Looking through catalogs
Harvest 2026 is over
Our garden has been put to bed and the orchard is bare; all the leaves are off. The fields around us have been harvested and put to bed for the winter as well. With all the crops harvested and the fields brown, it reminds me of a desert, with no indication of how productive it really is.
Just because the ground looks barren it doesn’t mean it is. In many fields, seeds are just waiting for spring to pop out, and I don’t just mean weeds. Winter wheat, triticale, and in our case seed garlic. Even though we can’t see them, those seeds are working away growing roots for a jump start in for the spring.
Thinking about things we can’t see but are happening. For many years I have had problems when the days started getting shorter, as early as mid-October. I would just sit there thinking I should get up and do something but never would. Several years ago, I saw my doctor about this and she prescribed some medication for me. It has made a tremendous difference, I no longer just sit there like a bump on a log. Seed catalogs have been the bright spot in the winter, even when I was a bump on a log. Now with the proper treatment, the catalogs are even better and are still a high light of winter for me.
Soon those catalogs will start arriving and I can hardly wait. Every year there are so many things in those catalogs that I want to try. But we are now to the point that our space for new plantings is limited, as in we have almost no space avaible. And we have to really think about anything new. To make space for new plantings we have to take something out. Remember the grapes we killed off this past summer? That opened up eight rows. Two of those rows will be replanted, one with elderberries and the other with roses for their hips. We are still thinking about the other six rows.
Our garden is like our orchard, in order to try something new, something old has to go. Most years we plant a full row of zucchini and two types of winter squash. This coming summer wen are thinking we will reduce the zucchini to half a row and winter squash to one variety. Red Kuri our favorite winter squash. In those newly opened spaces, we will be planting peas and lettuce. At least that’s the plan for now, but it could change after the new catalogs arrive.
November will soon be here, Thanksgiving and then Christmas. So much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to.
I hope everyone is enjoying this end of season break.