But how do you feel about winter? :-)

You could move to FL and learn to hate the heat and humidity, been there, done that too. Hang in there, spring is coming! Oh, and be sure you are getting enough light in the necessary spectrums or depression can set in.

Well honey, here in the south we call that pitching a hissy! Believe me, when we lived in upstate New York I pitched hissies all over the place--hated the cold, hated snow, hated slipping and sliding, hated shoveling . . . well, you get the idea.
Come on down to Texas. Right now we're having a cold spell with nighttime temps in the 30's and daytime in the high 50's, but this too shall pass. We are to be in the mid-60's by the weekend.
Have to go weed the vegetable garden and pick some spinach.

WOW! Already??? Wait until February. Sounds like you need to move. ;)

Dave

Yeah, and Winter hasn't even started yet.

I really feel for you. I was going crazy when I lived in northeastern Ohio. I am an outdoors person and I could not take the winters. So I moved to California.

Now I am anxiously waiting for some fancy collard seeds i ordered, and wondering where to put my pak choi, and some mustards, chinese cabbage and some more beets and carrots. My peas are already climbing well and I am harvesting them already. I have already made several salads with our tasty lettuces, carrots and radishes. My artichokes and favas are looking really nice. I am still harvesting tomatoes and peppers.

I love all this 4 season gardening but let me tell you some of the bad things. I cannot get more land, because even if I could pay for it, I would not be able to pay the property tax bill on my expected retirement income. My water bill is very large (working on reducing it). We have earthquakes and fires very often. On the last fire, I could not work in my garden, the air quality was too bad and I got sick just breathing the air. The autumns are so unpredictable that I always have to sow two types of crops, just in case we get Indian summer, or not. Even with all these drawbacks you might like it here. Property values have halved from what they were in 2006 and 2007, so now would be a good time.....

Drop in over at the Winter Sowing Forum. We're just getting started with our planting, and we absolutely love sharing the message with newcomers!

You'd be much happier in the south. I live just outside of Memphis, and really dislike the wet, chilly weather we're having, but can nonetheless look forward to several nice days each month. I'm going outside in a few minutes to pick lettuce and swiss chard for Mrs. Baby's dinner salad. And turnip greens and onions. Misterbaby.

Thanks for the moral support! :=)

Um, no time for depression. My life is way too busy and complicated for that. I will admit to me one seasonal indulgence, which is sluggishness due to the short days. I'm a bundle of energy in June, and you need to poke me with a sharp stick in December to get me to move.

Move away from Michigan -- NEVER! I can't dig up 2 acres of stuff and take it with me, so I'll just have to make my stand here and go down fighting! I'm waiting for global warming to kick in really good, so that in my old age, I have the same approximate climate that Atlanta or Dallas has now, LOL.

I know, everyplace has its good points and its bad points. I'm just stuck in 4 months of Michigan's bad side. C'est la vie!

You have a greenhouse or high tunnel, do some winter gardening. Here in Kansas, it hasn't been above freezing for several weeks. (Today it is 38, so that streak ended.)

I went out in my small hoopbuilding and picked spinach for our salad. It has been down to -9 with windchills in the -20's. The stuff is yummy! I usually feel like you do, now i am excited about the possibilities of a winter harvest!

Much bigger plantings for next winter. Yes it is strange to put on the winter coat, hat, gloves, and say "Going to go pick spinach." But I love it! (oh, yea first year for this.)

Good Luck!

Jay

It's amazing how fast you can replace an orchard. This is my 6th home orchard. And you don't miss any time on the garden end except a few things. I actually like starting a new orchard more than harvesting the crops. So come to SW Texas. It's 62F outside right now and low 90s in summer. I actually prefer the winters and I don't like snow, ice, or cold. We get very little of any such. Summers don't have the heat or humidity of Dallas or the Southeast.

I grew up in northern Illinois. This is much better. I'll have fruit trees blooming in my greenhouse in two wks. Actually the blueberries and citrus are blooming now. And I'm still eating my own grapes, apples and citrus.

The Fruitnut

Sounds like you should move to a warmer more temperate climate. I personally could not stand living in a zone below 7 (that leaves like 60% of the U.S. out of the question for me).

no rain no rainbows

You took the words right out of my mouth!

But hey, the lowest we've gone so far this year is -11 and that made 30 feel warm! Is that the bright side?

We're having a heatwave right now...tomorrow it may get up to 25F.

Snow is for visiting, not living in.

Well I have to say I looooooooovvvvvvvee the snow! I am so happy to finally live somewhere I get nice pretty snows. It makes me so happy, I go outside and play with my dogs in the snow like a kid, and I am 32 LOL. Bring it on I say!

This is the time of year I pour through seed catalogs in front of a roaring fire with a glass of wine, and plan my attack for next year.

Sounds like you should take up skiing! Or snowshoeing or winter photography or something else that will get you outside. Winter is so much more enjoyable if you can find a reason to get outside on a regular basis.

Don't forget too that winter is useful for scheming and dreaming. In other words, make yourself a cup of coffee, grab a scratch pad, your laptop, and a whole stack of seed catalogs, find a comfortable chair and start planning for next year. I could recommend a good book too, but I'll tone down the shameless self promotion. :-)

Cheer up! :-)
-Diggity

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Imperative

I find the seed catalog and interminable planning business more depressing than the short days. Better to just not think about it for a good long while yet. At least you are employed, that's more than a lot of us in this area can say. Loads of time to make furniture and do all sorts of carpentry tasks around the place now for me.

I second the notion that making new gardens and orchards is more fun than maintaining. Thinking about my young trees growing in florida helps me get through.

I don't mind snow, I just don't like it when it gets on the streets or when we get our fantabulous ice storms which cause people to go into some kind of psychosis and start driving like it's the end of the world. I don't like winter much but I have lived in Hawaii, Florida, Texas, California and Arizona. So, Dorothy, Toto and I had to put those red shoes on, ditch the witch and click on back home...say it...there's no place like home...there's no place like home...
I like the winter because I can take time to plan for next year and enjoy the holiday season with all my friends and family. For me, holiday season begins with Halloween and ends the day after New Year's Day. I enjoy planning the next growing season, making my charts, getting in the greenhouse in January and wearing my shorts while I'm planting tomato and pepper seeds. In my part of Kansas we can count on some tolerable weather in between some nasty cold spells. It was almost 50 yesterday. Today it's in the 20s. I don't mind. It's only a couple of months. I'll be seeding in January and February, planting out in mid-March and so on...It seems worse when it's cloudy and dreary and not so bad when the sun is out.

I used to complain about the snows and cold (we're in a heat wave right now - it's going to get up to 15F on the weekend) until I realized that garden pests that most people are concerned about are too smart to live here. Is it odd that I'll take the -40 weather if it means the only real headache i have is keeping my dogs from eating all the tomatoes?

I'm not happy until it's warm enough to put okra in the ground.

I'm happier when it's producing fruits. When the okra is producing everything else is.

Is it June yet?