The winter garden is lovely in its own way. The flower borders don’t look so great, especially because I’ve been pruning away all the dead stuff, and giving the perennials their annual haircut in hopes of a great spring and summer bloom. But the veg garden - well, it’s abundant, and diverse, and a riot of different shades of green.

Snap peas, broccoli, beets, and kohlrabi are all ready to harvest. Every time I’m out in the garden, I eat a handful of peas or a couple of spears of asparagus or a chard leaf or two. We’ll have broccoli tonight, roasted with garlic, olive oil, and parmesan. We’ll have the beets tomorrow, roasted in foil and peeled, tossed with caramelized shallots, orange slices, and lettuce in a balsamic vinaigrette. I’ll eat kohlrabi plain, peeled and sliced, for a crunchy snack.

It’s going to be above 40 the next couple of nights, as we’re expecting some rain, so I’ve taken off the row covers so the plants can soak up the moisture and sun. It feels good to uncover everything and revel in all the varieties of green. There are no bugs to worry about (a very nice side effect of winter) and it helps me to see where the holes are, and where I can get a quick crop in. I pulled some bolting arugula today and seeded in some rat-tailed radish, which you do not eat for the root, but for the swollen seed pods. I might try to get a quick crop of tennis ball lettuce in before spring. It just depends on the temperatures, and whether we get warm enough to germinate anything.

I’ve seen several native bumblebees on the manzanita, so they are out of hibernation for the most part. The local Bewick’s Wren is building a nest. The peppers have begun to germinate on their heated mat. It’s the time of year where we’re all starting to feel a bit restless, but there’s still a lot of winte left. Ours has been warmer and drier than usual - how about yours?