Protecting the Winter Garden
If you remember, last year Mr Chiots and I installed hoops over my raised bed specifically for protecting crops from our cold NE Ohio weather. Since the night time lows are starting to dip into the 30’s and the days are barely getting into the 50’s, I figured it was time to cover the beds with greenhouse plastic.
Although we have yet to have our first frost (woke up this morning to our first frost and a temp of 30) here at Chiot’s Run (which is pretty late for us), Mr Chiots and I spent some time on Thursday afternoon covering up the beds that are filled with spinach, celery, arugula, leeks and other winter veggies. The small greens inside were doing well, they were all seeded in early October.
I also covered the carrots and cabbages that are planted in my mom’s garden with a floating row cover. I also have my cold frame to move over on the of the beds, I have some fairly mature spinach, daikon radishes and winter greens in that bed. It will be interesting to monitor their growth under the plastic and the other coverings to see which works best. Here’s hoping for delicious veggies long after frost!
What do you use to protect your crops?
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The Fall Garden at My Mom’s
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know I grow some things with my mom in her garden. The majority of my potatoes were planted there this year as were most of my peas, sweet potatoes and a few tomatoes. When we harvested all those potatoes, we replaced them with fall crops including: carrots (10 varieties), leeks, cabbage, broccoli, beets, and more peas. When we went on the field trip last Friday I made sure to get a few photos of the fall garden so you could see the progress.
The leeks are still very small, I’m hoping they’ll size up in time. I may need to adjust my seeding time next summer depending on how these do. I guess we can harvest baby leeks if needed.
We planted 10 different varieties of carrots in all colors shapes and sizes. We had different germination rates on the different carrots. It should be interesting to see how these do.
We planted 3 varieties of beets, Cylinder beets, golden beets, and Detroit beets. The ‘Golden’ Beets didn’t germinate well, so we’re considering replacing them with some ‘Bull’s Blood’ beets.
The peas are doing well, we planted 4 different varieties and one of them is thriving, unfortunately we forgot to write down the name of this variety. We also planted ‘Wando’ and ‘Alaska’ peas but neither had great germination. I’m thinking they must not like the warm soil when planted in August. We should get a decent crop of peas from our fall crop.
The fall broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts are doing well. We’re hoping to have a nice crop of sprouts for Thanksgiving. I’ll keep you updated on how all my fall crops do. Since this is only my second year growing fall/winter crops it’s certainly an experiment. In a few years I should have a better grasp on planting times and the difference in growing patterns with the reduced sunlight in the fall.
Any exciting crops growing your fall garden?
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A Race Against the Weather
Remember that batch of fall cucumbers I planted hoping for a late September or early October harvest of cucumbers before the first frost? Well, they’re doing well. They quickly climbed their supports and are blooming prolifically, which the bees are loving. I spotted the first baby cucumber late last week and I’ve been keeping my eye on it.
It looks like I should get a decent harvest, unless we get an early frost or the weather turns cold earlier than normal. I should be able to pick my first cucumber later this week, perhaps tomorrow!
Here’s hoping for another large jar of pickles in the fridge to feast on all winter long!
Do you have any crops you’re hoping to harvest before frost sets comes in your garden?
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Working on the Fall Garden
Yesterday I spent the day at my mom’s planting the fall cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts and leeks. They’re a tad late because my first batch of broccoli got eaten by slugs, so I started another flat in the basement. After tearing out the zucchini and green beans and amending the area I harvested potatoes from last week, we got everything planted. At least half of her garden is now planted in fall crops including the carrots, peas and beets that we direct seeded last month.
Let’s hope all these grow well and we don’t get an early fall frost (which we sometimes do here in Ohio). I’m thinking of having Mr Chiots help me make some of those hoops that we can use in her garden to cover crops if needed. Fall gardening is interesting, since I’ve never really done a lot of it I’m not sure how things will grow. I’m hoping as the years go by I’ll get better at it and have a better idea of how things behave compared to summer gardening. I’ll keep you posted on how things do in my fall garden.
How’s your fall garden coming?
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Fall & Winter Gardening
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap
but by the seeds that you plant.”
~Robert Louis Stevenson
It’s time to start those seeds for you fall/winter garden. Time to seed: turnips, radicchio, kale, overwintering onions, winter radishes, lettuce and spinach. It’s also time to sow some clover under your tomatoes.
Last week I started seeds for: ‘Catalina’ and ‘Bloomsdale Longstanding’ spinach, ‘Big Boston’ lettuce, fall greens mix, ‘Japanese Minowase’ radishes, ‘Round Black Spanish’ radishes. This week I’ll be starting some ‘Evergreen Hardy Bunching’ onions and more spinach and fall lettuce and maybe some turnips and radicchio. Don’t forget to order your garlic if you’re hoping to plant some this fall, if you wait to long you may not be able to find it. I ordered mine from Gourmet Garlic Gardens.
Have you planted anything for fall/winter yet?
