A little Harvest

Winter is the grazing time for gardening in Tucson. Because there is less sun available in the winter the vegetables grow slowly compared to summer gardening. This makes greens perfect because you can pick off the outer leaves of lettuce or spinach over the course of the season, rather than harvesting the crop all at once. My family has been having salads from our Jerico lettuce for a while now and I have been very pleased with how this variety has been producing.

Harvesting a little for a fresh garden salad

Another vegetable I have really come to love this winter has been our Kyoto carrots from Kitazawa seed company. These carrots are fantastic. They are everything a carrot should be: sweet, tender, colorful, and delicious. They do require growing longer period than short varieties (because of their long tap root) and apparently the dark color and sweet flavor develop better when grown over a cold season. Not only does this variety makes a perfect winter carrot, but it makes you wish this was the only carrot you grew.

Kyoto Red Carrots are very pretty...

but sometimes when I take pictures of my vegetables...

in the background I see...

my children growing.

Growing winter vegetables is a lot like growing children. Growth is rarely noticed from one day to another, but as you invest time in them - over time you can see great things.