The first snow has arrived and with it a lot of chaos. We got sick earlier this month, so most of November was spent on the couch. By the time, I was getting better, snow had arrived–and we found out we’d need to move home and garden.

We got sick earlier this month, so most of November was spent on the couch. By the time, I was getting better, snow had arrived.

There is garlic in the snow right now, and the thing I’m most sad about is that I’ll probably never find out if it’s gonna survive. I’m gonna be spending most of the next two days driving, so I’m just here at the garden checking if anything needs any attention at all before I leave. I’m gonna be driving four and a half hours today, two and a half hours at the minimum tomorrow, probably more like 8. Yeah, wish us luck, keep your fingers crossed.

But let’s start a few weeks earlier when the temperatures were warm enough to sprout the garlic.

I didn’t cook much in November. We were pretty sick for most of the last three weeks. Between that and the mold and damp, I chose quick and easy.

Quick bursts of kitchen work, then leave the kitchen until dinner is ready.

When I was well enough to check on the garden, I found the garlic and onions had sprouted happily. I removed grass that grew on the beds, then decided to deal with the issue another day.

The high fall temperatures also meant the basement was too warm. We’d harvested the potatoes early because of the wet weather, and skins were too thin. Hopefully, they’ll survive until I can plant a very early crop in spring.

Three buckets and the open storage were looking great.

The kitchen mint that had died when the light vanished woke up again.

And then, very suddenly, winter arrived. And, as Murphy would have it, I had to drive that day.

We didn’t know how to deal with the garlic. The temperature swings were an issue. We’d considered adding a leaf layer and more straw to protect the baby plants. All the garlic and field beans had sprouted. But we also knew temperatures would likely pick up again.

Insulating them with mulch might make them grow even more on the coming hot days. We were torn. We were also pretty sick and moving mulch sounded more than exhausting to both of us. So, we risked it. The first real snow came as a surprise. It hadn’t been forecast yet. This made all the debate pointless.

We would have covered them that weekend–too late with the surprise snow. By now, we’ll likely have to leave the garden before we find out if the garlic makes it through winter.

It looks so good in here. Let’s check the temperature. Three degrees. It’s three degrees in the greenhouse. Wow. But… Everything’s looking good, and they should be able to stay here until I return from my trip. So I don’t need to water anything.

Everything looks good, and I don’t want to give them cold water. So we’re gonna leave everything as is. Yes, garden is looking good. Okay. One less thing to worry about. There are so many things to think about at the moment.

Because it’s very likely that I’m leaving my garden before the next growing season.

And there’s a lot that comes with that, and I’ll be very sad to let some of these things just go.

But wow, look at those brassica. Look at how well these have grown. All the winter greens were growing in more than nicely. So many nutrients for delicious meals. When we leave, we’ll harvest most of these and share them with our neighbors.

This green manure would terminate now with the first real snow. Soon, it’d die back.

Even the corn salad was gaining some size.

Let’s very quickly check on the rest. Oh, there’s so much work here to leave this garden. Ah, but I’m excited. I really hope this works out.

And yes, leaving the garden means I restored this entire roof for a single year of use. I’m okay with that. I learned so much while building this roof.

While I now won’t get to reap the benefits, I saw how well the overwintering beans and legumes were growing.

Two hours later, snow was covering the ground and roads. But there was no way around this trip, so I set out on a journey through the snow. The first few kilometers spread into 45 minutes of very slow progress and waiting for a car to be hauled out of a ditch.

It’s snowing a lot and we’re gonna get to even colder regions today, so… I’m gonna have to drive a lot. Yeah, um, heading out now. Wish me luck that it’s not gonna get too bad because I have 4.5 hours of driving ahead of me.

Luckily, only the first bit was bad. I quickly reached larger cleared roads.

Three days later, I returned with my hopes all the way up to a garden covered in snow. I harvested our first kale from the garden for dinner that night.

I logically know that brassica are frost hardy but seeing this much green in the snow blows my mind.

After multiple unsuccessful attempts to grow beets, the ones I supposedly planted too late were doing great. They aren’t massive but a good size and delicious–even when harvested from a snowy bed. Winter growing works better than expected.

The quick ground cover had finally died back while I was gone. I really like how that ground cover works.

The blueberries had lost most of their leaves. Good night, little plants. Enjoy your hibernation.

The garlic was now covered in a thick blanket of white.

So long, and thanks for being here.