Yesterday afternoon I did manage to get out to the garden and dig potatoes and carrots.

I used the biggest potato that got skewered during the harvest process and another with a bad spot and a bunch of tiny ones in our dinner last night. Here’s the rest. Total harvest was almost 8 pounds.

That was the end of 2018 harvests.

This is the beginning of 2019 garden which I found today. First garlic sprout. :-)

So it begins!

We woke up to a frosty morning today! Everything was glistening white with frost and it was quite pretty while I was driving to work.

I borrowed a leaf vacuum from a friend of mine and will grind up a few bags of leaves tomorrow at my parents' house to use as mulch. They had some rain early in the week but I am hoping that at least some of the leaves are dry enough for the vacuum.

I also dug some potatoes yesterday though it was much less that 8 pounds. It's the variety that was mostly a failure this year. Did get a few though.

No carrots for us this year either. They rotted in the ground.

Glad to see that parts of California are getting rain today.

I'm ready for next year!! Has to be better!

I had bad luck with carrots also. I am going to try one more time this coming spring, and if I am not successful, I will probably give up on them. I am a little anxious to get home this afternoon and check on things after the frost last night. I get up so early in the morning that it's too dark to see much outside and I generally leave for work before it's light enough out to get a good look at the garden.

The top 2 are the Bolseno that I moved beside the house and put a heater on-a row of the winter tomato plants-supply of small tomatoes dwindling-putting up more pepper seeds

itsmce - great harvest - those carrots and potatoes look delicious!

Congrats on the first sign of 2019 garden! I should probably check my garlic - it probably needs to be covered with some additional mulch pretty soon.

Jamie - the frost avoided us last night due to a decent cloud cover and high humidity. But its supposed to drop to 17 (!) tonight and the high is only 28 tomorrow. I gotta get out and do some last pickin's of straggler plants in the garden or cover them - red russian kale, mizuna, turnips, lettuce, chard, and kohlrabi (may be toast already).

Ouch, that's cold, Kevin! The low was 28 here last night but it will be back into the 50s today. The temperature is going to bounce around the next several days, but last night will probably be the coldest for the week.

http://www.memphisweather.net/forecast.shtml

Good Luck!

You too! Heres to a happy Thanksgiving to everyone here! Hope you are all able to enjoy good time and good food with family and friends that you love.

Happy Thanksgiving to All

Just placed the 18 lbs turkey in brine -- ice cold filtered Brita water, sea salt, pepper corns, allspice berries, bay leaves, dried rosemary, ginger powder, dried onion flakes and a touch of paprika. After about 18 hrs of osmosis (whereby all ingredients permeate the flesh) will start roasting it at about 12:30 pm tomorrow. Brining the turkey overnight has always given us the most tender, juicy and flavorful bird (also, the cavity gets filled with quartered clementines and apples -- for extra exotic flavor!).

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Tony

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Last of the greens were harvested. Made up a nice spicy salad mix that will be brought to my moms tomorrow.

Cover crop photos. I wish I did this on every single bed. Didn’t get great germination in those first couple beds due to deer trampling thru them.

Also scored a truckload of free straw. They have a bunch more if I want to get it. Unknown origin other than it was “ordered from a farm supply store” And was used as insulation for a concrete curing job. Not sure what to do with it, fearful that it might have seeds and or was sprayed at some point in its life. Might use it for compost if that would be safe, If anything it will be used on walkways / paths.

I think I’d be wary of the straw also, but at least it was free!

what are you using for cover crops? I think I missed that if you mentioned it before.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Happy Thanksgiving All!

I am running a little test (think they call it a bioassay). Chopped the straw up real fine and mixed it in with some potting mix. Planted peas and beans in pots of both the straw mix and a control of just potting mix and will see what germination and a few weeks of growth look like under light. If they grow poorly I’ll probably either Setup a longer term compost pile (2 years?) with it Or use it on non veg. If they grow well I’ll still be a little hesitant but just use on pathways/mulching of none veg areas.

I brought back 6 contractor bags of shredded leaves from my parents’ house. I’ll get some stuff mulched this weekend. That was about all we could fit in the truck without packing everything like sardines. I also broke the “safety” thing on the leaf vacuum. It’s a large piece of plastic that covers the impeller when you’re not using it. You lift it up to start the suction. It still works but now there is just a small piece of plastic left. I’m guessing the plastic had gotten too brittle over the years. Fortunately these things aren’t that expensive.

