I’d love to say that my winter garden is growing like a weed. That we’re eating lots of healthy winter vegetables and that I’m well into preparing my spring garden beds. That would be so far from reality it’s not just sad, it’s scary. All of the summer rains meant that I needed to do some remedial preparation on the one tilled garden bed to be able to plant fall / winter vegetables. I have so far managed to dig three partial rows. Between the rest of the farm work and the winter rain (because it’s winter and that’s our rainy season) I’m still not much further along now than I was a couple of months ago. Less if you count the damage those nasty caterpillars did to my beets and rutabagas.

But I digress. I do have a few things planted. Those turnips which were not eaten my caterpillars are doing wonderfully. I have replanted some of the previously planted rows. The radishes, while weedy, are growing quite nicely. My carrots are slow to grow but it appears I will have a fabulous crop if nothing happens. They are doing so well I even needed to thin them!

The rabbits thought the carrot thinnings were candy. They vacuumed up the tops, then ate the bottoms. The only other thing I’ve seen them eat so quickly was the broccoli raab leaves.

I’m also slowly getting the walkways heavily mulched to keep down weeds. I am planning (hoping? praying?) for the rows to be fixed, which means I am using a more permanent mulching method. I have, to no one’s great surprise here on the farm, chosen to use waste wool to mulch my garden. One can never have too much wool.