Nov 2012 New England

I"m not a snow person but that photo is so pretty, QB.

My SFG's look OK but they are covered with debris. The pine needles and leaves can stay for the winter, the twigs/branches/pine cones came out during lunch break today.

Looks like everything survived with a little breakage here and there, like some romaine leaves are down. Also, without a cover, it looks like a rabbit helped himself to my kohlrabi leaves, only twigs left sticking up. :-( Pepper & tomato plants are done in but the fruits are still hanging in there - they look funny all alone out there.

My kitchen garden (mostly herbs) is completely under a huge pile of leaves. I may or may not leave them. I still have lettuces, carrots, beets, swiss chard, radishes, snow & sugar peas, chives, scallions, collards and such, until the rabbit gets whatever. Maybe I'll put the tulle back up. Not sure yet.



Lots of clean up this weekend and more leaves for "Smiley" up there on the left. What a Face

CC

I'm glad you've still got stuff growing, CC--you must have been a good girl this year as far as mother nature is concerned!

We had a little reprieve from the cold up our way this weekend & we were able to get another 4' x 16' box filled up. Well, that is to say, DH filled it & mixed it while I turned over the box we did a week or so ago.

We found lots of red wigglers in there, so much so that I collected up a bunch and brought them inside in a bin. We then went to the store & picked up a few (5) 5-gallon HDPE #2 (food grade) buckets which will become their worm condo (I would have said "Hilton" but the buckets have more of a "condo" vibe).

I'll take pics of the process as I go along. Right now the buckets are in the bathtub waiting for a good cleaning, so hopefully tomorrow I can get out the drill & go to town!

P.S. OH, and I forgot to ask: the prepared beds are frozen down 1-2"--how much longer should I wait before I cover up the garlic with straw?

I lifted my remaining root veggies the other day.


And I topped off the compost bin yet again. I don't know if you can see the steam coming off it.




and the fellas came last Saturday, stripped and placed new shingles on the leaky half of the roof. Thank goodness, that's a load off my mind.


I have a few more tasks, bring in the last of the cabbages, pull the last of the chard and the vegetable garden will be done except for the Brussels sprouts... I have a few flowers/herbs left to put in nursery beds for the winter: garlic chives, a peony, 3 types iris, monks hood, potted up thyme, marjoram and chives. I will just place the pots right in the dirt and find permanent homes for them next season.

I see the steam! Well done!

What great photos, Camp. Are those fat things on the left of the veggie photo carrots??? You must plant a lot to get that much!

Your house is adorable...is is pink with maroon? That's one of my fave combos...I love it!

CC

Beautiful steam, camprn! I've never had a pile actually steam. What a sight to behold.

camprn, what happens to all those pumpkins from Keene's fest? I'm thinking next year for local pumpkin events I may ask the organizers if I can take the load off of them when they're done. The chickens would love the innards no matter how yuck, and the rest would be great in the compost pile.

NHG are your bees put up for the winter?

There is about 3 inches of frost in my garden now but I managed to bust some of it up and harvested the last pound of leeks today. I still have some small ones I am going to try to winter over. I sure would like some spring leeks.

camprn....Lucky you with leeks. Mine never grew this year.

Except for some Swiss chard or kale leaves which I still might be able to harvest in the next couple of weeks, my garden has been put to bed. Today I harvested a couple squares of parsnips for T-day tomorrow.

This large platter is enough for our dinner. I left the rest in the ground to be harvested next spring for meals as they are wanted. In the next several days the ground will be too hard to dig up any more.

I like to roast them with carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, fresh thyme and rosemary, butter, oil, salt and pepper as a sidedish. Everyone in the family likes them.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Yummy looking roasted veggies, QB! I still have swiss chard growing, too, in 2 boxes. Will they continue thru frost and snow?

Suppose to get a little snow on Tuesday, so I transplanted my lettuces and brought them in to the bay window. Now the rabbits or whatevers can't get them. HA!

Should I harvest the swiss chard?


CC

I find that Swiss chard can take a couple of frosty nights but when low temps get consistent and lower, its time to harvest what you've got or cover them under double hoop covers to sustain them longer.

OK, I'll harvest the swiss chard tomorrow during lunch break. I can leave the carrots, beets, broccoli and kohlrabi in tho, right?

CC

@CapeCoddess wrote:Yummy looking roasted veggies, QB! I still have swiss chard growing, too, in 2 boxes. Will they continue thru frost and snow?

Suppose to get a little snow on Tuesday, so I transplanted my lettuces and brought them in to the bay window. Now the rabbits or whatevers can't get them. HA!

Should I harvest the swiss chard?


CC

Wow, looks great CC!

Thanks, Rooster. How're you doing? Up and around OK?

CC

I harvested all my swiss chard yesterday but left one little center leaf on each plant in hopes they will keep growing. Also pulled up a few beets to roast for dins but they are golf ball size. I'll leave the rest & check again around Christmas. Ate the beet greens today for lunch.

We didn't get any snow these past 2 days...strictly a rain event even tho the water in my buckets froze on top during the nites.

How's everyone else doing with the weather?

CC

I had to pull out the Swiss chard and the kale. With several nights in the mid 20s they just couldn't make it. Oh well, there's always next year.

Since I harvested my swiss chard and left the middle leaves, they've grown almost an inch in this nice weather. I think I'll put plastic windows over the boxes and see if I can keep them going. It'll be like a cold frame. Photos to come.

CC

OK, do you think this will work? The remaining chard aren't tall enuff to touch the plastic windows yet, but the beet greens are touching the plastic panes. Also, I set them so there is a 1/2" or so gap before and after each window so it won't get too hot in the sun.



I'd like to leave them on during the day as it's too dark, windy and cold for me to go out and fuss around after work.

What do you think?

CC

Looks good, but maybe if you put another box on top of the existing box, then the glass on that, that will give the plants more room to grow.

Hey Cape....You need to post these pix on a new thread "Dec 2012 New England" so we can follow them into the winter months. Most of us don't have a winter garden going this year.
Are there any other brave souls in New England that are enjoying crops from a winter garden of cold frames or double hooped beds?
I'd love to see them for incentive for next fall.

I have to say my BS are still in the garden....

camprn....The only BS I know.....well, you couldn't mean that!
What is your BS?

I'll post a photo at the weekend. They are so sad.

I'm a Dummy but just got it.....Brussels sprouts. I'd love to see yours this weekend camprn.

Mine got accidentlally sent to the compost pile. Grandson was busy raking leaves one afternoon. I had 3 BS lush with little knobs. They took all summer to grow. He finished with the leaves and as he went past the beds he thought he'd pull some big old plants for me as he went past. Unknown to me until several days later, he had snapped them off and tossed them on the compost pile where they were buried with more stuff. Big Sigh! No BS for us this year.

Camp, any way to move all these Dec posts to a new Dec in New England thread?

CC