New England, November 2014

camprn wrote:Harvested the last pound of chard tonight, by lamp light.

What temp do you find your chard begins to fail at? and/or just not produce anything anymore at? And do you leave the plants in to regrow in spring, or just pluck 'em out?

I'm surprised that I had parsley still growing even after several nites dropping into the low 30s and high 20s, in the beds and in a pot.  They just succumbed in the last few very cold days.  It outlived all my other herbs outside.  I meant to find a big drainage saucer in the garage to put under the pot I had out there and bring it indoors but forgot and now I won't have any more parsley.  Duh.

QB, I was just coming here to state that! The Pinetree catalog came! (I'm not getting email updates on thread entries here...) Yay!

Another thing is that I got a book "Plantiful" by Kristin Green from the library. It itemizes several flowering plants for an interesting yard, or wildflower garden with paths. Really beautiful photos, if you are interested in starting flowering along with edibles. She goes through plants that spread, and includes perennials. Along with my raised beds, I'm going to start in this direction too. Never a dull moment.

By the way, does anyone have a recommendation on a food processor they like?

NHGardener wrote:By the way, does anyone have a recommendation on a food processor they like?

the cheap one at the thrift store.

camprn wrote:

NHGardener wrote:By the way, does anyone have a recommendation on a food processor they like?

the cheap one at the thrift store.

LOLOL! Yup, that is the way I shop! We have the best thrift store in Portsmouth and it's where I get almost everything.

But I don't think I've ever seen a food processor there. I'm thinking of actually going retail on this. I see a Cuisinart that's pricey but got good reviews.

Can you use a food processor as a juicer too?

I have a smoothie maker so I'll try that first with the pumpkin but I think I need an all-out processor.

NHGardener wrote:

camprn wrote:

NHGardener wrote:By the way, does anyone have a recommendation on a food processor they like?

the cheap one at the thrift store.

LOLOL! Yup, that is the way I shop! We have the best thrift store in Portsmouth and it's where I get almost everything.

But I don't think I've ever seen a food processor there. I'm thinking of actually going retail on this. I see a Cuisinart that's pricey but got good reviews.

Can you use a food processor as a juicer too?

I have a smoothie maker so I'll try that first with the pumpkin but I think I need an all-out processor.

Juicing is overrated.

+1

NHG......I think many folks use a blender when making smoothies.  I know my DDIL does and she makes a few during the week.


My plans for my raised veggie beds this spring will cut back on the veggies because getting up that back hill is getting tougher and tougher for me but I plan on having one bed mostly broccoli and one mostly Brussels sprouts.  I consider them easy to grow and not much daily care.  The rest of the 4 x 4 beds are divided with 2 types of flowering plants, all perennials,  in each;
1. short Showy Gold Eye (sunflower)and Painted Daisy with 2 indeter Toms in back
2. Astilbe and Potentilla and trellised Sugar Peas
3. Rudbeckia and Aquilegia (Columbine)
4. Broccoli and Coreopsis with trellis of Sweet Peas (the flower)
5. Crazy Daisy Shasta Daisy and Scabiosa and 2 indeter Toms in back
6. Campanula (Canterbury Bells) and Dianthus and trellised Sugar Peas
7. A full bed of greens of Arugula, Claytonia (Miner's Letuce), Mache (Corn salad) and Mizuna.  This is the bed with a frame I can cover early and late in the season.
8. Malva and Echinecea with trellised Sugar Peas
9. Brussels sprouts and some annuals like impatiens or petunias. 
 Beyond the asparagus bed I'll put in gladiola just because I love these bulbs.
 I think with all these perennial flowers, I won't have to spend too much time on them.
Most of my veggies and all my herbs will go in my flower beds by my kitchen door next year;  Chives, Parlsey, Rosemary, Common Thyme, Basil, plus Kale in the ground with Lettuce going in flats and in Pots I'll plant determinate Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, and Cucumbers.

I'm sure I'll tuck in a few other things as I find room, but next year I want my veggies close by so they can get my care on a daily basis.  I've got this all down on paper (a drawn plan) with notes on when things blossom, their needs, etc and I think I can handle my garden this way.  As one gets older with less energy, one has to tweak things quite a bit.

Yeah QB, I always think about that, that I only have x number of gardening seasons left before it will be too overwhelming. It's a lot of hard work! That's why it's so nice to have certain perennials - like asparagus, strawberries, multiplier onions, fruit and nut trees, and various things people grow that I have no idea how you eat it, at this point, but they do. It would be nice to put into place now to think forward to the future when it's the season to harvest and not plant and tend so much. Of course, that's assuming one will never move. 

QB and NHG, Looking ahead, I guesstimate 8 more summers for veggies, and then a show place of flowers if I can't veggie anymore.  MM and raised boxes should be fantastic for them, if the one giant zinnia this summer is any indication.

