To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
And so it is with gardening. The winter season of gardening is a time of planning, considering, and enjoying the bounty of the previous seasons.
Almost every night we’re eating something from the freezer or from a canning jar. But we also enjoy a few vegetables thriving in the cooler weather. Beets rest in the ground covered with leaves.
We may need to pull them all out before the first major cold snap, but we’re enjoying them several times a week now. They are still delicious, although they aren’t quite as sweet as the earlier warm weather harvest.
During the summer, a ground hog took a liking to the brussel sprouts. Finally in early October, my husband managed to capture the cabbage-loving rodent in a Havahart trap. Hopefully that ground hog is waiting to see his shadow on the banks of the Ohio River. With his departure, the brussel sprouts recovered and at least once a week they grace our plate, small, tender and full of flavor. We should be able to enjoy them with reasonable winter temperatures and some snow cover as insulation.
Stakes and strings are removed, and leaves cover the floor of our garden bed. Onion seeds are ordered. We discuss the poor showing of peppers and beans this past summer and consider the options for our location. We know the peas underperformed because of the addition of mushroom compost when they were just sprouting – too much, too soon. But we’re puzzled by the sweet peppers that never seem to get very big before rotting. Cayenne and jalapeno peppers thrive in our Pennsylvania garden for some reason. Our green, string, and lima beans also produced very little this year. Anyone else ever have these problems? How did you solve them?
Soon the process will begin all over again with modifications and adjustments learned from last year to fulfill “every purpose under the heaven.”
Recipes:
Living Lightly 
I wish I could keep some kind of garden, but unfortunately we live in a townhome and only have a small patio that gets very little sunlight during the day. But maybe one day… 🙂
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I just saw a book for free on Kindle about gardening everywhere even in an urban setting such as yours. But sunlight is a problem! As you say, maybe one day. . .
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Yum! It all looks delicious, and has me craving freshly grown Brussels sprouts. I’ll have to try my hand at them in the garden next year. Thank heavens hubby caught and relocated the ground hog! It’s wonderful that Pennsylvania has a nice long season, and that you are taking advantage of it. Thanks so much for this post and these recipes too! Cheers, Gina
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I was surprised at how long we can garden here (I lived in Florida for 30 years where there’s at least 3 seasons for various things). If we built a hot bed or green house we could do more but I’m thankful for the changing seasons. Thanks for your always positive comments.
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