Patience

One of the biggest lessons I am learning with winter gardening is patience.  My spring garden yielded something I could pick and eat fairly quickly.  Within a month there were grape tomatoes and shortly after the cucumbers appeared.  It has been 10 weeks and so far the only thing I was able to eat was baby romaine which I took to a friend's Christmas lunch.

This week, over two and a half months after planting, the first tiny broccoli florets were visible inside the plant.

There are a lot of books on vegetable gardening and I recently read “Carrots Love Tomatoes” by Louise Riottee an introduction to companion gardening. 

I like the idea of planting vegetables next to each that assist each other.  The philosophy is that companion plants help to combat pests, add needed nutrients to the soil and that some plants can inhibit the growth of others. 

This morning I decided to plant a second round of winter vegetables carrots, leeks and lettuce. 

In anticipation of and preparation for planting tomatoes this spring I planted carrots in the box that tomatoes will go in.  And because onions and broccoli are companions I planted leaks along side the broccoli. 

The vegetables I planted today won’t be ready to be picked until March and the broccoli picking is probably still a few weeks away.  Patience.