Mature in snow

In my vegetable garden, a winter greenhouse has become the heart of our cold season garden, providing us with homegrown vegetables and herbs from December through March. This unheated structure, which is also featured in my book, Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden , captures solar energy and shelters a wide variety of cold tolerant crops like kale, carrots, leeks, scallions, carrots, and spinach. I also use the greenhouse to extend the fall harvest, start seeds for the main garden, harden off transplants, and get a jump on spring. And when the weather warms up in late spring, the raised beds inside are planted with heat-loving crops like tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers to provide an extra-early harvest.

The snow leopard Panthera uncia , also known as the ounce , is a felid in the genus Panthera native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is threatened by poaching and habitat destruction following infrastructural developments. It inhabits alpine and subalpine zones at elevations of 3,—4, m 9,—14, ft , ranging from eastern Afghanistan , the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to southern Siberia , Mongolia and western China. In the northern part of its range, it also lives at lower elevations. Taxonomically , the snow leopard was long classified in the monotypic genus Uncia. Since phylogenetic studies revealed the relationships among Panthera species, it has been considered a member of that genus.

TOKYO — Authorities in a southern Japanese city feared a band of marauding monkeys might still be on the loose Wednesday, even as they detained and killed a primate perpetrator suspected in a spate of recent attacks. Local authorities in Yamaguchi, about miles southwest of the capital, Tokyo , said they were remaining vigilant for any further incidents involving a simian gang of Japanese macaques. More than 50 people had been injured as residents were terrorized by monkey attacks over the past three weeks, they said.

Growing winter squash requires some patience, but this garden vegetable is well worth the wait—and most varieties have a long shelf life after harvest. From butternut squash to acorn squash, learn how to plant, grow, harvest, and cure winter squash in your home garden! Because winter squash requires a long growing season generally from 75 to frost-free days , the seeds are generally planted by late May in northern locations to early July in extremely southern states. See your local frost dates and length of growing season.