For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."
how to use persephone days if you want to harvest all winter
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Today I just seeded another round of winter-hardy greens in my garden:
(All of those seeds are linked to my favorite seed sources.) These are all Asian greens that easily survive and even thrive in my zone 5 microclimate without a greenhouse. They're fast-growing and mild-tasting, which means you can keep harvesting salads all winter long if you plant them this month. Wait, this month? Isn't it too late for those of us in cold climates? Nope! Contrary to what many people think, cold temperatures are actually NOT the major factor that affects plant growth in winter. It's day length. Even if temps are mild where you are, the shorter days are what really slow down your plants. Knowing how to work around this is key to a thriving winter garden. In most of the country, you can still get started before we officially enter fall. (I've even sowed seeds as late as mid-October and picked baby salad greens in January.) I have a new post about all of this, where I talk about Persephone Days and how to use them to your advantage. Last weekend, our family celebrated the hubby's birthday and the kids' final week of summer break with a guided, multi-day rafting trip on the Lower Deschutes. It was our kids' first overnighter and first Class IV whitewater, and we all had such a blast! Our kids as we approached each big rapid section: "We don't wanna get wet!" After each set of rapids: "That was SO FUNNNN! That wasn't even scary! Bigger! BIGGER!" 😂 We spent three days rafting down 45 miles of river in Central Oregon and I really missed that feeling and those river vibes. If you've explored other sections of my blog, you may have seen some of my older posts about kayaking rivers in California and New Mexico. Pre-kids, we used to kayak camp a few times a year and loved exploring new sections of whitewater. We even did a multi-day rafting trip on the Rogue River when I was pregnant with my oldest (and that was my last whitewater adventure... I can't believe it's been nine years). But after we moved to Oregon with our then 1-year-old, big river trips were put on hold until our kids became strong enough swimmers. Now that they're part fish 😆 we're dipping our toes back in and seeing how we feel about RAFTING. I love the idea of manning an oar frame on a raft and spending a few nights on one of our gorgeous PNW rivers. Maybe one or both kids will get into paddling their own duckies one day, but being able to haul all our camping gear on a raft is very appealing in this stage of life. We're casually looking on FB Marketplace and keeping our eyes and ears open for used rafts, but in the meantime, this was the perfect end to summer... ❤️ (I know it's still summer, but now that the kids are in school, it's already fall in my mind and time to start planning weekend backpacking trips. 😊) P.S. How to calculate your Persephone Days so you can harvest from a winter garden without a greenhouse. P.P.S. Are you drowning in delicious harvests from your garden right now? Learn how to store all your produce properly (whether it's homegrown or store-bought) so it doesn't go bad!
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Garden Betty
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."