Winter Garden Notes, January 21, 2016

It's still winter, but I've made a small start to the upcoming spring garden, planting a few of the peppers and tomatoes that we will put out after the last frost date.  The Farmer's Almanac is putting 2/28 as the average last frost date for our area, but I'm shooting for mid-March, as that's more likely closer to the date for us in zone 8b.  We've had a pretty mild winter so far, and I don't believe old man Winter is done with us yet.

The peppers that I'm starting are:

• Gypsy Hybrid (Totally Tomatoes)
• Cayenne, Long Red (These seeds were a gift from my son two years ago, so I'm hoping they are still viable)
• Trinidad Moruga Scorpion (bought at a tourist shop in Fredericksburg, TX at Christmas time. I'm hoping these seeds are good.)

The Gypsy was recommended by one of the bloggers I follow as a good producer of sweet peppers, so I'm looking forward to trying these.  Here's what they should look like:

 Photo from Google Images

The tomatoes that I started are some that I've read about on other garden sites.  I'm kind of excited about these.  I'm also going to start a full size tomato (Mortgage Lifter) but I'm doing a viability test on those seeds since I've had them since 2012.

• Rapunzel (Totally Tomatoes)
• Ten Fingers of Naples (Totally Tomatoes) a paste type tomato

Here's how these should look (fingers crossed!)

 Photo from Google Images

Photo from Google Images

And finally I started 12 cauliflowers and a small flat of onions:

• Veronica Cauliflower (Territorial Seeds)
• Ruby Ring F1 red onions (Johnny's Select Seeds)

Thankfully the grow light and heat mat are both still working this year.

 So the bench in the greenhouse is starting to fill up with little seed pods.  I'll be planting more each day for a while, so more to come!

The California white garlic plants are still growing, despite being scratched up some by the chickens. Those birds will do some damage if I don't keep them penned out of the garden. These are all in the big raised bed.

John pruned the four peach trees the other day.  There's still the plum and apple trees to be pruned soon. 

The deer should enjoy these peach tree trimmings!

I came back from our mini-vacation in Florida sick again, so I'm moving kind of slow around here, and trying to stay warm.  I have a horrid cough that I'm more than sick of, so the sooner I get well the better.  I'm sick to death of being sick!