On 08/29/2016 05:27 AM, songbird wrote:
you may be too overfocused on food and
not seeing the major point, which is that
during the winter, when the ground is other-
wise being left fallow you have the chance
to grow a crop which will vastly help your
poor soil. harvest the free energy from
the sun, use those roots/exhudates to help
break apart that soil. get nearly free
organic matter.

Maybe so.

Our growing period is so short (mid June to Sept/Oct)
that it just seems like "cheating" to plant over winter
vegi's. And I do love garden garlic!

And Winter is also the time for me to write up everything
I have learned and plan for the next season.

So far, winter has not improved my soil. Your advice,
yes. Winter, not so much.

One thing I learned is that don't count on seed exchanges
to give you the exact seed you think it is.

Over half this year's
http://www.rareseeds.com/striata-d-i...Keyword=SSQ110
turned out to be something entirely different, but they
were fast growing and produced huge fruit, plus were
very tasty, so and wonder if I will reorder the same
seeds next year? The ones that were striata-d-italia
took a long time to produce.

The
http://www.rareseeds.com/ronde-de-ni...Keyword=SSQ111
are a hoot and a half! Pumpkin shaped zukes! Plus
their leaves have a lot of wax on them. Maybe it will protect
against powder mold? We will see.

-T