I was going to post this in a turnip thread but since it's specific to Eastham I thought I'd better post it here.  I have never been a fan of the turnip but a coworker brought some raw and cooked Eastham turnips into work the other day and I ate some for the first time. They were so delicious that I had to have my own. Yesterday she brought me 3 huge ones. This morning I read the following article and I am wondering how to proceed in order to get seeds.

http://ediblecapecod.com/online-magazine/fall-2009/the-eastham-turnip-a-art-nickerson/

The article says to bury them deep and cover with seaweed. I would sure hate to waste a good turnip if it doesn't turn out. I was thinking to cut the tops off, like with onions or carrots, and put the top in a dish in water until it sprouts, then plant it. What would you do?

CC

CC, I don't know anything about turnips (I don't think I've ever had one) but his system almost sounds like garlic - planting it in early winter to be stored until spring. Then uprooting it and it sounds like planting it in July? I think I'd follow his method. Did your co-worker grow them? Maybe she can give some clues.

It's been too cold to work outside lately. I still have lots of leaves to pile in there, and some other work to build up the beds for next summer, but I can't work in this cold, and there's been a lot of wind too. The ground is completely frozen at this point. I'm glad I got the strawberries covered with leaves, because without a snow insulation, they'd be chilly.

I wonder if the bees are still alive. For the bee people here, I am overwintering 2 small hives over 2 larger ones using a double screen board. Some say the moisture will get 'em. Haven't wrapped the hives yet.

NHGardener wrote:CC, I don't know anything about turnips (I don't think I've ever had one) but his system almost sounds like garlic - planting it in early winter to be stored until spring. Then uprooting it and it sounds like planting it in July? I think I'd follow his method. Did your co-worker grow them? Maybe she can give some clues.

It's been too cold to work outside lately. ...

My co worker lives in Eastham and passes the farm stand on her way to work every day. So no, she does not grow them. I'm not even sure I can grow them in Harwich since the guy in Truro in the article couldn't get them to grow for him. I was thinking after I posted maybe I'll try both ways to get seeds. I'll put one in the ground for safekeeping over winter. And cut the tops off the rest and put them in water. Do you think I should put another one in the cold garage over the winter like a winter squash? I wonder if that would work? 



Totally agree about it being too cold. Working outside in the twenties is not my cup of tea. The Eastham turnip festival is today but unless it gets above 40 I'm not going. Besides, I emailed them earlier this week to see if they were selling any seeds and the response was no.

Well CC, a quick google turned up this where you can get the Eastham turnip seeds if you have to:

http://www.vermontbean.com/dp.asp?pID=04001&c=47&p=Authentic+Eastham+Turnip

so I'd experiment with them. I read they're actually a white rutabaga but I don't know.

Yeah, I saw that.  It's very small town here in the winter so  I think I'll try to find some of the people in the article for seeds first.

I never liked rutabaga, or turnips. Whatever this is, I'm a convert!  It's absolutely amazing, raw and cooked.

Seaweed bonanza at the beach today!  There were mountains of it with lots of seagulls doing their fishy poop thing on top.

I spread some on my asparagus bed, then dumped the rest on the compost pile: 

I have to go back and get more as soon as this next storm passes.  Hope it won't be too cold.

Can't believe how many leaves have fallen since I mowed them (in tee shirt) this morning.  Oh, in the photo above, see that strip of grass across the street in front of the white fence?  I've been mowing the leaves off it, too.   As well as mowing stripes on my next door neighbors summer house front lawn.  Neither neighbor would mind at all.

CC

OH!!! I envy your seaweed! I thought about it today, but I was busy hauling leaves from the woods into the garden (if it kills me...) and the husband was tarping the top of the chicken run. 6-12" snow forecasted for tomorrow, so I was hurrying...

Got 6 more buckets of seaweed this morning while it was still warmish out - 47:



Then raked out some SFG beds, harvesting lettuce, arugula, chard, kale & carrots:

Then covered some of the cleaned beds with compost and/or seaweed, & covered the garlic bed with the raked out stuff since there was so much MM mixed in with the pine needles & oak leaves.

I also harvested these butternuts from my neighbor's garden. 
I gave her the seedlings in spring.  She's gone home for the winter & told me to harvest them when they were ready.   

All before going to work.

Don't know if we'll see snow here on the Cape...I sure hope not.  Still so much to do but looks like it'll have to wait til Sunday when it warms up again.

Meanwhile, back in the bay window, everything is growing like crazy and I'm eating it...:
...except for the basil.  Guess I should do something with it.

CC

I finished leaf pickup and lawn mowing this morning while it was snowing.

The Brussels sprouts took a  beating with the wicked low temperatures last week, but they are still hanging in there.

CC, good day's work.

Camp, Your garden looks so peaceful and quiet covered in snow. Winter rest. And, cold!