Our Winter Thaw

Except for one brief period of freezing weather, our weather here at Blackberry Farm has been very mild with temperatures reaching over 70 degrees on two occasions. One of our guests asked what our plans for the day were, and we replied that we would be setting out tomato and pepper plants for the next two days. Although we are a long ways off from tomato and pepper planting season, the past few days have certainly put us in the mood for it.

Getting back to reality, we do have a number of varieties which are still flourishing, and those include Collards, Kale, Araqula, Turnips, Winter Lettaces, Radishes, Winter Wheat, green and red Cabbages, Seeded Onions for Spring planting, Baby White Turnips, Beets, and Flat Leaf Parsley. These greens and root crops give our chefs here at Blackberry Farm a number of options when choices for produce are otherwise limited.

One of my trail gardens was filled with variation started from seed that I purchased in Hungary in 2015. Our mild January weather has revived two of those varieties. The Flat Leaf Parsley and Dill are both thriving, further adding to the mood of an early Spring.

Master Gardener, John Coykendal