A corner of the veggie field. Yep, it definitely looks like winter out there. The snow is only a few inches deep, but the subzero days and nights are in the forecast for at least the next couple of weeks. Even after the exceptionally mild winter of last year, who would’ve guessed that daily weather watching to see whether wintery conditions would hold would be as normal as looking out for that first taste of spring?
Veggies
Still alive? Not quite well
Rosemary, potted in the Autumn from the herb beds, has taken a bit of beating and probably not survived. It’s weathered several intensely cold nights already, out here in the unheated greenhouse, and I kinda wanted to see if they could make it through the winter. What a difference last night made, not colder than any others, it’s probably the night after night that got ’em. Well, inside they go to see if there’ll be any miraculous recoveries.
Last of the carrots
A bushel of carrots, a mix of Nelson, Napoli and Danvers Half Long (mostly Danvers showing on top), fresh out of the ground. These were gleaned from the last carrot beds of 2006. A bit of winter’s been forecast beginning tonight, so I dug ’em up before the snow. If the prediction’s on point, we’re in for at least a couple of weeks of subzero days and nights. Normal wintery weather for around here. At last!
Winter is a no-show
The consistently odd and erratic weather of the last four years continues to get weirder with this non-winter we’ve been having so far. A few cold snaps and a little random snow, but mainly, it’s been days around 5°C (40°F) and no real ground freeze-up. I worry about the garlic, with tips already emerging from the cloves. Bring on the COLD!
Onions for winter
Some Stuttgarter cooking onions, put aside for winter. Didn’t do much harvest saving this year, an assortment of winter squash and small pumpkins, a couple of bushels of potatoes, the same for carrots, about 30lbs of spinach, frozen, and…a bushel or so of onions.
Fog
Heavy fog isn’t too common around here, but it happens. After thousands of hours of walking the two acres, strolling through this makes for quite an interesting change of scene.
Onions and cabbage
The days are getting short, the weather’s cooling down, and average first frost is only three days away. It’s still officially summer, but I’m in fall mode now. Green onions and the brassicas, like this open leaf cabbage, are hardy mainstays of the fall harvest.