look like they might live all winter like they did last year.

I have also taken cuttings of the snapdragons and am rooting them in water for more snapdragons all around the place next spring!




(Weird having "Gardening" in "Recreation" instead of "Home & Family" )

but the plant i want to plant has been declared illegal. pffft. i live in raleigh as well - just wish i had a bit more freedom with my garden ya know?

the Lake Wheeler Rd Fm Mkt for a few weekends each spring.

Some very peculiar, unique tomatoes you have there in that pic!

hehehh. that's awesome - i love tomatoes - my dad grows them in his garden every year. i have yet to take on the tomato. if you think of it - let me know when you do your sale at the farmers market in spring - i'll stop by, maybe bring my dad - he's a big fan of the farmers market as well. and maybe one day i'll be allowed to grow my special awesome "unique tomatoes".

Although, today is getting real cold so I probably will not have them much longer...

but we've had a cold snap and nuthin' has come up yet! I'm probably just impatient. Year before last I planed in November and everything came up really well, but iirc, it took awhile for their little heads to pop up. I seem to recall harvesting as early as January that year.

This years' winter garden:
lettuce (3 types)
spinach (2 types)
snow peas
kale
swisschard
collard greens
turnips
parsnips
leeks

Just spotted: Lettuce and parsnips. Woohoo!!!

Johnny's is just incredible - each year they take it further and further forward. I got to meet the founder (Rob Johnston) this summer at the Seed Savers convention in Iowa - he is quite visionary, and the catalog/company reflects it.

rareseeds.com Great stuff. Beautiful pictures too.

I've got my reasons for not being 100% crazy about them....but would rather not go into it!

I can't stand not knowing! I'm so impressed that they are trying to save the heirloom seed companies in the country. I also really like Horizon Herbs for medicinals.

Gardening is just like any pursuit - in crowds/out crowds, blind devotion to this one or that one - but as someone who studies pedigrees of older varieties, there are just a few issues there.....but there are loads of great smaller companies that are doing a fine job - Victory Seeds in Oregon, Tatiana's Tomato base, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.....

a great source for me now that I'm in Arkansas...I never thought I'd live in the South. It is so lovely here, the flora and fauna enchant me.

Are you using hoop houses? or? Even my green house is freezing.

we get enough non-freezing days in raleigh in winter to be able to dance things in and out...trying to get a jump on next early spring plantings

I want to figure out how to heat my green house and still be able to pay the mortgage! But I wouldn't be able to do what you are doing. Have you ever thought of LED grow lights? They combine red/blue and you could simulate the daylight time in the garage.

Just kidding. The weather is great, but the water is rationed in LA and my soil is just awful.

Do you compost? Any tips about improving soil quality?

Under the top few inches of my soil, I have clay as hard as rocks.

We have avocado trees and a fig tree and due to previous tenants and maybe to prevent soil erosion, a disgusting amount of cement. I garden in pots -- all sizes.

Soil is my big issue. I generally buy soil and fill the pots with it.

I am trying to compost, and I have a worm bin, but the progress is slow.