December Garden

 Bakersfield December Garden

Strawberries doing great!

All the gardening websites and books say that Bakersfield is in a zone 8b and 9, a prime area for winter gardens. No wonder it's known for carrots and other winter vegetation. Living in the midwest for 15+ years, there was no such thing as winter gardening. It was a blanket of snow. However, Bakersfield is quite the opposite. Thank God!

What's up with my garden though? I've been waiting anxiously for the past few months to pull the tomato plants and peppers out of the ground. Yet, they keep blooming and producing! The tomatillos have more blooms now than they did in July and the tomato plants? Holy Moses! There's at least 5 good sized green tomatoes on it! Granted, the birds and a yucky tomato worm ate most of our precious tomatoes this year. Plus an ant invasion in the garden this summer. I'm still looking for a homemade ant repellent. Maybe I will have to plant some companion plants to deter those pesky pests.

Purple Broccoli under plastic sheeting

We are well into December. Everything should be withered, brown, and dead. The only thing I have covered are my spices and purple broccoli. The strawberries under my DIY greenhouse are doing really well too. I just can't believe it's December and the garden is still growing. It makes me wonder why the people of Bako don't have a winter garden? It's so easy! All you have to do is throw a plastic sheet over your garden (when there's a chance of frost). No hoop house required. Just make sure the plastic doesn't flatten your plant so prop the plastic sheeting propped up.

In the future I want to build a greenhouse and that brings me to another point: why aren't there any tax credits/incentives to build a vegetable greenhouse? It reduces the carbon footprint and here in the valley and we need anything and everything to reduce the filthy smog.

Here's to stocking our fridge and pantry throughout the year- no matter how cold it gets.
Thanks for reading!

Peppers in the Garden. Dead or Alive?

Cover on Pepperocinis and Tomatillos. Not even weighed down

Peppers in the Garden. Dead or Alive?

As we have now received frost and rain sprinkles, I'm officially declaring Bakersfield to be in the winter season. Most people have four seasons. Bakersfield only has two: spring and summer. I'll call it winter since I know this will drive most people crazy.



Either way, the frost has landed. It has turned many plants, including most lawns, an ugly brown. Ick. So, Ms. Busybody here at the Bako Depot (me aka Mommy), has put "pull plants from garden" on the to-do list since I've got the (small) greenhouse built.



I had a little extra plastic sheeting that I didn't want to just throw away or fold for next year. What did I do with it? I threw it over my pepperocini plants and tomatillos since they are still blooming. Seriously? Yes. Their little yellow blooms are still budding in the middle of November.

Pepperocinis. Full of peppers and still producing...

I don't have any idea as of why they are still producing when it's between 50-60 degrees during the day. Maybe they are waiting for the 80-90 degree weather to reappear soon? Or maybe it's because I asked them (yes, the plants) why they are still producing this late in the season.

The Anaheim plants produced small and sparse peppers this summer and then abruptly lost all its leaves. This left us green sticks out of the ground. I figured they would come back this summer, but no. Those Anaheims decided to be little stinkers and wait until November to even think about producing more peppers again.

Anaheim. Tiny peppers during summer. No blooms until recently.

 

Heck, my zucchini plants are still producing as well. They have blooms, but no veggie. That's fine. I guess I'll wait until all the tomato plants, zucchini, and peppers turn that ugly brown. I'll just have to continue and monitor them until I can bid them adieu.

Zucchini. Wilted blooms and wrapped around itself.