It’s been awhile. But just because I haven’t posted doesn’t mean I haven’t been gardening and cooking up a storm. My winter garden is coming along great.

I had a problem with cabbage worms for a bit. When I initially transplanted my seedlings the cabbage worms came in full force and nearly ate every last bit. I wish I would have spotted the problem earlier but I typically only have time on the weekends to work in my garden so the worms went untouched for nearly a whole week. But luckily I caught them before they actually killed anything. I hand picked the worms off and drowned them in a cup of water. After I had done this I read that what I should have done is not kill the worms, but throw them by my bird feeder in the garden to encourage birds – cabbage worms’ natural predator – to come and feed on the worms in my garden. Something to keep in mind for next time. (Although I hope there never is a next time.)

Anyways, things are recovering nicely. My Napa Cabbage is loving life and quickly consuming every square inch that I’ve allotted for it plus some.

My lettuce looks great and I’ve already gotten a harvest out of it.

I’ve also spent a ton of time pruning my roses and blackberries. I’m still new to pruning but the more I do it the more comfortable I get with really cutting things back. The me-from-two-years-ago would have gotten nervous with how much I pruned back my roses and blackberries. But now I realize the plants enjoy it and thrive from a good pruning. In fact my roses have already got a fair amount of new growth.

Overall things are looking great. I’m very happy with my first winter garden. And this is my first time growing any of the vegetables in my garden (except for the Swiss Chard) so considering that all I’m quite pleased. Until next time, happy gardening!