Harvest Monday 11/15/10

This week I harvested some of the root vegetables that have been hanging out in the garden since spring. We didn't eat beets as much as I thought we would this spring, but now I'm harvesting them for beet gnocchi which we really enjoy. I picked 1 lb 13 oz of red beets this week.

I also harvested 12 oz of carrots for a baked chinese chicken dish. I also picked two nice heads of bok choy which weighed 5 oz. The leeks remaining are smaller, I picked 3 oz of them this week.
The other large harvest was 1 lb of kale.
Total this week: 4.06 pounds
Total this year: 452.64 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Snow Flurries

Yesterday I saw a few snow flurries as I went to work and they persisted into the afternoon. However I was still surprised to find a dusting sticking on parts of the garden this morning. Here is some on the bok choy and then the cold frame. It seemed to slide right off the kale and brussels sprouts.
It is interesting how they stuck to the rows more than the paths.I'm wondering when the ground freezes. I need to harvest carrots and beets before that happens but would rather store them in the garden as long as I can. Winter isn't too far away.

Hoop House & Winter Greens

I wasn't content with just my little cold frame in such a big garden for winter crops. The cold frame is full and I had more seeds I wanted to try to get to grow in the winter or sprout in early spring. In the cold frame I have, mache, mizuna, kolhrabi, lettuce, claytonia, beets, carrots, walking onions, spinach & arugula.

I had tatsoi outside the cold frame but it has been mostly eaten by slugs.

So I'm trying out the mini-hoop house idea. We went the cheap route, and bough 1/2" pvc pipe. It came in 10' lengths and was cut in half to be 5 feet. We got a long piece of threaded rod that fits inside and my wonderful husband cut it into 1' pieces.

Those 1' pieces went in the ground about 1 1/2 feet apart. We weren't exact. Then the pvc pipe went over top.
I already had some row cover which is currently being held down with the few stakes I could find and some rocks. We may use some clear plastic left over from a painting project to cover it more when snow comes. (Notice the forest of kale behind. We're not lacking for hardy greens)
Here's what went inside.

Transplanted Seedlings:
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Red Kale

Red Cabbage & Dandelion Green (not pictured)

Seeds:
Mizuna, Tatsoi, Purple Mustard, Chinese green onions, Chinese Cabbage, Sugarloaf Chicory, Spinach, Mache

This is all an experiment. I know it's too late for seriously starting seeds in my area, but maybe some things will sprout and over-winter and we'll get an early spring crop. If some things are successful, then maybe we can expand (and plan better) next year.

June Update: Brassica Crops

My brassica crops are in beds 5 and 8.
In bed 5 I have lacinato and winterbor kale, which survived transplant at a fairly medium size from another bed recently. There are about 6-8 plants of each variety and we just took our first harvest from them this week.

Also in this bed is Red Russian Kale going to seed. This kale survived the winter in the bed from the previous owners and so I'm saving seed. It also was transplanted from Bed 1 recently which helped stress it enough to stop blooming and focus on the seeds. I'll be hanging them up to dry soon and will have plenty to share. At the other end of the bed I have just seeded Tyfon, Italian Chicory, and Sorrel. The middle of the bed is empty and waiting for fall cabbage and broccoli which I am starting in the cold frame, to transplant later.

In bed 8 I have six Broccoli (Oliver) at one end. I am close to harvesting the first head.
I have 5 heads of Red Acre Cabbage.
I also have greens which the slugs are loving. These are my Asian mustard greens.
Here is a bok choy just starting to develop.
In the middle of the bed I have some badly eaten broccoli rabe.
At the other end I have my 12 Brussels Sprouts plants which are getting huge. Interspersed are volunteer sunflower plants.
Here is the view of the whole bed 8 looking back from the Brussels sprouts.