We have had a lot of rain. Living on the West Coast, we are essentially living in Rain Forrest Territory. When I look out at my garden, at this time of year, all I can say is it looks drowned. Well, the rain actually stopped briefly, so I headed out to the garden to see if there was anything that has survived from my Aug/September plantings. There was enough lettuce and spinach for one big bowl of salad which will be a nice accompaniment to our fresh sprouts.
I was happily surprised to find these greens were ready for picking, usually by this time of year, my garden is sunk! There was also a meals worth of Russian Red Kale, and Swiss Chard. The Collard greens that we planted, would have done well except the slugs have happily been eating it away. The slugs are certainly one thing that thrives in this wet West Coast weather, much to my horror!
Each fall, we plant from seed, with the hopes of having a winter garden. We have never succeeded, as there is just too much rain. At least that is my guess, but then I wonder, how do other people in our region successfully grow a winter garden? What I have discovered, is by the early spring, the fall plantings seem to come back. Usually we have Spinach, Swiss Chard, Collard Greens and Broccoli. They are predicting a cold winter for us on the West Coast this year, so it will be interesting to see what will survive. In fact, the news just indicated by the weekend we could have snow! If that is the case, that is rare indeed. Usually if we do get a sprinkling of snow, it is not until January or February. In any event, I am happy to have this bowl full of fresh goodness, I am sure it is the last we will see until next spring. If anyone has successful tips on growing a winter garden, want to share?