January Thaw and Green Growing Things

We in Connecticut are experiencing a short-lived January thaw. Temps today were in the high 50's and the sun tried to peek out from time to time, but already the clouds have thickened and it's getting colder. I decided to visit the garden and amid the detritus scattered all around (my garden clean-up was less than ideal this year) I saw a surprising amount of greenery that was not weeds, but leftover plants from summer. I even harvested a handful of very small carrots that I've been munching on this afternoon, so I suppose I've had a real Harvest Monday!

 Just a few short days ago, the garden above was covered in inches of white! And below...ta-da! My harvest of carrots, which are much smaller than the photo makes them look. Still, it's January 14th!

 I found a tiny little lettuce growing in its own micro-climate, in the pathway, sheltered under one of the rocks that surrounds the bed. Again, much tinier than the close-up makes it look. I'm amazed at its indomitable spirit, living on like it has through freezes and snow, without cover.

 Here's a little flat-leaved parsley peeping out from some autumn leaves and straw.

 And, one of my late-planted kale. There are several, none of them protected. Perhaps they will provide us some of our earliest spring greens, along with some overwintered spinach, which I did protect but neglected to get a photo of.

 There were a few komatsuna plants still hanging in there. It looks like some of the wild critters had been munching on them.

 And a handful of onions that were missed in harvesting because they were too small are sending up their green shoots.

 I also found quite a few autumn-sown arugulas bravely growing among the stones and weeds.

Alas, the cold weather is on its way back they say, but it sure was nice to get outside in the fresh air and visit the garden. And to make the day complete my Fedco seed order arrived with all but a few back-ordered packets in it, so I am getting very excited to start planting in just a few weeks.
Now I'm for hopping on over to Daphne's Dandelions to get my weekly dose of garden inspiration! I especially love seeing the pictures from the southern hemisphere, because they remind me of the good things to come.