Winter Wine Barrel

While not as safe from critters as planting in the greenhouse, planting in a wine barrel worked out pretty well for me this winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I learned three things while using the wine barrel for my winter garden. The first was a bit of a surprise. Despite my previous experiences, I discovered that I actually like radishes. Don’t get me wrong. I am not a fan of spicy radishes; but rather, at least to me, chopped up and stir-fried radishes are really good. Unlike in the heat of the greenhouse, the lettuce that grew in the wine barrel was very thick and dark. But also unlike the greenhouse, the squirrels bit through the barrel lettuce - so I didn’t get to enjoy much of that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last thing I learned from my winter garden was that I can actually grow carrots here in the Bay Area. Howbeit I am starting off with hybrid carrots, hopefully sometime in the future I can ease into a vigorous open-pollinated variety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, I'm grateful for the opportunity to garden in a wine barrel this last winter. Despite the occasional attacks from the squirrels, we managed to realize a bountiful harvest.

Winter in the Greenhouse.

After many years of fighting squirrels and slugs in the winter, I decided to try something a little different in the winter of 2022-2023. Specifically, I decided to try growing away from the main garden. My theory was that if I put the plants far from the squirrels, they would tend to bother them less. While this is generally true, it is especially true in the greenhouse, where the squirrels can’t get to my plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My greenhouse plants grew faster than those grown out of the greenhouse, but this came at a cost. Winter vegetables often perform better in cool weather. The lettuce was not as good, as dark or as thick and the carrots were not as sweet as when kissed by a frost. On the other hand, radishes are not as fussy. Unlike the other two vegetables in the greenhouse, the radishes I planted in the greenhouse performed just as well – if not better – than if planted outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The primary disadvantage of growing in the greenhouse was having to water more often. Because the greenhouse does not let water in, I needed to water the plants a lot more than I had to water my outdoor plants – which tended to remain well watered due to the rain and cool weather outside.

Redleaf Lettuce in Wine Barrel

Over time, I have often noticed small weeds trying to grow from the sides of my wine barrel planter. Sometime over the winter I decided that, if weeds can do grow there - then veggies can too.

 
I planted some Outredgeous red lettuce seed in the side of the barrel by poking some small seeds in the side, then adding a bit of very fine compost.

 

When I say "red lettuce seed" I don't mean the seed is red. It's the lettuce that turns red: you'll see! 

The lettuce grew pretty slow at first, so I added a little more soil to them.

Once the little plants were established, they did really well. They kept growing until the heat set in.

 

I was a bit worried that the heat would turn them bitter, so I harvested all of the outside leaves when the lettuce finally began to wilt. Fortunately, they were very sweet. No bitterness at all. That is a lot more than I can say for the greenleaf lettuce grown in the main garden. The green looseleaf lettuce turned bitter. Perhaps it had to do with how little I watered it?

Finally, for those of you inclined to watch my lettuce grow, here is a little GIF.

 I hope you have a bountiful harvest wherever you choose to garden this spring.

Springing to Life

Although spring has been late in coming, it is finally warm enough to have my garden truly blossom. My garlic and onions are continuing to grow, though I did have to push my garlic over to keep it from heading. Temperatures here in Fairfield are fluctuating between the low 70s and the 90s during the day and between the 50s to 60s at night. The 90 degree temperatures have caused my lettuce to begin bolting, though my Jericho Lettuce never became bitter even when it began to bolt – a wonderful quality about the Jericho Lettuce cultivar. My Spanish round radishes have begun to bolt. I am really not a fan of these plants, but for the sake of keeping a wall of spicy plants I have kept them around to seed. Perhaps I can grow them again next fall for the same purpose.

Carosello and Jericho lettuce with onions in the background

Even next to my new Greenhouse, my Oregon Sugar Pod II peas have done exceptionally well. Though the creator of Oregon Sugar Pod II has created some vegetable varieties that still need improvement, such as the tomato cultivar Siletz, Jim Baggett did a fantastic job with the Sugar Pod II.

Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas

Sugar Pod II Peas still producing

My tomatoes have grown a lot faster that I have anticipated, when compared with my carosello plants. The majority of my tomato plants are much larger than I would prefer. Although I planted all determinate plants this year, determinate does not necessarily mean short. Next year, I will most likely opt for all dwarf varieties, much like my Redhouse Freestanding and Hahms Gelbe tomatoes. The most amazing producer so far has been my Taxi tomato. This variety is developing its flowers and fruits so much faster than my other tomato varieties, even in the presence of minimal light. I’m hoping the taste is as good as people say it is.

Red House Freestanding Tomato

Redhouse Freestanding surrounded by Hahms Gelbe

Taxi Tomato Variety

At last, the carosello have finally taken off. The cold wet weather made it difficult for the plants to grow. For a while, though the leaves were light green, they have become darker as the temperature has increased. I wonder if melon plants metabolize nutrients more effectively when the soil temperature warms up. Female fruits are finally beginning to emerge. As the Carosello Polisello varieties I have are not completely stable, I am still planning on self-pollinating them with each plant’s own pollen until the fruit matures enough to be able to determine which plant produces a lighter base skin color.

Carosello finally taking off! (=

Finally, a female flower

It is incredibly wonderful how well my garden has grown. Despite pruning and removing the occasional tomato plant, everything has been growing to become beautiful.

carosello flowers are beautiful

Wishing all of you a spectacular spring!