My better half Laughed because I was wearing sweatpants to thanksgiving but I was covered in dust after all of those leaves hahaha he thought it was because I planned to eat a lot. Hahaha

I had extra seeds for spinach and collard greens so I tossed them into this bed. They seem to be happy

There are a few garlic cloves around the perimeter also

some snapdragons are still hanging on

And so is this rosemary bush. I had two that flowered this year, but this one is still going.

Jamie - looking good! Funny about the sweat pants. Those are standard attire at a couple of the places we go on thanksgiving lol!

Looks like you will Have some nice greens over the winter!

I was able to get the second hoop house up yesterday. Funny this one took me a total of 3 hrs all by myself (sans plastic) - the first took 4 people over 5+ hrs! Advantage of doing it once before!

This one will be a bit of a more permanent structure and will mostly be for seed starting, seedlings, possibly wash/packing, etc. I.e. limited in ground plantings. Will be fortifying it a bit more than the other.

This is in our backyard. You can see part of the “farm” in the background to the left.

Saw this and thought you all might get a laugh out of it.

Jamie - I've had snap dragons survive the winter here so you should be in good shape.

It's raining here - again. It was supposed to start as freezing rain/sleet but the temps were just two degrees too high here. West of here did get the mix though.

Our creek is out of its banks again and so far we've had 1.5" according to Dulles (IAD). And that is just since 11 am.

At least it's not snow.

Edit - that's funny, Kevin.

Thanks for the info, Cindy. I haven’t grown them before and didn’t know that they were so hardy.

I’m sorry to hear about your weather situation. Good luck!!

I’m a little late, but...Happy Thanksgiving to all my garden buddies!

Kevin - Funny alert about lettuces! I will be very interested in your experiment with the straw. I was gifted 6 bales, which I was happy to receive. I hadn’t given any thought to whether or not it could cause problems for me other than the wheat seed that typically causes a bit of grief.

Nice going getting the 2nd hoop house installed.

Jamie - Your gardens are still looking great. Love the snapdragon. I have had them overwinter here too. Not blooming through the winter, but coming back to life, similar to a perennial.

Tony - I brine my turkeys too. This year it was just a breast. Sooo good. Cooked it on my Big Green Egg with light mulberry smoke. So juicy.

The last 2 days it has been lovely here. Highs about 60 or so. I mowed up some leaves yesterday to add to the compost bin. Wish I had some greens to add too. I need to start hitting up the Starbucks in the area. I also broke out the rototiller and tilled some leaves into the garden. Since I’d recently harvested the last potatoes and carrots, I could do the whole garden. It’s now ready for a long winter nap.

Speaking of winter, it is currently 40 degrees, wind is blowing 25 miles per hour, and rain is expected to start in the next couple hours. Temperatures will continue to drop and it will be snow soon after. Yuck. Sometimes Mother Nature can be mean.

Nice looking watermelon radishes, Jamie. It's good to see your pictures with green growing plants and sunshine. We aren't seeing much of that and snow is predicted.

Thanks, naturegirl!

We had some heavy winds yesterday and some rain also. The temperatures dropped from the 60s down to the 40s by the evening. We will have some cold days this week and return to the 60s by Thursday, I hope.

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! I'm back from my long vacation. It was a nice break and I was able to cross quite a bit off my to-do list.

All of my garden beds are all tucked in for the winter after tilling in some compost and putting a blanket of shredded leaves on top.

My hunting buddies and I took 4 does and a buck on our hunt in the Ozarks. We grilled some bacon wrapped back straps for dinner one night and took the rest in to be processed into jerky, venison sticks, summer sausage, and burger.

I dug the rest of my carrots last Monday. Total carrot harvest was 10.5 lbs. I froze about 5 lbs., gave away a couple lbs., and we had some with our Thanksgiving Prime Rib roast.

The left 1/3 of these were a variety called Yellow Bunch and the rest are Bolero. Both are from Johnny's.

Garden pictures · More Info

Naturegirl - leeks are great in any kind of stir fry. I have a couple Chinese recipes that specifically call for leeks but I often use them in place of onions in any stir fry recipe.

We had a lovely blizzard yesterday afternoon. I think we got about 5" at my house but it's hard to tell exactly because of the drifting. It sure was blowing sideways in the 30-40 mph winds. That's the third snow fall we've had already this year. The 6.5" that was recorded at the airport is the first snowfall over 3" since 2015.

