Sweet Greens

The greens are getting more and more plentiful. Even though the leaves are getting really large, they are tender and tasty. I picked a bunch last night and washed and stemmed them this morning. The will be delicious tonight. We will even eat them with breakfast tomorrow morning. The leftovers are a great addition to vegetable soup. The “pot likker” is a tasty and healthy drink.

The days are getting so short that there is little time to work in the yard and the garden in the evenings. These short days also affect the setting of blossoms on the tomato plants that were moved inside the greenhouse. One of the weekend chores will to be re-rig and set the lights in the greenhouse to extend day length.

I don’t have as much wood as I thought to build new raised beds. Another weekend chore will be to mulch down the bare dirt in the garden. The beds that were planned for those areas will have to wait until more wood is scrounged. The compost is building up in the finished compost holding bin. It will have to be put on a tarp and covered to prevent all the goodies from leaching out.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Green Greens

The first of the turnip greens and mustard were picked Saturday. They were young and tender and clean. There were not a lot of them, but they were delicious. We had some more rain so they should replenish themselves quickly. The spinach and lettuce went into the ground Saturday morning. They were well watered in Sunday night so they should grow quickly. The tomatoes still have fruit on the vine and the new cucumber plant has blooms. Maybe we will get a late salad.

The high temperatures are supposed to increase Thursday, but the lows will stay in the 50’s. This is according to the weather forecast on the internet, if you believe it. The afternoon sunshine should make things grow. The speckled lima beans that were just vines have finally set bunches of beans and they are filling out now.

This is the time for a good side-dressing of compost. Beans and other legumes put nitrogen into the soil until they start fruiting. Then they are heavy feeders.
The weather is perfect for aerating the lawn and over-seeding. If the lawn is full of weeds, and you don’t want to use a lot of chemicals, try planting winter rye grass. The lawn will be green all winter. The rye grass will choke out the weeds. In the spring the lawn can be over-seeded again with an appropriate variety that will take over when the rye grass dies in the summer.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Winter Heroes

When winter comes and most of the garden is fallow, there are still some heroes that provide fresh vegetables, vitamins and quality meals. These are the members of the crucifer and allium families. The low temperatures here have been in the low twenties and high teens for 4 nights. The rain barrel in the greenhouse has a ¼ “ skim of ice on it. The top 3” of the compost piles are frozen. The wood in the woodpile is stuck together. It is cold!!

The mustard, turnips, arugula and fall planted kale and radishes are still fine. The radishes are not big enough to pull yet and they are growing slow; but they are growing. The greens are tenderer and better tasting. We don’t usually pick them while they are so stressed. We will wait until after a rain perks them up some.

Last nights dinner was spaghetti squash. Fresh green onions from the garden and rosemary and thyme personalized the spaghetti sauce. Rosemary and thyme are winter hardy as are the onions. The only problem with the onions was that extra care was required in pulling them; because the ground was frozen. The spaghetti squash is a winter squash. It was picked in August and has been laying around in the dining room. It would probably keep for several more months. Sadly this is the last one.




David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Winter Garden Tasks

There is almost as much work to do in the garden in the winter as during the growing season. The big difference is that there is no emergency. Just do it when you like. Once everything but the winter crops has played out or frozen, the whole garden can be tilled and mulched. The mulch over the tilled ground keeps it soft and makes the earthworms really happy. The mulch cover can be tilled in just before spring planting or pulled aside. The tilling may not even be necessary.

Planning is a lot of fun on nasty days. The unplanted garden like the imaginary lover is always perfect. If salad greens and sallet greens are planted, they need to be picked regularly to keep them growing. After a frost, they get really tender and tasty. Salad greens are eaten raw, sallet greens are eaten cooked. Greenhouse work is fun too. Winter is a good time for changes to the landscape.

This year raised beds are being installed in as much of the garden as is not planted with something. There is an easier method than double digging. The soil is tilled as deep as the tiller will go. The box is built on top of the ground. It is filled to within about 3” of the top with compost and topped up with the loose dirt from the pathways. The fallow beds are mulched.


David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/