A Winter Stroll

Although the temperatures are currently way above freezing, the cold and snow in November wreaked havoc with some plants, such as this previously thriving Brussels sprout plant in a boulevard garden.
However, right across the street, a nearby fence must have provided a different micro-climate. These Brussels sprouts did not freeze, and of course the hardy garlic is thriving.
This is the new front-yard garden, seen in my blog of May 22, 2010. It must be broccoli in the background. The pathways are obscured by leaves. Leaves may look messy, but they are an excellent ground cover during our soggy winter months.
This high raised bed with herbs on the boulevard isn't as striking as it was in the blog of September 23, 2010, but items can still be harvested.

It may be hard to see the leafless blueberry bush in this boulevard garden. It is mulched with cedar needles. Note the healthy parsley plant nearby.

I am featuring only one photo of kale, but it is in about everyone's garden. A couple of the kale plants seeded themselves outside the confines of this mixed veggie/ornamental front yard garden with a curved border along the sidewalk.

Now over to the garden of a retired librarian couple in my neighborhood. (For more on this garden see blog of October 6, 2009.) I don't usually take photos in back yard gardens, but they invited me to see this stunning January King cabbage that survived the cold in great style, unlike their more typical cabbages that turned to mush.

Going to their front yard garden, I found "Freckles" lettuce, trimmed asparagus stems, and leeks (note the pea plants used as ground cover behind the leeks).



Eating from a winter garden is definitely more thrilling than seeing photos of winter gardens. To avoid boring you further, I'm going to sign off until 2011, with this photo of a neighbour's new use for wire tomato cages: