We are cold in Atlanta, and plants have stopped growing. The lettuce unhappily defrosts every morning, and succumbs again each night to ice. If you touch it when it is frozen it will die. If you let the sun thaw the leaves, the cells become elastic again and live one more day.
The fava beans look like they won't be as tolerant as the lettuce. Only last week they were blooming. It was taking a chance to plant them so late--I think they went in late September--but the flowers, unexpectedly small for such a robust looking plant, were a hopeful sight in January. We'll replant in a month or so for an early summer crop, or perhaps just as a cover crop to feed the soil.
The board over the window of the slowly-imploding house next door has been removed. Someone may be sleeping inside on these freezing nights, and it can't be much warmer in than out.
In this garden rest time, the seed catalogues are pouring in, full of bright colors and tantalizing new varieties. Also, a mural wall has sprouted in the garden. We went shopping for paints just before the holidays, and picked out colors to rival any seed catalogue. With a blank canvas, a palette of fancy spray paint, and an artist to lead the project, we will create a vision of the garden in full bloom before the first season's seed gets tucked into the earth.
This and other projects will easily fill the time before planting begins. Farmers in colder climates get a little longer break than in the South, but we'll take what we can get and hopefully use it wisely.
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