Well, here we are going into the second week of January 2012 and no sign of extreme cold.  The coldest it’s gotten here in the valley is 13 degrees…only for one night.  Yesterday’s high was 53 and today is 39.  It sure helps when it comes to heating the house.  My biggest concern is that with the warm temperatures, the bees become more active and, as a result, consume more of their stored honey.  I have to keep an eye on them come February and March, before the blossoms start, to make sure they don’t starve.

I planted 286 more garlics this weekend…mostly to sell as “green” garlic.  The 667 that I had already planted will be reserved mostly for bulbs and will be harvested in July.  The green garlic can be harvested May through June or until they start forming bulbs and the papery tissue that separates the cloves. I can continue planting more garlic cloves for green garlic for another month or so.

Planted 55 sweet white onion sets today in one of the tunnels.  The idea is to have them harvested as bunching onions in April or May.  I’ll continue planting them in batches as the weather permits up until late March.

I made a couple of pictures showing what’s left in the tunnels and how everything is progressing.

The first shot is of Radicchio on the left, baby beet greens on the right inside a tunnel.  The Radicchio is the variety “Early Trevisio” and is beginning to form heads…doing well.  The baby beet greens become more tough with the cold weather but they’re still very, very edible…especially steamed.

 

 

 

 

The second shot shows two lettuce varieties to the left and radishes.

Although small, the radishes are still bright red and tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third shot shows the two celery plants that were left…doing well even after 13 degrees.  A row of carrots is to the far left in that tunnel.  That tunnel is about empty now so I’ll be planting it out with spinach come Valentine’s Day.