Two Gardens in Winter

Today I visited the Master Gardeners' Demonstration Garden's vegetable beds at the Robert C. Parker School in North Greenbush.  The thin covering of undisturbed snow on the beds within the fencing seemed to reinforce the orderliness of the garden's appearance mitigating an otherwise rather barren landscape.  Last October my Master Gardener colleagues had set the stage for my perception by removing the last remnent vegetables and weeds to the compost pile and planting garlic.  Looking at this garden now on this cold day, I know it's waiting and ready to start again.

And then there is my own backyard garden in Troy...  The fencing looks similar to the Demo's garden,  but that's about all.

I did prepare some of my beds for winter, and I did put some garlic in the ground.  I did not winterize all of my beds because I kept telling myself that the weather would stay mild a little longer letting me  harvest a little more kale, a few more scallions and a bit more  parsley.  Although the weather did stay mild for quite a while, when it turned cold, it really turned cold.  Fortunately, that first cold snap did not linger long enough to freeze the ground  to prohibit me from planting my garlic.

I used to follow the advice in gardening books and set garlic between September and October, but I stopped this practice after noticing the milder  temperatures of recent years were causing the garlic to start sprouting.  Garlic will start growing in soils at 50°F. In theory, the cloves will first develop roots;  and when the soil cools below 50°F,  any sprout development stops and the cloves go dormant. Now, I generally set out my garlic near the end of November or a little later and use a little extra mulch to keep the soil cool in case of one final warm snap. This approach seems to be working.

Regarding my garden fencing, it has evolved over the years.  Forty years ago when I first moved to Troy, I just used 24" chicken wire around each bed to keep out a few rabbits and our first dog who definitely lacked vegetarian taste buds.  The next dog was different, a yellow lab possessing strong omnivorous compulsions. He loved bush beans, peas, carrots, lettuce, raspberries - everything I liked.  I installed 36" high fencing around the entire garden to discourage him.  Fortunately, he never jumped over  or dug under it. A few years later after our dog had passed away, I came home from a short vacation to find the lettuce bed neatly mowed.  Woodchucks had arrived in the neighborhood.  No one on our block had dogs anymore, or kids, to annoy these pests.  Consequently, I installed my current fence to meet these new conditions.  Woodchucks remain in area, but have been excluded from my garden; and although I now see an occasional deer in my backyard,  so far they have not jumped the fence.