Looking back on January

The weather has continued to be up and down. 80 degrees on a Friday. 30 the very next Sunday. I have planted a few things. Onions, potatoes... lettuce, peas. But mostly I've just kept an eye on things. At one point I reached into my pantry for some sweet potatoes and realized I had a new generation on my hands. Because I've had absolutely no luck starting my own sweet potato slips for the past two seasons, I wasn't even going to try this year. In fact, I've already pre-ordered a purple variety from Seed Savers. Ah well! I plunked several of these into jars of water in my south-facing seedling window, and the slips have continued to grow beautifully. (Hoping for some effortless sweet potato vines, I also tucked a few of the smaller sprouting tubers into hanging baskets with fresh potting mix.)

My Beira Sea Kale seeds have grown true leaves since this picture was taken. I'll be putting them outdoors soon. I love the thought of perennial kale, so I hope it thrives.

I've transplanted all of these tomato seedlings to Solo cups since this picture was taken. The Nyagous seedlings are the most precocious... my mouth waters just thinking about them.

I harvested a pathetically small amount of cauliflower and broccoli from my late November plantings. It was disappointing, but part of the gamble. When we actually had a week of 20 degree winter weather, I was out of town and left everything unprotected. This purple bite was vibrant with defiance. It was miniscule. But it survived!