First Winter Harvest

Today is a great day to go outside - the sun is shining and it is a balmy 50˚ F! After yesterday's rain, the sun is a welcome sight. I put on my Wellies and headed out to check the hoop-house crops.

I had a few surprises when I opened up the end flap. The soil was still damp under the surface layer, that tends to dry out anyway, and I had 2 turnips and 1 carrot ready for harvest! Now the carrot's growth has been stunted for one reason or another. I am not 100% sure of the cause. When I sowed the seed, they sprouted rather quickly and spent most of their energy into forming the greens, which is what I assume is the cause for the small stunted root growth. All the previous carrots harvested had this same type of stunted growth. But the pony likes them, so they aren't a total waste!



My other surprise was in the collards - I caught the culprit that has been munching away at them...a lovely little slug!



Some sow bugs were also found hanging about in the damp soil under the carrots - they are a constant pest wherever conditions are damp. It was a good reminder that even though my crops are covered, the pests can still get in! The turnips both had a little insect damage on them, but nothing detrimental. They will be part of tonight's dinner - boiled and mashed up with the leftover potatoes from last night.

Happy Harvesting!

Winter Gardens

I have been lax at keeping up with this blog - and I apologize! With the holidays and all, I've been busy with all the non-gardening aspects of life.

One issue I've been discussing with some of my fellow Master Gardeners is "What do you do during the winter months?" The consensus seems to be that we are all busy ordering catalogs and planning for spring. A few of us start seeds indoors. I personally, got very adventurous this year, and put up a mini hoop-house over one of the raised beds in my vegetable garden. I planted some cool season vegetables - collard greens, Swiss chard, turnips, spinach and carrots. The carrots are left over from summer - they have been growing slowly, most likely they were started too late in the spring, and being a cool season veg, they were not happy with the warm wet weather we had.

I sowed the seeds for the collards, chard, spinach and turnips in early September. We still had some very warm weather, and unfortunately the spinach and chard did not do well. I had a few chard seedlings come up and none of the spinach. The turnips however, really took! And the collards started out well, until the insects got to them.

Even though my crops were more sparse than I had anticipated, I decided to go to the local home improvement center and picked up 6 lengths 1/2" PVC pipes, 1 length of 3/4" PVC and a roll of 4 mil plastic sheeting, and construct my little hoop-house.

To begin the hoop-house, I had my Dad cut some salvaged re-bar into 18" lengths. There were 10 pieces in all. I drove the re-bar stakes halfway into the ground just to the outside of the raised bed frame, equidistant, down each side. Then, carefully, I drove one end of the 1/2" PVC pipe over the re-bar, and down into the soil about 3". With some ease, I bent the pipe over the bed and down over the re-bar. Once the arch was made, I pressed each side of the PVC until the top of the arch was the height I desired. I continued this until I had 5 "ribs" along the bed. I used the 6th PVC as the top rail, which I tied underneath the center of each rib. The plastic sheeting went over it, anchored with bricks along the sides and ends. I cut the 3/4" PVC into 3-4" pieces, that I split down the middle, removing a sliver about 1/8" wide, to make cuffs for holding the sheeting down. Carefully - and this was the most difficult part of the process - I slid the cuffs over the sheeting and arches. One near the top and one at the bottom of each rib. Where the top rail hung over at the ends, I also put a cuff. And my hoop-house was done!


It has been keeping my little crop of veg nice and warm - even with the 6" of snow we had last week! They are still growing and doing very well. I do not need to water too much, as the plastic sheeting keeps in the moisture. I water thoroughly every two weeks, when the condensation on the inside of the plastic sheeting has decreased. The soil is still warm, and the plants are happy!


My next project will be starting seeds indoors with seeds harvested from some of my clients' gardens as well as from my own garden.

Pulling Weeds

I know I may be starting yet another endeavour that I should wait on, what with all the other projects I'm juggling. But I know come spring, I'll be busy cultivating my outside garden. And today is a good day to start some seeds indoors.

I am a certified Master Gardener in NJ. Most of my volunteer hours are spent on the Horticultural Helpline - trying to discern other people's plant and garden problems. It has been quite an education. In my spare time, I have a small gardening business that consists mainly of weed pulling and other garden maintenance chores.

My interests go beyond the garden gate, into the woods, across the water, into the barn, and occasionally into the artist's studio. I've always loved writing and photography, and enjoyed sharing my passions with others, so what better forum than a blog?

My aim is to post mainly gardening information, but keep your eyes open for recipes and photos as well! And projects for the garden - I'm mulling over a few at the moment and if they are successful I will post them here.

Sharing gardening's ups and downs helps all of us gardeners learn!