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The December Garden

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. Our December garden is full of green – vegetables, grass and weeds. I’m not as diligent with weeding as I am in the spring, partly because I don’t have to water as much so I’m not out there as often. I probably shouldn’t admit that (or show some of these photos) but we try to keep it real here. 

We haven’t had a freeze yet, it’s been close a couple of times but hasn’t dipped that low, just yet. We’ve also had quite a bit of rain and moisture. We’ll still end the year about 10 inches short of our average rainfall but that is better than the 20+ inches short we’ve had the last few years. 

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. This is the carrots, turnips and weeds bed. There are actually quite a few carrot seedlings under the weeds. I’m not sure what weed this is, but it’s popped up everywhere. I need a good weed identification book. 

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. The cress has completely taken over the lettuce and Chinese cabbage bed. This is the first time I’ve planted cress and in the future I will not plant an entire package at once. It has flowered really early and since it has some spice to it, I’m only using a tiny bit at a time in our salads. On the bright side, the bees and butterflies are enjoying the flowers. 

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. This is the cauliflower and cabbage bed – and weeds. There are some broccoli seedlings in the middle that need to get divided and transplanted. 

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. Our cabbage is just starting to ball up – I love that. 

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. Apparently, we didn’t dig up all of our potatoes this summer. So we have a bed of volunteers. On the right side of the bed I sowed onion seeds. I’ll be separating them and transplanting them soon. At that point I’ll dig up the potatoes. Next year, I’ll intentionally plant some fall potatoes. 

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. The kale and Swiss chard bed is full. At each end we have also have beets. We go out daily to pick from this bed (and the lettuce bed). We use the kale in soups and smoothies. We use the chard in lasagna and sauted with onions and garlic. 

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. We have a couple of basil plants still hanging on. I stripped them when I thought it was going to freeze about a month ago and they have just continued leaf out. 

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. We still have some cherry tomatoes but it’s not warm enough for them to really ripen. Eventually I’ll clean out this bed but until then I’m just letting them grow. 

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs. We’ve had more rain and dampness than we normally do and I found these in the chicken yard. Does anyone know what kind of mushrooms they are?

What’s going on in your gardening world this month?

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Thanks for sharing with your friends!

Michelle

Sunday 22nd of February 2015

Did you find out the type of mushroom? I was going to say chanterelles but as you know mushroom distinction is better left to the total experts! Smile. We used to pick wild mushroom in the forests of Finland and make mushroom pie. Delicious. My favorite are fresh chanterelles.

gwinnyb

Thursday 18th of December 2014

looks like chicken of the woods ....usually grows on dead wood is a shelf style mushroom has no real pretenders but check before eating because online is not the best way to obtain information. love your blog!

Angi Schneider

Saturday 20th of December 2014

Thanks for the mushroom info, I'll have to see if I can take some to the county extension agent to get a positive id. I don't really have enough courage to eat wild mushrooms, I thought it was interesting looking. The chickens seem to be leaving it alone.

Anna @ NorthernHomestead

Wednesday 17th of December 2014

Looking great, just like my July garden ;). Trying hard not to be jealous. Our garden is covered in hoar frost. Even though I periodically complain about the long Canadian winter, hoar frost is something I would not want to miss.

Angi Schneider

Wednesday 17th of December 2014

What is hoar frost? In July, I'll be the one jealous of your lovely green gardens while mine is burning up in the heat.

Janelle

Wednesday 17th of December 2014

All the green in your garden looks great! We had a hard frost and I didn't have time to get things covered. I've got a pile of seed catalogs and can't wait to get planting this spring! Seeing your garden definitely gives me spring fever!

Angi Schneider

Wednesday 17th of December 2014

We got the Baker Creek catalog in the mail this week. I've dog eared almost every page..ha! January is our coldest month, I'm sure we'll get some frosts then.

Rachel E

Tuesday 16th of December 2014

I think it still looks great. I planted cabbage in the fall, but we had an early freeze that killed the plants. I didn't know for sure if it would continue growing and for how long. So I plowed all the cole plants under. My cabbage was balled up though. I had a horrible amount of worms. Can you tell me, are the small black pellets pool from the worms?

Angi Schneider

Tuesday 16th of December 2014

Probably. I know the holes in mine are from worms. I'm not doing anything about it right now, but if they get too much worse I'll spray with some bt. I usually just have to spray once.