Winter Veggies

Lots of greenery here in January.

This is my first winter veggie garden. Why did I wait so long?  Summer gardening in Austin is more work and uses way more water.

Most vegetables are annuals from temperate climates. They hate our blazing sun, aggressive bugs and low rainfall, and they have to be coddled to do well.  Even the tough heat-lovers, like tomatoes and peppers, sometimes need relief in the form of shade cloth, and in August everything just quits. Winter is a different story. Spinach, lettuce and broccoli thrive when temperatures are cool, the sun is less ferocious, and bugs are not so plentiful.

Yes it freezes here.  That’s why our raised bed garden has hoops made from bendable pvc pipe. When a freeze is predicted my husband and I pull plastic sheeting down over the hoops.  Then when the weather is nice we roll the plastic back up out of the way. The plastic is held in place with giant clips from the office supply store.  Clunky, but they work.