Early winter farming

What is there to do on an urban farm in winter? The answer is somewhat up to the user. There is definitely less to do and more time for inside leisure activities like baking, reading, writing, and watching TV just by nature of the days being so short. There is also a range of importance to the outdoor and indoor farming-related tasks.

In early December, I make wreaths to sell.

Wreath ingredients from my yard

The grapevine I harvest to make all my wreath bases

My amazing Colorado blue spruce

Probably the most important activity is taking care of my overwintered seedlings. These are flower seeds, seedlings, and corms that I plant in the fall for spring blooms. Because we can have a harsh winter climate in Colorado (but not always), most of the plants benefit from protection in the winter. The little microclimate of a low tunnel will help them bloom a little bit earlier in the spring.

I use hoops made of EMT (electric conduit) that I bend with the 3’ hoot bender from Johnny’s. The taller hoops get greenhouse plastic on them with “doors” held on by spring clamps. There’s also smaller hoops made of wire inside the tunnels (yes, these plants are spoiled). On the smaller hoops I use AG-50 row cover. Nearly every day, I open and close the row cover so the plants can get the most sunlight and air flow, which is extremely important. On sunny days, I also open the tunnel “doors” for air flow.

Another thing I do is monitor plants that are still harvestable now or will be ready in the spring.

Some greens I can harvest now

Onions growing over the winter

Leeks ready to harvest next to a cover crop

There’s some miscellaneous tasks below that I putter around on. I wrote about planning last week and I’m always thinking about my plan, refining my plan, or implementing my plan.

Cleaning up plants like asparagus

Building compost piles

Moving this monstrosity

Indoor seed starting lisianthus

I ordered a small round of tulips to try to force hydroponically for V Day. The tulips need a couple more weeks of “chill hours” before being “planted” (in water), but my thermostat didn’t come in time to control my new cooler (a converted chest freezer). I dug a hole and “planted” the whole box and covered it with leaves. It’s staying between 36-48 degrees F down there. We’ll see…

And lastly, of course…cleaning up this *censored* pile and organizing the garage and house so I can hit the ground running in the spring.