It’s December 18, we have not had temps below 20 deg F, and greens are holding up well.
Usually I plant out the garlic cloves in October or November but we had no rain in those months and the ground was dry. When I returned from Australia and New Zealand early December the ground was moist and it was pleasurable to clear the beds, turn in the compost and populate with garlic. I have noticed some leaves emerging and hope the delay will not affect their growth. I used to store the garlic heads in mesh bags in the basement but they became moldy and now I string them together in bundles and store them in the carport and they do fine.
Growing well now are turnip greens, purple top turnips, collard, kale and radishes.
Our greens taste like greens should – so much of the store bought stuff is anemic. I planted out some winter cover in October, not much because I was water constrained, and it too is growing well.
I have not yet added additional storage tanks to harvest surplus rainwater. So, in the meantime, since my tanks are full, I am pumping the water to the contour ditches and the fruit trees to infiltrate the water where it will be useful. I am continuing to prune my fruit trees. The pears have a strong vertical habit and need extra attention. My Asian pear is my best producer and I deferred pruning in the past since it was doing so well by itself, but today I pruned and then bent towards horizontal it topmost boughs.
And my big project this time of year is to bring in the leaf bags of my Atlanta neighbors. Leaf fall was delayed and now is busy time.