I'm finally getting around to reading "Epic Tomatoes". If you have not already done so, give it a shot. It's an interesting read.https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/epic-tomatoes-craig-lehoullier/1119692953/2660329879046?st=PLA&sid=BNB_New+Marketplace+Shopping+Books&sourceId=PLAGoNA&dpid=tdtve346c&2sid=Google_c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIydvWspry3gIVmLXACh0SaAm0EAQYAiABEgIbY_D_BwE

Jack - That's quite a harvest of carrots!

So, here in the DC area, November has come in as the wettest November on record. We are now the third wettest on record for total rainfall for the year. And we still have another five weeks to go to set the highest record ever.

Wouldn't surprise me if we top that record, not that I want it.

Jamie - I love my Epic Tomatoes book!

So, the dreaming begins. This arrived in my mailbox today. Does anyone here have experience with Seeds ‘n’ Such?

Cindy you’re going to grow webbed feet! I hope that the rain doesn’t last too long

itsmce- I have not heard of that company. I’ve been reading the big Baker Creek catalog hahaha

itsmce, I've looked at their website a lot but never ordered. They have lots of newer hybrids that often are not available in small packs for home gardeners. I'll take low seed counts if it gets me a reasonable price, which theirs are. I don't want to grow 50 of one variety of tomato or pepper. Ten seeds will give me a couple of plants for several years.

I didn't know they had a catalog. I figured their very reasonable prices were because they had info only online.....guess I will be requesting a catalog :)

Naturegirl, I like Johnny's Seeds for quality and disease resistanT seeds, but Trade Winds Fruit has high quality seeds of all types for $2 for 10 seeds. I have gotten lots of tomato seeds from them-especially when I wanted to try out a certain variety without spending too much. They have all kinds of vegetable and fruit seeds/trees/live plants (only the seeds are $2-some are more expensive) and if you get $20 worth, shipping is free. Here is a link

http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/black-tomatoes/ 

Thanks Cindy! I was a little surprised how well the carrots did considering I did not water them at all after the first 2 or 3 weeks. We were as dry here as you have been wet this year. They showed some place in WV on the weather channel that had already broken their yearly rainfall record of over 60".

I've not ordered from Seeds N Such either but I've perused their website a few times. I believe they are owned by the same guy that founded Totally Tomatoes before it got bought up my the Jung's companies. They do have a nice selection and good prices.

Right now I have plans to order from Johnny's, Tomato Grower's Supply, and Heritage Seed Market. HSM has similar prices to SnS with most tomato seeds at $2,25 for 15 seeds and they have a very extensive selection of varieties including almost 60 from the Dwarf Tomato Project.

This November has officially gone down as the wettest November on record here.

This year (so far) is the third wettest on record with more rain expected next week.

Wow, Cindy, that isn't a record I'd like to be around to see.

Our November is on track to have the least fun (edit....I mean sun...LOL ) of any November...gotta work to keep the spirits up. DH and I have been going to a well lit fitness center and that helps a lot. It's not our growing season now so it really has not affected the garden, at least not that I know.

If there was ever a year for containers in my very flat part of the state, this was it. The trails in many of the local parks have been partially flooded since last spring. I don't even want to look and see if we'll get the same rain Cindy mentions. On the bright side, my indoor micro tomatoes are going gangbusters.

naturegirl - You don't want all this rain? I'm shocked. Thought everyone would be green with jealously.

Not.

Today is sunny but rather cold. Only 33 right now. Could hit the low 60s on Sunday. It's usually roller coaster weather here, especially late fall and early spring.

cecenj - I may have missed it but in what state are you located?

We have been on the same roller coaster, Cindy. We had lows in the 20s for two nights and highs around 40 but it will be 63 today and then in the 70s for a few days haha. Of course it's cloudy and a little rainy so that's the reason for the "heat wave". The highs will return to the 40s and 50s by the middle of next week for us.

We're supposed to be in the upper 40s thru Sunday and then back down again with highs in the 30s next week. I think the snow cover is keeping the temps from getting any warmer. Hopefully the snow will all melt off in the next few days. I didn't even shovel my driveway after last Sunday's blizzard!

Is everyone working on their 2019 plans? I've got my plot layout of what will be planted in each bed pretty much done but I still need to figure out the details of what varieties will go where. I'll probably place my seed orders around Christmas.

We are working on ours now, Jack. I've been going through the seeds I've got on hand to see what else I want to get.

