so it is unlikely that the rabbits or the deer will feel comfortable invading the area.  Ms. Ez has easy access to this plot so she does a nifty job keeping it critter free.  By "digging out", I mean literally digging out..we lifted all of the soil from an area about two feet by thirty feet, placed a black liner down, refilled with dirt then fertilizer.  This was all done as an attempt to keep the voles from attacking the root systems of the plants.  Their tunneling ruined about all of the roses so some method of blocking them was needed.  We did this under the herb garden and it thrived!  The voles did not tunnel through the plastic to the roots.  Hopefully, the cabbages, carrots, beets, spinach and assorted other greens will fare as well.

While we were working up a sweat with the shovels and hoes, I made an offhand remark to him about getting the hotbed ready for early spring.  To that, Michael replied that the "hotbed was already planted".  Sure enough, there was a quite healthy tomato plant and two pepper plants already taking up residence in the hotbed.  Hmmmm...Thanksgiving tomatoes seem to be on the menu for next week!  The one plant has a dozen or more nice sized green tomatoes almost ready to ripen!  Along side of the tomato were two smaller Habanero pepper plants that were laden with little orange blobs!  The peppers did not surprise me at all but that tomato was amazing!  I have had the peppers overwinter in the garden and have managed to pull a few tomatoes through while in the greenhouse but never just right out in the open.  With winter setting in a mite early this year, the plant should have died weeks ago or at least been damaged beyond hope.  But, no, this one was not giving up its job of producing some delightfully plump tomatoes!

With this plant still producing, the preparation of the hotbed will have to wait.  I am in no hurry to start seedlings yet anyway as this needs to be done in February.  By then, I am quite sure that the tomato plant will have met its demise and the plot will be free and clear.  In the meantime, I suppose I really should concentrate more on this winter garden!  The cabbages are in the ground and the other seeds will be planted in the morning.  Michael has one more area to dig and vole-proof.  Then..Ms. Ez can keep her guard over the plants!  Hopefully, we shall dine on fresh veggies throughout the cold months ahead!