Bleak (?) mid-winter. Some of the most beautiful sky pictures can be seen this time of the year.

Tower Garden harvest.  This is our harvest for our salad December 27.  Yes, that is a tomato, vine-ripened, with the lettuce, kale, arugula and cilantro that went into the daily salad.  It is not so remarkable in warmer latitudes, but this is Minnesota! It's a very first time in my over 70 years!

found object.

Christmas sunset. The days are getting longer, not enough for you to notice four days past the solstice here at 45 degrees north latitude, however we know they are longer. If we lived in Scandinavia or Alaska four days from solstice might already be an appreciably longer day.

Winter! This picture shows the cold of our season here in Minnesota. Snowbirds who live these moments in some warmer climate miss out.

Winter sky. Some interesting and beautiful colors of the December sky are kind of elusive.

December harvest! Do those words go together in the winter wonderland where we can get more than a foot of snow in a 36 hour time period?  Well, it's a first for me but it's work I enjoy and adds to better health. This was from my Tower Garden yesterday and went into our meal.

http://melvins.towergarden.com

Record snowfall! That was just for a 24 hour period. We had two back-to-back so that the snow here in Andover was more than the "official" measurement from the international airport.

White Christmas? I think I see one coming. Andover got about 15 to 20 inches of new snow: last night, yesterday and the night before. Everything is covered in white.

Found Object.

You know the time of the year when the weather is cold and gloomy. Now all of our snow is eaten up by rain and the landscape longs for the brightness of new snow. Yet there are still a few bright spots as:

Found Object.

Found Object.

Found Object.

Found Object.

Black Friday! Somebody didn't tell whoever is in charge of the climate change. As much winter as we need here in Minnesota --- snow, ice, cold air and wind.

Thanksgiving Day! And look at the strawberries on our Tower Garden. This is a first among first experiences in my long gardening career. And I am grateful.  I wish the best blessedness of the Thanksgiving holiday to you all.

 http://melvins.towergarden.com

Found Object.

Found Object.

Found Object. 

Outdoor gardening is now officially over for the year on November 10.  Believe me, it is much later than ever before in my gardening career. Frankly, for the last month not much growth took place on the Tower Garden except those peppers you see weren't even there at the time of first frost.

The produce left on the tower:

http://melvins.towergarden.com

Found object. In the strangest of places . . .

Found Object. How do you like this one?

Found object. Here's an especially interesting one.

Found object. 

Strawberries! In Minnesota, October 30 we have strawberry blossoms on our Tower Garden. This is another first in my long gardening career. The Tower Garden remains exciting!

http://melvins.towergarden.com

Found Object. This is the ugly part of fall when the colored leaves are mostly on the ground and in leaf bags and the landscapes will be gorgeous again when that white fluffy stuff sticks round.

Tower Garden. Outside in Minnesota: October 24. Of course it gets to go "in" at night!

http://melvins.towergarden.com

Found object. After the deluge of rain in this parched land this morning, this:

A good part of the fall color comes from the sky this time of year.

Tomato plants don't realize that Minnesota Winter is coming -- still making new growth and even blossoms.

Found object. Here's one from our walk this morning.

Eggplant flowers. Some of the nicest blossoms of the season and after the tower has come indoors!  We'll see if we can get any eggplants from them.

http://melvins.towergarden.com

Found object.

Back inside!  Although the plants hadn't died from the cold, the days here in Minnesota were not warm enough to convince zucchini that it was still a season in which to grow and thrive. Therefore we brought one tower indoors to grow salad on for our winter enjoyment.

http://melvins.towergarden.com

And here's another found object. They are everywhere!!

Found object. Another one for your visual enjoyment.

24 degrees last night!  This is different. Our Tower was outside [covered of course] and no noticeable change happened to the foliage at all. We'll see how long old man MN Winter will hold off!

Found object. Something that's hidden in plain sight, waiting to appear on camera.

For just a few days a year -- sometimes less than two weeks -- we have a tree that looks like this. Then all the leaves are on the ground to be recycled and in spring we will have a new green suit.

Now it is a week later and this tree is almost nude!

Fall color. It has sprung almost instantaneously. And the unexpected is the most delightful.

New growth!  This is September 28 and our tomato plants on our Tower Gardens have new growth.  You may not be as amazed as I am because maybe you don't know about how it used to be. I am not a novice gardener -- I have had a garden all my life and raised quite a bit of produce.  Fact is, however, late blight quite often has taken the tomato vines in the beginning of August and, if not, frost in mid-September here in Minnesota. Look at new growth on my tower today!

http://melvins.towergarden.com

Tower Garden harvest. We get daily produce from our Tower Garden directly into our salad, which for my former garden in the soil was very seasonal. In this picture is the harvest for a single day.

http://melvins.towergarden.com

Autumnal equinox. Sometimes everyday "things" just make beautiful pictures. For example, this picture I found on my walk this morning.

Frost! Not too early for this winter wonderland but it gives the grass a grey color this morning. Tower Gardens and flowers were covered this morning to escape its cruel edge. We just have to wait now for the other shoe to drop. Soon enough we won't be able to grow anything outside until spring.

Found object. This is my idea of the "happy accident" in art.

Eggplant!  I need to share these pictures today. We are going to enjoy eggplant from our Tower Garden.

http://melvins.towergarden.com