“We were planting up our winter greens this morning, and noted that there was a big difference in root development – we had kept them watered – as you cannot let them dry out when they are that size, but the ones on the outside edge that were dry had much healthier roots….”

Dawn & Susan sent me a photo of their little seedlings, raised in Calgary for winter greens, and today – on December 13, 2015, they were busy transplanting when they noticed the difference in quality between the plants in the center of the tray compared to the plants on the outside.

Chances are, even though I know they water carefully, the quality difference was because the “inside” plants got water-logged. When you are growing in our northern climate it is hard to water “just right” at this time of year because plants are barely growing – even in a greenhouse, unless you give them extra light.

The inside roots were probably lacking oxygen because roots continue to respire even in cool weather, and moist oxygen-starved roots are weak compared to the better-aerated roots on the edge .

 But who really knows? Gardening is all about playing and “experts” like Elliot Coleman, in his book “The Winter Harvest Handbook” stress plants won’t actually grow when there is less than 10 hours of sun per day (this happens at different latitudes but in Calgary and in most of Canada we are probably down to eight hours of sun a day right now and I am not sure when we crossed the 10 hour threshold.)

Coleman says that once we are at less than 10 hours of sun a day it is all about harvesting and not about growing, so you have to plant things early enough in the year so they literally sit and wait to be picked at this time of year.

Meanwhile in my own little greenhouse in Qualicum Beach, some spinach seed I started in October have just sprouted true leaves so in fact they are still growing even though they also have less than 10 hours of sun. Of course I am a forgetful gardener who rarely waters, so they are probably just fine despite me not because of me. I just checked them and the “soil” is barely damp but the plants look fabulous. They’ll make a great replacement crop for the bigger, but now bug-eaten, ones I transplanted outside in the later fall.

But Susan and Dawn aren’t just growing greens: “we planted our surplus pea seeds,and will have a good crop of pea shoots for Christmas, we will send you a photo….”  Merry Christmas.

Thanks for keeping in touch guys and thanks for the photos (see their peas below and little greens above).