It's COLD and we're thinking gardens.

[prairiemom]

I just brought in a bag of topsoil to thaw (frozen solid sitting out in our barn) and will start mixing potting soil and next week will plant the brassicas indoors for early spring planting. I've never done succession planting, but want to try it this year.

If you're interested, I'm starting to write a series of blog posts on getting ready for the garden this spring. Here are the first two (more to come):
http://www.providenthomecompanion.com/planning-the-garden-first-things-first/
http://www.providenthomecompanion.com/planning-the-garden-starting-seeds/

There is this great little ebook on how to extend the gardening season: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B3JB5K6/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00B3JB5K6&linkCode=as2&tag=provhomecomp-20 And it's free right now.
(In case you didn't know, you can get a free Kindle Reader for just about any device: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sv_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771)

Also, if you're interested, I post free ebooks on my FB page just about every day. http://www.facebook.com/ProvHomeCompanion If you "Like" the page, you'll be notified when there's a new free ebook. Typically these are only free for 1-5 days, so you need to keep on top of it. A lot of the ebooks are blech, not worth the time, but some (like this one) are gems.

And I just found this great video on gardening all winter long: http://calebwarnock.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-video-tour-of-my-backyard-winter.html
I'm definitely getting his book when it comes out. My husband is doubtful that it will be any good for us in ND, but I'm willing to try.

[Ligure]

I read Caleb's stuff the other day on winter gardening. I think he either takes his ideas from this guy or at least has similar ones. The challenge is heating the greenhouse in an economical manner.

This guy grows oranges and lemons in Nebraska. Citrus is very sensitive to cold temperatures.
http://citrusinthesnow.com/index.html

I am fortunate that I live in the maritime NW zone and so my winter temps are not generally too low to grow greens year around like Caleb does. I have not done it fully yet, but I often have kale, chard, and brasicas overwinter without cover. Although I think they would fare better with cover.

Ligure

[tracie]

Your FB site looks great. Wish I could download those books to my NOOK!

[waif69]

I was just thinking about a 4sqft potato garden project for this coming growing season a little bit ago. Ah, I guess it is the time of year to do planning and not think of how cold it is.

This global warming can't come soon enough for me.