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You are here: Home / Gardening / Signs of Life

Signs of Life

January 29, 2010 by Alea Milham 4 Comments

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fertilizer Friday
A couple days of rain have melted the snow and I was delighted to find signs of life in my garden. I am amazed because we had night time lows of negative 10 degrees and I did little if anything to protect the plants.
January 2010 012
I truly expected my strawberries to die. They have survived previous winters, but this year an early storm caught me off guard and I did not have enough straw to completely cover them. I ran around the yard looking for anything to throw over the plants and found some dead leaves. Even still the coverage was incomplete. I consoled myself by saying that once the first snow melted, I would go in and put more straw down. But the snow never melted and we kept getting more and then the temperatures dropped so incredibly low that I gave up all hope. Yes, I did a happy dance when I found that my berries were not just living, but thriving – thank goodness for tall fences!
January 2010 013
Amazingly my arugula, patience dock, Swiss chard, and parsley all survived the winds, snow, and extreme lows. Some of the older leaves look less than desirable, but there were enough tender young greens to make a “garden” salad in January. In the Sierra Nevada Foothills!

What is growing in your garden? Has the odd weather we’ve had this winter had an impact on your garden?

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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

Comments

  1. Tootsie says

    January 31, 2010 at 4:55 am

    I am so looking forward to seeing some signs of life in my garden…my greenhouse keeps me going over the long snowy winters!
    thanks for posting to FF this week. I added the entries for the draw for you…and I hope you join me again

    Reply
  2. Darla says

    January 30, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    You ain't kiddin' it's been weird weather and yep it's made a big difference in my gardens.

    Reply
  3. walk2write says

    January 29, 2010 at 9:49 pm

    I've enjoyed reading some of your earlier posts and watching the progress of your garden. It looks like you have wonderful soil. In answer to your question about green rhubarb, yes! It may require a little more sugar, but the flavor is still delicious. Unfortunately, I can't grow it here in Florida. We used to be southern Illinoisans, and the rhubarb plants were some of my favorites. A few strawberries mixed in with the green rhubarb will substitute for the lack of red.

    Reply
  4. Troy says

    January 29, 2010 at 8:46 pm

    After reading all about everyone elses warm sunny gardens, it did me good to read that someone else has been experiencing cold weather. I was afraid that we were the only ones who were having winter.

    It seems that snow makes a pretty good insulation against the cold and the wind, saving the plants underneath.

    Who would thunk it?

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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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