The Last Harvest of 2008

We had our first ground-covering snowfall on Sunday night into Monday. I got home Tuesday while there was just a bit of daylight still in the sky and went to check on the kale and Brussels sprouts. The snow killed the last bit of Swiss chard, and buried the tiny carrots that were not worth trying to dig up. In between the Brussels sprouts and kale, and to the right of the kale you can see my second planting of Brussels sprouts. The large Brussels sprouts were transplanted into the garden on May 8th, as medium-sized seedlings from a co-worker. My first indoor seedlings weren't successful and so I re-seeded on May 10th and not transplanted into the garden until June 16th. The month and a week made a big difference in the plants progress. The later transplants never got enough sun because the kale and surrounding plants were already taller. If I transplant later again, I'll need to make sure they get enough sun.

Some of the kale looked as though it was burned where the snow had settled on the top. I realized that I wouldn't be home during the daylight during the rest of the week and so I harvested the Brussels sprouts for dinner. Though they were tiny (most smaller than the last batch) I harvested 9 ounces of them. They were delicious.Tonight I went out in the dark to pick the last of the kale, and my husband graciously came with me to hold the flashlight. The last small bit of the tender inner leaves went into a Curried Lentils dish.