I drizzle out cleaning over winter. Last weekend I raked and trimmed some plants back, sort of a rough stage one cleaning, the biggest one will be in late January or mid February when I cut back the grasses. Henbit is coming up in earnest along with the invasive Privet seedlings and a few dandelions & fescue from the property next door so thats been being weeded out with gusto. I've been direct sowing seeds in dribs and drabs insuring all kinds of surprises coming up in the mini prairie. I've added Astralagus, Prairie Larkspur, more Moss Verbena, Three Leaf Sumac, Spectacle Pod, SW & Texas Native varieties of Penstemon and quite a few others I would have to rack my brain or go through my box of home made seed packets to remember. Upstairs in a sunny window I'm growing various varieties of grass plugs which need warm temps in 4" pots (S. 'Prairie Blues', S. nutans 'Indian Steel', Weeping Muhly Gulf Muhly & Sacaton Alkali). I also have some Sand Penstemon up to get a head start on plants for spring. I plan to order some Muhlenbergia porteri (Bush Muhly Grass) seeds this week and sow those coming up indoors. To add more silver/blue I'm starting more Fringed Sage from rooted sections I took from the established plants. The over all plan is to tone down the bloomers in favor of texture since I want the blooms to just be accents of color among the grasses which will dominate in drifts. I took 3 large cuttings from a blue O. macrocentra cactus that I'm rooting indoors to add some more blue/purple sculptural interest in chosen spots which I will set out in March. I also have a nice blue shindagger agave I got in a trade this fall to set out that came from New Mexico, its under the carport wintering over dry along with another cactus that will form a patch of fuzzy 'dinner rolls' eventually. No journals or drawn out plans happen around here. No plant tags are saved or organized since most plants are from collected seed rather than a nursery but if its growing out there, I always recognize it and know where it came from even if I don't know the name of it yet which happens a lot. I like to spend time online trying to ID some of these wild things. Luckily I have big windows upstairs and I can look down and right away see the layout and spacing and plan changes visually. Thats about as close to a plan as I have, the rest is done in my head where I pretty much have it memorized anyway and nature makes many decisions here which are better than the ones I had. The sowing I do in winter makes the next year an adventure of sorts as I discover things coming up. This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Mon, Dec 15, 14 at 14:10

You're right in the middle of our winter growing season, but it's only about another month and a half or so before we start planting our summer crops. So, if I were you, I would only plant fast growing winter crops outdoors at this point (radish, lettuce, etc) unless you have lots of room to have both winter and summer crops in the ground - and definitely get your rear in gear on starting things like tomatoes and peppers indoors. Those I usually start indoors the first-second week of Jan to plant out at the end of Feb or early March. I'd also start preparing your outdoor spaces and planning for planting summer crops like beans, squash, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, etc toward mid-March or early April. We definitely grow year-round here. We usually can plant things throughout the winter that most climates have to squeeze in during spring or fall. If we get temperate years and you live in a decent micro climate, you can even grow some summer crops year-round (I still have tomatoes ripening on the vine from last March's plants). This is a good generalized guide about what to plant when in southern California - although depending on your micro climate you can definitely push the boundaries on a lot of these. Just a good rule of thumb. http://www.lagardenblog.com/2010/11/month-by-month-planting-guide-for.html And a rule of thumb for sowing seeds - http://www.grangettos.com/assets/products/VeggiePlantingGuide.pdf Lots of other guides out there too for the googling :)

It's been 34 both Friday night and last night here in Minneapolis. Admittedly here in the South Side, I live in a heat island, but I have tomatoes and peppers both set out, already established and blooming and a very nice peach set on my peach bushes. Nothing took any damage Friday night and I am expecting the same from last night. Friday night it was windy which helps. From here on it warms up here and you all get what we just had. Time to seed beans and squashes is just around the corner. Next week I will be thinning the peaches! First real crop on these two types of seedlings. We shall see how that all comes out later this summer. I think if I were to do it all over again, I would just go with Contender, but these were intriguing. Normally I would not have a vegetable fruit set this early to worry about. It looks to me though like I will be seeing fruits on my sweet banana peppers and maybe on my tomatoes very soon. The two Bush Champions have been in the ground close to a month at this point (a real gamble that it looks like I will be getting away with this time - I couldn't resist).

Unless they close the base, my husband never misses a day’s work. Very few places close unless it’s a “real” blizzard. We have engine block heaters to plug in. We have “blizzard kits” for ourselves and Sam, in each vehicle. You must dress correctly for the extreme cold, or you could lose various bits to frost bite. I repack and upgrade Sam’s and my kit every fall. They are in the vehicles by Oct. 15. DH does his own. A ND winter has a weird beauty, but you must be prepared. Soon...on my front porch looking to the northeast across the street.