Last of the Winter Bounty

We've had a little more winter this year than last but we just haven't had those long periods of freezing temperatures that hardens the ground; at least not yet (we've got some low temps forecast for next week). So today I pulled the last of the beets. These together with the kale has made this the latest I have ever harvested crops from the garden. We finished the last of the carrots a few weeks ago. I now have a little more confidence in my season-extending abilities and I intend to get this optimized for early spring crops and to start planning for next season.

End Of Season Wrap-up

All-in-all it was a nearly perfect season. We did have a few hot periods, but the storms and rains were numerous enough that I only had to water the entire plot with the sprinkler maybe three times the whole season. And we didn't have any long wet periods that held up any of the preparations or planting to any big extent. I even managed to keep a good succession of squash plantings that kept us with a constant supply nearly all season.

The two critical tasks that needed to be done this season were to renovate the strawberry bed and trellis the raspberries. This was season three for the strawberries and the plot was getting out of hand to say the least. So I tilled a path right down the middle, removed some of the older crowns in the two resulting rows, aerated with a turning fork, limed and fertilized, and kept them watered. I'll straw them in for the winter around the first week of December.

The temporary T-post trellis system I used for the first two seasons of the raspberry bed were pretty well shot so I finally bit the bullet and put up a proper cross-post at each end spanned with heavy duty clothes line wire and tighteners. This should keep things under control and an added benefit is having a couple of posts that I can mount the rain gauge on.


Today I tilled in as many leaves as I could collect from the yard and over-seeded with some winter wheat as a cover crop. The Feed Bin was all out of winter rye. It is a bit late to be planting wheat but I hope it sprouts before it gets too cold. Except for a few carrots, beets, and kale, the plot is done for the season and ready for a long winter's nap.

Kaleidoscope Stir-fry; Savoring the Bounty

It's been an incredibly busy spring and summer so far and the garden postings have suffered because of it. But overall, its been a productive season with minimal deviations. We've had some pretty hot periods, especially around July 4th week. Luckily the evening thunder storms have been numerous enough that I've only had to water the entire garden two or three times so far and the lawn still has not gone completely dormant. Nice on the eye but no break on the mowing and trimming chores.

I had one ripe tomato by my grandfather's obligatory deadline of July 4th even though it was a single grape variety. The heirlooms are really starting to roll in now and we will be entering give-away mode tomorrow in order to limit waste.

The big news this spring was my adoption of the Primal Blueprint lifestyle not so much for any particular weight issues but for the overall health benefits. It has been an extraordinary transformation going to a ketogenic metabolism and having a kitchen garden really helps out with the dietary parts of this plan. I am now plotting strategies to extend the harvests much further into the fall than we normally do in order to take advantage of the fresh produce especially since most fall crops qualify as primal.

Love Them Peas!

Spring has sprung and after the winter that wasn't, attention is finally being paid to the garden plot. Over the years I've had really bad luck with early spring peas. All of the guides say you can plant them as soon as the ground can be worked regardless of the weather forecast. Bravo Sierra on that! Either the seeds rot before they sprout or they hardly ever sprout at all.

This year I decided to finally get myself a patch of spring peas. Two weeks ago, I started a flat of seeds in peat pots indoors. As soon as they sprouted, I started setting them outside to harden off. Today they went into the ground, together with a few onion sets. To make the process a bit easier I left up the pole bean wall from last season' so let's see what happens.

I also uncovered the strawberry bed. Keep fingers crossed!

Last of the Bounty

I forgot I had this shot from late October showing the last of the Valencias cut up for dinner. I had pulled everything that remained just before our first big frost warning. This was one of the heirlooms we trialed this year and they will definitely be back next year. Besides the low acidity of a yellow tomato, they are very meaty almost like a Roma, but are a classic mid-sized globe. They exhibited no cracking, very little skin damage, and had excellent yield; very tasty and a nice change from standard reds.

Time for a long Winter's Nap

Well its the end of the season and except for a few remaining carrots, the plot has been cleared, tilled, and covered with some shredded leaves from the yard. All that remains is one last pass with the tiller assuming it ever dries out enough before the first big freeze, and a straw mulch cover for the strawberry patch.

Overall it was a successful season but there will be a few changes next year. We'll probably go with bush beans for a change since the pole beans continued to have variable yields. However, the bean wall will stay up over the winter as a ready support for some early spring peas. These will be started indoors in peat pots in February to get around germination issues and then set out as soon as they are large enough.

The peppers will be caged and sprayed to get around breakage and stink bug damage. We'll probably also trial a couple more different varieties of grape tomatoes since we had severe split damage with the two we tried this year.

So the outdoor work is done. There is one more batch of tomato juice and one more batch of strawberry jam to be made from frozen stock in the freezer. From then on it will be settling down for a long winter's nap and the anticipation of next season.

Early Snow (October 29)

We haven't even had a killing frost yet but were treated to a rare early snowfall yesterday of just under four inches. Our red maple tree had barely started to turn and is still in full leaf. To keep from loosing any branches, I had to go out three or four times during the worst of the storm to knock off the snow.

The garden is about done, and all I need now is some dry weather so I can clear it off. Everything will be coming off this year except for the bean wall. I plan on leaving that up so I can use it to plant early peas next spring.

A few notes from this season:

1) The peppers will be caged and sprayed aggressively next year. We lost a lot of prime fruit due to stink bug damage and over-loaded branches that would break off.

2) We will stick with heirloom tomatoes as our major crop. They really are superior to hybrids in the home garden. Most likely only one plant each of Valencia, Striped German, and Pruden's Purple should do along with the Romas and maybe one grape variety.

3) The lima beans were nice, but for the space they take up, the yields were not that great. They will be replaced next year with bush snap beans.

4) The beets, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers and squash were excellent and will be planted again next year.

5) The raspberries and strawberries were a treat too. I just made about twenty-five pints of raspberry and strawberry jams which should keep us going for a couple of years. Maybe next year will finally be the year to make that batch of country wine.