After a balmy run in November, looks like December is ready to show us that it is officially winter. Last week I officially shut down the greenhouse for the rest of the winter. We turned off the heat, shut off the water, and emptied those few beds with plants still in them. Here's what it looks like now:
compared to what it looked like in August:
Last year the greenhouse stayed running through the cold months but there were lots of crop failures and too much energy expended. This year I decided to call the greenhouse a 'Three-Season Greenhouse' and not to use it over the winter. Because it is made of plastic and not glass, it does not insulate especially well and it is hard to keep a consistent temperature with our downright frosty winters here in Maine. Staying in line with our interest in sustainable practices, for the yield of herbs and veggies we get out of the greenhouse, it is not worth the energy needed to heat it this time of year.
The raised beds are also ready for the winter, which they will spend outside. The garlic is frozen hard into the soil and will stay that way until March, probably.
So I get a break from gardening! I'll spend this time, like many Maine gardeners do, learning about what worked and what didn't from the previous season and planning for the next. I hope to peruse glossy (and non-glossy!) local seed catalogs to decide on some new or repeat plantings for the spring and summer. Sounds like fun to me!
Until Then,
Your Happy Hibernator
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