Winter Landscape

I don't cut back a lot of my plants at the end of the season, for a few reasons: 1) I can be a bit lazy in the garden, 2) the plants provide food and shelter for wildlife, and 3) they just look so pretty with all that snow.
		You can see all the bunny tracks in this picture; maybe not the wildlife I would like to be sheltering in my garden. But what you can't see is the several dozen chickadees and various other winter birds that dart around the garden picking food from the remaining vegetation. Nature's bird feeders.
		They are especially good at getting the remaining seeds from the prickly echinacea. I love the contrast of the almost lethal looking spikes sticking from the soft, sparkly snow.

Winter Wind-down

We still haven't gotten any snow save for that little bit in October that melted rather quickly.

I have been working on my vegetable garden planting layout for next year and my seed order. I am hoping to find space to plant a little of all the seeds that I currently have now and will be ordering.

There are a lot of plastic containers in my basement ready for winter sowing -- my first attempt. Please leave me any advice and links to info!

I am also drawing up plans for a window greenhouse. I have a good sized window in my mud room that tends to get things piled in front of it (my son is the culprit) making it look really bad on the outside. It gets a lot of morning sun, so I thought it might be a nice place to set up some greens and herbs for winter use. I think that they will look much better through the window than piles of books and gym clothes!

I still haven't brought in my rosemary as it is holding it's own in the cold weather. It will come in this weekend. If you are a cold climate gardener - rosemary does just fine in a container and overwinters great in the house in a sunny window. In fact, the rosemary gets really tender in the winter and is even better!

I am continuing to research hoop houses looking for the best design for my uses. When I do build mine, you can be assured that there will be a step-by-step post. And I will be that much closer to year-round gardening!

Until then... I usually turn my attentions toward the kitchen in the winter, where I cook obsessively; much to the delight of anyone who knows me and lives near me as they get tons of great food (I cook way more than I could, or should, eat!). So, be sure to check out The Obsessive Gardener companion blog: The Obsessive Chef.