Winter Garden Tips & Inspiration!

Hello dear friends of the Sharing Gardens and welcome to our February Digest with timely "How To" articles on: Growing Peas, Onions, Kale, Milkweeds and other Winter Crops from Seed and Grape Pruning. (Image, left: Llyn Peabody 2020).

And, even if you're not so interested in gardening topics, be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for links to "An Amazing Synchronicity!" and a short video about the connection between 'sharing' and the 'experience of abundance'. Both are very inspiring and thought-provoking!

The back of our house, workshop, Oz-greenhouse and garden shed.

Here is our latest new post on Starting Early Spring Crops from Seed (lettuce, kale, cabbage etc) (but wait a bit on broccoli and chard because if they're kissed with frost they have a tendency to 'bolt' - got to seed). In it we offer step-by-step instructions using our method of starting seeds in re-purposed tofu-containers with holes drilled in their bottoms (left) inside a grow-tunnel or greenhouse.

We've also been having a lot of success starting seedlings directly in the raised-beds of our greenhouses (left). Read here about our methods.

PEAS: There's just nothing to compare with the delicious sweetness and crunch of edible-pod peas. Many years ago we discovered a method to get a head-start on pea-planting. Read this post to learn how: Valentines Day - Time for Pea Planting!

ONIONS: Some years we have better success than others in growing onions. With gardening, there are always so many variables so, what works one year, may not work the next! Here are posts that outline the methods that have yielded the best results over many seasons:

Onions - Growing from Seed - Using heat mats and shallow pots

Onions - Growing From Seed - deep pots 

The following article was written in the heart of summer but the first part of the post details onion harvesting and curing so we include it here. Growing Onions from Seed - It takes a Village

Kale is one of the easiest plants to grow in the Pacific NW; it is hardy through the winter and, if mulched and watered sufficiently can even withstand the hottest parts of the summer. Along with Collards it is the most nutrient-dense food per calorie! Unfortunately, it is also one of the most highly pesticided plants as well. Follow the links below to learn:

Why it is so important to only eat organically grown kale: Kale again in the "Dirty Dozen" - 2024  

Excellent info on the nutritional value of Kale and tips on growing it! "The King of Vegetables; 'Kale' to the Chief!" 

One of the pleasures of growing your own food from seeds is to begin to save your own seeds. With most varieties, it's not difficult and the seeds you save yourself will naturally select/adapt to be more perfectly suited to your local climate and conditions. Saving seeds also contributes to having a greater sense of local food-security in case there ever comes a time when seeds are not distributed over long distances, or there is a seed-crop failure in another part of the country. Read here for more tips on Growing Kale and Saving and Storing Kale Seed.

Cathy, Danielle and Llyn with Red Russian kale - a powerhouse of nutrition!

Another important mission of the Sharing Gardens is to provide habitat for the wild species of flora and fauna that call this land 'home'. Though we are at the very farthest northern reaches of the Western Monarch population we have established three perennial patches of Showy Milkweed, the host plant for the Monarch (and sole diet of the Monarch's caterpillars). We've yet to see a Monarch in our yard but there are plenty of other pollinating insects that just love it's sweet nectar. Here's a How-to post for growing milkweed from seed: How to help the Monarch Butterflies - Starting milkweed from seed

Adri and Kaylyn with Showy Milkweed plants

February is grape-pruning time in our area. Below is a link to two resources we've found to be incredibly helpful in learning the proper ways to prune grapes. The post includes both a video and an article with excellent pictures and descriptions to guarantee your success!

In previous years, we had experimented with different methods of pruning. Our theory was: the more fruit spurs we left behind, the more fruit we'd get from them. It can be a bit anxiety-producing to cut off a lot of plant material and reduce your grapes to just two canes and two renewal spurs (for next year's growth)! In truth, by cutting back the plants so radically, you may get fewer bunches but the ones you get will be larger and more filled out and easier to harvest. Click here for The Best video and article (we've found) on Pruning Grapes.

A fraction of our harvest following the cane method of pruning.

And lastly, we read an inspiring article about a woman who has been living without money for ten years. She said:

“I actually feel more secure than I did when I was earning money, because all through human history, true security has always come from living in community and I have time now to build that ‘social currency’. To help people out, care for sick friends or their children, help in their gardens. That’s one of the big benefits of living without money.” (To read the full article, click here: An Amazing Synchronicity! (and a woman who's lived 'money-free' for ten years!)

And, if you've any doubt about the connection between 'sharing' and 'abundance', please enjoy this marvelous, short video by our friend and partner in sharing Nick Routledge:

(In case this newsletter was forwarded by a friend, or you've just stumbled on our website for the first time and you would like to be added to our list to receive future newsletters, send us an email at the Sharing Gardens: shareinjoy AT gmail.com) "Bee" well!  Chris and Llyn

Sharing Gardens Founders and Stewards: Chris and Llyn