About the last thing anyone is likely ever to see first-hand is the amazing root structure of plants! I’ve been fascinated by the massive size and complexity of ROOTS since I first saw a sketch of a full root system, and way more so after browsing the wealth of technical drawings of garden veggie roots in the fantastic and fully-online Root Development of Vegetable Crops. Root systems can be VAST, but they’re incredibly difficult to actually see since the mostly fine filaments that tunnel everywhere simply break off when you dig up a plant. Today’s parsnip harvest yielded a couple of unusual, still very partial root specimens that only begin to illustrate what’s going on down there. Who knows how just a few managed to come up with so much intact… For parsnips, according to RDoVC, after a season’s growth, “at the 8-foot level roots were common and a maximum penetration of 9 feet was determined.” In the top 10″ (25cm) of the soil, lateral roots extended up to 3′ (90cm). Pretty cool, huh?! (Thanks to hand-and-arm model Lynn.)
Weather
The snow-on-veggies effect…
The sun was out today, and although it wasn’t too warm (about 5°C/40°F), most of yesterday’s snow melted off pretty quickly. On the remaining crops—brassicas, carrots, some herbs, and parsnips (above)—the brief overnight blanketing of snow did what several nights of sub-zero weather hadn’t managed, wilting them down without killing them off. It’s interesting to watch the accumulating effects of cold on hardy crops. Tastes and textures change, different veggies behave…differently. I don’t imagine this is somethig that veggie growers and gardeners generally explore as the season ends: crops are harvested or tilled under, and that’s that. Here, though, there is no giant cooler for long-term cold storage, and I try not to waste, so the field is the best place to hold crops as people continue to drop by for the last of the season’s fresh veg! Meanwhile, it’s cool to watch the cold effects and learn…
Ahhh, snow!
Just like that, SNOW, the first fall of the year, nearly three weeks ahead of last year! The view is from Milkhouse door, facing the gate to the garden field. A good, solid sprinkling lasting most of the day eventually left at least a couple of inches (5cm). Impressive coverage that’ll all be gone in a day or two as the weather warms up again…
The autumn view…
Compared to one month ago, the outline of the garden is pretty much unchanged, but a whole lot has gone dead and brown. Alive and well, there are lots of hardy brassicas, straining to grow in the diminishing sunlight. And there’s still quite a bit in the ground: tons of carrots, a fair amount of parsnips, and a huge quantity of Jerusalem artichoke, all sweetening in the cooling soil…
Finally, frost!
Overnight, the first real killing frost finally hit. A couple of nights it had gotten close, touching some plants in the field, but this was the real deal. At 8am, the lower end of the garden was still in the shadow of the drive shed, and the frost still hadn’t burned off. Basil (above), the tenderest crop in the field, is the first thing I check in the morning for frost damage. Right beside, the zinnias are goners, but still holding color—as the day progresses, they’ll shrivel and turn brown…
All in all, nothing unexpected or terrible—sooner or later, frost always arrives, and this time, the eggplants and peppers under row cover did fine. Besides, frost in the early morning light is pretty…
Cold-weather harvest
Some days now, the temperature is in the +/-20°C (50°F) range, and nights hover around the freezing point—not that cold, but comparatively so when other days shoot up to summery highs. I’m now keeping the row cover permanently on the eggplant and peppers, they’re no longer out there to grow—not enough sun—the field is now simply a convenient storage system. Picking from under cover, pulling back only as much as necessary, we take what we need for and leave the rest. There’s probably two more week’s worth of sweet and hot peppers, and at least another week of baby eggplant to go after today…
Bundling up a bit kinda seems to be the general choice. Libby and Lynn are in winter outerwear mode, down to insulated rubber boots, while Toshiko, who finds it colder here than at home in Japan, keeps warm with layers. Seasons change…
First frost misses
Frost finally hit the garden…but it missed the veggies! Just after sunrise this morning, there was ice on the grass at the very bottom of the field, but it stopped maybe 10′ feet from where the garden begins. Pretty cool. There’s a gentle slope from a high point about two-thirds of the way up the garden, and cold air flowed downhill and pooled at the very bottom of the field. Fun with science: when there’s no wind to mix things up, cold air rolls with gravity along the ground!
