Winter Garden!

I’m wishing I planted more than six peanut plants now. Turns out the dry summer in the south has caused a shortage of peanuts. I recently read that peanut butter will go up in price by as much as 40%. Its alarming. I have always looked to peanut butter as a dependable survival food. I spent childhood as a latch key kid eating government program food. We would get boxes of food that always included a huge metal can of government branded peanut butter. I lived off that stuff. So in my mind peanut butter is what you can turn to when there is nothing else.

I am not a doomsayer…not at all. I don’t grow food because I think the world is going to collapse. I do it because I think it is essential. I think we need to recall our human knowledge about where food comes from and how to produce it. We need to keep it active and strong. I believe that by doing so, we have a better chance at developing appropriate alternatives to a food system that has been failing us. That said, I cannot help but be alarmed by the ever increasing prices of basic foods.

I am feeling glad to be in a community of active local food producers working with others to teach them how to grow food and to distribute excess food throughout the region. That said- those of you in the East Bay, don’t forget you can get a winter garden in place for food through the coming months. You can extent your summer crops by using floating row covers, plastic or other heating trapping techniques. General rule of thumb, cover crops will grow in two hours of sun or less; leaf vegetables need two to four hours; brassicas and root vegetables need four to six. Direct sow your roots. Do it now!

What to put in the ground now:
Vegetables:
Artichokes (bare roots)
Arugula
Asparagus
Beets
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard
Collards
Daikon Root
Garlic
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Lettuce
Mache
Mustard Greens
Parsnips
Peas
Radicchio
Radish
Rhubarb (bare roots)
Rutabaga
Spinach
Turnips

Herb:
Chervil
Cilantro
Cress
Dandelion
Dill
Fennel
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Savory
Tarragon

Cover Crop:
Bell beans
Clover
Daikon
Fava
Rye
Vetch
Wheat

* Photo by Better Homes & Garden

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