How Gardens Combat Winter Blues

My feelings in an earlier blog about loving winter and gardening did not – unsurprisingly – get universally agreement. To help those having a hard time, I offer the following:

Veggies ripe for picking

Coldframe Magic Fresh-picked spinach from your garden for dinner. Sound impossible? Here’s how you do it: Purchase, or if you’re much more talented than I, build a coldframe.  I like the company Juwel, because their products last, and you can purchase an automatic opener accessory, which prevents the coldframe from getting too warm on sunny days and killing your plants.  Plant lettuce, spinach and other cold hardy greens in late fall. Magic:  In late winter, crunch or snowshoe out to your coldframe and harvest hardy greens, even in freezing outdoor temperatures! Spring Bonus: You know how we all want to plant tomatoes, peppers, and other more tender veggie plants before Memorial Day. With a coldframe you can. By the time your cold veggies don’t need or want the coldframe anymore, move it to where you want your tender plants to grow. The coldframe will warm the soil, and provide plant protection until the weather says it’s okay for them to be on their own. I’d like to write more, but I’ve got to pick the spinach for dinner…