Winter Garden and Rain

The garden was "put to bed" for the winter earlier this fall. Because of the location and slope, the garden beds catch a lot of rain runoff, so I seed crimson clover as a cover crop to hold the soil from washing away.  Of course a clover cover crop has other advantages as well.  The following pictures show the 4' wide beds (with 2' grass walkways between) with the clover.  Most of it has been "mowed" by rabbits, but the root structure is still fulfilling its purpose.

Speaking of rabbits...we have had quite a number of them living and procreating on the premises!  We have even enjoyed seeing them scamper around the barnyard area and they haven't bothered any garden crops before attacking this clover. We occasionally find a nest in an unusual place, like this one I found in the mulch of a berry row when I was hoeing last summer.

These little ones were pretty dug in, but when disturbed they scampered away to the neighbor's fence row for cover.  I wished them well as they fled!

Actually, we are thinking of getting an air rifle or a 22 to discourage them as it is becoming a bit much.

The rows of berries have been mulched with wood chip mulch that I can pick up for free at the county recycling place.

And the asparagus beds as well.

We are having what we call "Oregon days".  There have been too many of them in 2012 for my liking!  No offense to our friends in Oregon, but the reputation of Seattle and Portland for gray days is well deserved and we had enough in the 20 plus years we lived there to last a lifetime.  To it's credit, there is nothing more beautiful than a 75 degree sunshiny day in May in the Willamette Valley.  Something like the Garden of Eden!  But there are a LOT of gray drippy days to suffer through to get those few perfect ones.
Typically, much of the rain in Tennessee comes quickly in large quantities with much booming fanfare, but this year has not been typical.  Over 6" of rain in December so far spread over 10 days.  We barely dry out a little before the next front moves in.

The weather does lend itself to staying inside and doing "Christmasy" things.  We are enjoying the season and wish you all a very blessed Christmas!