Thanks, crafting24! I planted this bed out in September and it's been producing well. We haven't had enough chill yet for the 'Red Russian' kale to be at its absolute best, but it's been very good just the same. 'Lucullus' Swiss chard has become a must grow green for me every Fall/Winter. We love our fresh greens! :)

I'm not the best one to answer, GarnerGarden. My plan is always to clear and clean the gardens by November 1st. Mostly, this has to do with gardening on other people's property. "They" seem to like looking at bare dirt 6 months out of the year. I am also not much of a container gardener. (Altho', I've gotta say that my 3 tomato plants in 5 gallon containers sure look a lot better than my tomato plants in the open garden this year! Dang wind.) If you are thinking of growing outdoors in containers - wow. That block of frozen soil may not do it for you as a growing medium. I will be moving some Asian greens into an unheated greenhouse for the winter. This will be mostly bok choy. I grow a lot of that green and not only because we have a lot of stir-fry in this home. It can handle cool weather conditions. Bok choy bolts in hot weather - however, it also seems to "want" to bolt if it is coming out of severe cold. In other words, stress from the cold results in quick bolting as soon as it warms up. If it is just living thru a couple of light frosts, young bok choy can handle that. It grew very well in that greenhouse last winter. I used 15of outdoor temperatures as a guide as to when to cover it in the greenhouse with a 2nd layer of plastic film. Sub-zero had me pulling a tarp over it, as well. My first volunteer/overwintered crop in the garden is Purple Orache. It is a fairly close spinach relative so that doesn't add much to your ideas. Any chance you will have some open ground to plant in or a way to protect your balcony containers this winter? Steve

been picking up pecans and black walnuts in my off time. I have a video on OkieRob youtube on how I clean and crack black walnuts.

Sultry, little by little I am getting my garden full of the veggies we like to eat. Eggplants are from a last season, new tomato seedlings for the fall, pole beans, cucumbers, summer squash, a big variety of mild Oriental greens, leaf lettuce, a different kale varieties. I will wait for the weather to cool down to plant carrots, beets, peas, spinach. On the herbs, I will plant parsley and cilantro, still have a variety of mints, basil, oregano, sage. Silvia