The vegetable garden is winding up for the growing season around here and it's a bittersweet feeling. I'll admit I won't miss any of the watering and weeding but we're sure going to miss all of the fresh vegetables that have graced our plates this summer.
Today the kids helped pull out the last of the carrots before they outgrow and get woody or heaven forbid the worms eat them before anyone else! I just love their bright orange color... so vibrant in the morning sun :)
We still have leeks and heads of cabbage to look forward to and potatoes that need to be dug out of the ground before the frost hits but I'm thinking that maybe this winter would be a good time to read up on year round gardening so that we can extend our growing season just a couple more months as I don't think I'll ever succeed at actually growing 12 months of the year *grin*.
If you have any winter varieties that you just love to grow in your garden I would love to know. Our winters hit around -18 C during the coldest snaps but maybe with hoop houses or manure hot beds I just might be able to produce something green :)
~ Rosina
Oh boy! I'd love to have dinner with you! Those carrots are amazing.
ReplyDeleteHow in the world do you get your carrots so big? Ours are always smaller. Yummy...but not as big as yours. :)
ReplyDeleteIt gets MUCH colder here - minus 30 and beyond - not sure how all of it would survive...but perhaps a hoop house or a little green house. Many of the hardy greens will thrive in the cold so if they were kept out of the brutal winds and all the snow, perhaps they'd have a better chance. I'll see what I have as far as winter varieties and let you know.
We currently live in southern New England and put a cold frame on top of one of our raised beds. (Our cold frame is just a stack of bricks at either end of the raised bed with a long pole laying across the bed, resting on the bricks and a sheet of opaque white plastic sheeting held down with bricks along the edge of the bed). We grow winter hardy things and last year we didn't harvest much (by choice) in the winter and saved it for the very beginning of spring. This year I planted some carrots outside of the bed that will be covered and plan to pack it with straw.
ReplyDeleteWe will be moving to Northern Vermont in the spring and plan to use this method there too.