The eleventh of December. Must be a great day to... harvest vegetables from the garden?
Okay, maybe it's a little late, I'd usually have done this more like Thanksgiving week, but this year I was not only away during Thanksgiving week, but the autumn weather held unusually warm right into the first week of December. Even now it seems a bit unseasonable -- in the high twenties at night and high thirties to low forties during the day, ideal for my cold frame crops which are so lush they are threatening to push the lights right off the tops of the cold frames.
The ground has a light dusting of snow at my elevation, and a thin crusty frozen layer -- but under that top layer the ground remains loose and yields to a gentle tap on the shovel. Weather predictions for later in the week are looking like single digits at night though, which will push that frozen layer deeper, so now is the last window of opportunity for garden digging.
I dug up the last short row of Belgian endive root, to bring indoors in a bucket of sand to sprout for winter salads and braised greens. Up came the last of the beets, Lutz Long Keepers, about ten of these, each maybe 4 inches in diameter, sweet and luscious. The the last few Gilfeather turnips and about a half-dozen rutabagas.
I dug out one short row of carrots and may run back out to dig another; there are about six or eight 4-foot rows out there, mostly small as I've been using the bigger ones through the fall, but once that ground freezes I won't be seeing them until spring. Since they last so well in the garage or vegetable bins in the fridge I figure I may as well get quite a few in now.
I also dug up the last half-dozen leeks, not very big, this was my first year growing leeks but I'm a complete leek convert now and will start some leek seeds good and early next year -- yipes, I mean in just a couple weeks. I rinsed those and stuck them straight in the fridge for use in the next couple days.
Finally I cut down the last of the lacinato kale, stripped the leaves and stuck those in a bag in the fridge. I pondered what to do with the few big green bursts of stir-fry greens and celery which are looking rather sad in this cold weather, but I'm not sure I would be able to use them in the next couple days so I'm opting to leave them just a bit longer, knowing I run the risk of losing them.
The hardy kales out there I'm not concerned about -- Winterbor and its cousins will be just as happy under the snow, while the dwarf Scottish kale is thriving in the large cold frames along with sorrel, radicchio, mache, arugula, frizzy endive, beet greens, turnips, broccoli raab, italian dandelion, chard, and a half dozen other things I'm forgetting.
Christmas shopping -- well, I've barely begun that. But getting the food in, well, that's taken care of for the moment.
Want to learn more about growing vegetables mid-winter? Check out Eliot Coleman's two essential books, Four Season Harvest and The Winter Harvest Handbook. Great winter reads!
Okay, maybe it's a little late, I'd usually have done this more like Thanksgiving week, but this year I was not only away during Thanksgiving week, but the autumn weather held unusually warm right into the first week of December. Even now it seems a bit unseasonable -- in the high twenties at night and high thirties to low forties during the day, ideal for my cold frame crops which are so lush they are threatening to push the lights right off the tops of the cold frames.
The ground has a light dusting of snow at my elevation, and a thin crusty frozen layer -- but under that top layer the ground remains loose and yields to a gentle tap on the shovel. Weather predictions for later in the week are looking like single digits at night though, which will push that frozen layer deeper, so now is the last window of opportunity for garden digging.
I dug up the last short row of Belgian endive root, to bring indoors in a bucket of sand to sprout for winter salads and braised greens. Up came the last of the beets, Lutz Long Keepers, about ten of these, each maybe 4 inches in diameter, sweet and luscious. The the last few Gilfeather turnips and about a half-dozen rutabagas.
I dug out one short row of carrots and may run back out to dig another; there are about six or eight 4-foot rows out there, mostly small as I've been using the bigger ones through the fall, but once that ground freezes I won't be seeing them until spring. Since they last so well in the garage or vegetable bins in the fridge I figure I may as well get quite a few in now.
I also dug up the last half-dozen leeks, not very big, this was my first year growing leeks but I'm a complete leek convert now and will start some leek seeds good and early next year -- yipes, I mean in just a couple weeks. I rinsed those and stuck them straight in the fridge for use in the next couple days.
Finally I cut down the last of the lacinato kale, stripped the leaves and stuck those in a bag in the fridge. I pondered what to do with the few big green bursts of stir-fry greens and celery which are looking rather sad in this cold weather, but I'm not sure I would be able to use them in the next couple days so I'm opting to leave them just a bit longer, knowing I run the risk of losing them.
The hardy kales out there I'm not concerned about -- Winterbor and its cousins will be just as happy under the snow, while the dwarf Scottish kale is thriving in the large cold frames along with sorrel, radicchio, mache, arugula, frizzy endive, beet greens, turnips, broccoli raab, italian dandelion, chard, and a half dozen other things I'm forgetting.
Christmas shopping -- well, I've barely begun that. But getting the food in, well, that's taken care of for the moment.
Want to learn more about growing vegetables mid-winter? Check out Eliot Coleman's two essential books, Four Season Harvest and The Winter Harvest Handbook. Great winter reads!
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