2008 Garden Season Coming to an End

The 2008 gardening season is fast coming to an end. Since my last post of early November, there has been a few very hard freezes. In fact, there were a few days where the temperature did not even get above freezing. Most of the rest of the garden that was still growing has since died, like the broccoli and cauliflower. I even gave up on the brussels sprouts plants and pulled all of them up a few days ago. The only thing left in the garden now is one plot of carrots and one plot of lettuce. I harvested some lettuce under the plastic hoop about 5 days ago. This should just about be the last lettuce harvest of the year. Yesterday, I harvested one plot of carrots that was growing under a row cover (see pics below). I was pleased with the harvest from this small plot. If you have never grown carrots in the fall, you are missing out. They are much sweeter than spring-grown carrots. I still have one more carrot plot (approx. 4 ft x 3 ft) left, which is covered by a plastic hoop. I will wait to harvest them later. There is nothing better than going out into the garden and harvesting carrots in the snow!! Happy Winter Gardening!!

Fall Harvest Continues

The weather has been relatively warm and very dry for about the last week. It has cooled off today, so I think the cold weather is here to stay. The last cold snap killed off all of the warm season crops, but the cool season crops are still doing fine. The cauliflower has now grown to harvestable size (see picture below). The lettuce has been growing nicely under the plastic hoop (see pictures below) and I was able to harvest a decent amount about 4 days ago. The late-planted carrots growing under the hoop are nearing harvestable size, so it won’t long before I start harvesting them. The celery was not damaged by the last freeze, due to them being covered by row covers. Overall, the fall garden has been a success, with the exception of the brussels sprouts. The brussels sprouts refuse to form sprouts this year. The variety I am growing this year is Long Island Improved, instead of Jade Cross. I will not be growing Long Island Improved again!! The seed company substituted this variety this year in place of Jade Cross. Oh well, I should have stuck with Jade Cross.