How to handle the winter time blues

[Grunt]

Were getting more snow tonight followed by freezing rain then more snow. I keep thinking about spring and have found a good way to combat the winter time blues. I drug out my seed catalog and started to work on this years seed order. We have eight raised beds, two cold frames,a spice and herb bed, asparagus, blueberrys, rasberrys and about 50 shiitake mushroom logs. Really nice to get a cup of coffee and a legal pad and go through the catalog. Good way to escape winter, for a bit. 

[Tsalagi]

Hey, you grow shiitakes? Cool! My wife and I gather wild mushrooms. We still have King Boletes and Lobster mushrooms we dried from a couple seasons ago.

[JustAim]

Yeah, I need to start thinking about the garden too.  For my family and I, winter is a time to slow down and reflect on the good times we've had and to just enjoy each others company while the day's are slow and dark. For me, I like to be in the woods when its cold to camp out and to just be with nature....or to shoot at the little critters if they get too close  And no I'm not trying to ''hijack'' the thread



 



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Traxx]

AWWWWW!!!
That splains a lot then.

[Grunt]

These days I'm more interested in sugar snaps, pole beans, squash, tomatoes, snow peas, cucumbers, potatoes, lettuce, mustard, spinach, swiss chard, thyme, basil, cilantro, sage, lemon grass, oregano, parsley, dill, beets, radishes,  are you getting hungry yet? I think I'm going to order some flax seed to see if I can make some linen. Be good to know how to make linen. I know that under all that snow the good earth is just waiting. Winter time blues are leaving. 

[Timo]

Grunt, gonna turn all my stuff into raised beds this year. What are your frames made from?

 Did you just fill with mother earth,or something sterile?

[Pat B]

We grow shiitaki mushrooms also. Have for about 10 years. Need to start new logs this year probably.
We also pot up our lemon grass to overwinter in the house. Dog and cat love to eat it. Have blueberries also. Haven't had good luck with other fruit trees for some reason. Grow tomatoes, peppers, squash, cukes and a few other vegs and lots of cut flowers.

[DanaM]

I also have a garden its only about 12' by 30' but don't have a big yard, stuff like peppers and tomaters I buy bedding plants from the local greenhouse
summer is to short to start from seed. Going to plant collards this year I'm going to be the only Yooper to grow it, heck you can't even buy collard seed up here
As for winter you have to get out and enjoy or it will drive ya crazy, we cross country ski, shovel snow, ice fish, shovel snow, snowshoe, shovel snow 
Also winter is the time I make bows and stuff

[Grunt]

Grunt, gonna turn all my stuff into raised beds this year. What are your frames made from?

 Did you just fill with mother earth,or something sterile?

Timo, The saw mills around here are loaded with hemlock right now. The reason is the woolly aldebid is killing all the hemlocks and folks are cutting them and selling them to sawmills. I had cedar 1x6's  for 15years replaced the cedar last year with rough sawn hemlock . Hemlock will not rot in contact with the ground. I bought several 12' hemlock 1"x6" for $3.00 each.  Stay away from pressure treated. I just double dug and added compost and lime and manure. Takes a couple of years to get the beds working.

[Timo]

Grunt, got a buddy with a mill that sold me that he will cut me some 2x8 red cedar. Should last a few years. Was gonna use osage, but just can't bring myself to laying it in the ground! ha

Staying away from anything treated.

Planned on dbl dig with manure. We will see. Thanks.

[cracker]

Luckily we don't have much if any snow here winter is when we do your hunting. Summer is for fishing.Ron

[Hillbilly]

Tim, double-dug raised beds are the way to go. It's amazing how much food you can grow in a few small beds.

[DanaM]

Whats double dug mean, can't say I've ever heard that term

[Pat B]

Dana, you dig out the bed and set soil aside. then dig it again and replace all the soil(basically). Gives you a deep, soft bed.  Keep beds 4" wide so you can reach the middle and don't step on the soil and compact it. You can add compost under the top layer to feed roots and it will keep soil warmer in fall and winter...well, maybe not ya'lls winters.
  We grow salad greens and spinach in fall and spring. If the spinach is big enough when winter comes a simple wire cloche and clear plastic will allow us to have fresh spinach all winter for us. Lettuce usually melts at the first hard freeze.

[Grunt]

Grunt, got a buddy with a mill that sold me that he will cut me some 2x8 red cedar. Should last a few years. Was gonna use osage, but just can't bring myself to laying it in the ground! ha

Staying away from anything treated.

Planned on dbl dig with manure. We will see. Thanks.

Timo, Make all your bed sizes the same. I did this and built two coldframes that I can sit on top of the bed frames. Base frame, ridge pole, two doors on hinges. Every year I pick them up move them to a new bed.