Monday, October 3, 2011

Harvest potential - the Fall & Winter garden

We don't have a root cellar or some space that is great storage for vegetables over the winter, though we do keep wishing for one. On our side, however, is our locale. Tacoma, Western Washington really, is generally very mild mannered when it comes to winter weather. Our freezes are not deep or long lasting. Consequently, we are able to keep many things in the ground. Last year was my first attempt to keep full garden beds. They were not fully by any means, but we did have carrots, onions (green), beets, chard, kale, collards and leeks far enough along to pull & cut them for quite awhile. It worked pretty well. The chard died a quick death during an early, surprising, freeze. The beet tops died along with it, but their roots were just fine below ground and I continued to dig them out as needed. The leeks, kale and collards withstand anything our weather will throw at them.

This year, I managed to get more variety in and much of it grown to a good size. New additions for this year are more brassicas: Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and broccoli. I still didn't get as much in as I thought I originally had. There should be more carrots and beets, at least.

Below is me walking around the garden beds, talking to nobody in particular. I didn't know how Blair Witch-like the camera work was until I watched it once.

No comments:

Post a Comment