We have also decided also to try a couple rows of straw-bales as an alternative to building some new raised beds. We will probably put squash in them and maybe strawberries. We are putting them in a different part of the yard away from the raised beds we have now.

Naturegirl, I'm in New Jersey.

2018 is officially Pittsburgh 2nd wettest year on record with around 52.5 total inches of rain so far. The record is 57.4 inches in 2004 (year that Hurricanes Ivan and Frances hit the mid-Atlantic regions).

I've got quite a plan started for 2019.. around 95% of the planned crops are accounted for in the market garden I just need to figure out the most efficient locations for each crop (considering watering requirements, insect netting, trellising, etc), make the succession planting more efficient, and fill in the spaces with cover cropping. I've decided as of right now that I'll only be planting veg in about half of the total plot to start next year (using a total of around 30 fifty ft beds). The rest will be put into a ''soil building' phase and planted in cover crops. If we are doing well part way into the season I'll have the option to till some of that in and put them into production.

I wont bore everyone with the details but this is a screenshot of where I am so far:

Havent even started the front yard garden plans yet. Somehow I think that's going to end up being the "wife and kid's" personal garden - filled with flowers, herbs, and veggies they like to tend to.

First seed order is already completed (Johnnys). Will be putting one in at High Mowing and probably Baker Creek.

Kevin - That's a lot of rain! I've only received about half that and unfortunately about 10" was on 2 separate flood events.

My head would be spinning trying to plan out that much space! It looks like you are well on your way though. Good luck!

I got the itch and put in one of my seed orders this morning just after posting that I'd wait until after Christmas to order.

I ordered a few things from Tomato Growers Supply. Mucho Nacho jalapeno, Wes, German Johnson potato leaf, Big Zac, Brandywine Suddeth's strain, Kellogg's Breakfast Potato leaf, and they are sending 2 free bonus packets of something or other.

I'm going to try for a 3+ lb. tomato from Big Zac.

A friend of mine was visiting some of his relatives in Italy a few weeks ago and he brought me back some seeds. An ox-heart tomato, some long beans, 2 varieties of arugula (“wild” and “regular”) broccoli rabe, a variety of lettuce, zucchini and some parsley

Baker Creek offers the tomatoes: https://www.rareseeds.com/cor-di-bue-tomato/

and these are the beans

https://www.theheirloomseedstore.com/product/stringa-grano-bruno

Jamie - I grew cor di bue a few years back. If I remember correctly, it was low on production. However, I read that that is not uncommon with heart shaped tomatoes.

Are you going to start some of those lettuce and arugula seeds now to go with your micro-greens?

The 'Franchi' brand of seeds is available here at our best nursery. However, it's still too early for the seeds to be out. Usually happens in February here.

It rained again today, though not much. Tomorrow more rain is predicted. Think we might possibly break the annual yearly rainfall record yet.

thanks for the information, Cindy! I read similar reviews about that variety of tomatoes also. Some said it was late to produce also. In general it got decent reviews on flavor.

Yes, I am planning to try some of those under lights inside. I didn’t start any microgreens the last couple of weeks but I am going to start some this weekend in preparation for some holiday meals.

Kevin, your spreadsheet for planning looks like it is coming along nicely. My husband, the accountant, thinks it looks great. He loves spreadsheets...usually with a lot more numbers and less words than yours. Are you showing projected plant out date, first harvest date, and time-to-be-composted dates? It gives me some planning ideas for my much smaller space.

Jamie, those are some fun looking seeds. It's cool your friend brought them for you...much better than some souvenir trinket.

LOL, LoneJack: So your first seed order is sent. I think many of us know how hard it is to wait to order seeds. And maybe even harder to walk by a seed rack in a store without stopping to see what is new.

More cloudy weather here....continuing the No Sun in November theme. It's time to break out the Christmas decor and light up the night instead. Maybe set up the seed starting lights before long, too. How soon until I can start onions and leeks LOL

I forgot to mention these: cucumber “carosello medio lungo pugliese”. From the Puglia area.

http://www.italiangardenseeds.com/garden-seeds/vegetable-seeds/cucumber/cucumber-cetriolo-melone-carosello-medio-lungo-pugliese-dbo-37-36/

You pick them young to use as cucumber or let them grow on larger to use like a melon- though the text in the link says that they are not too sweet.

this is the variety of zucchini that he brought. https://www.growitalian.com/zucchino-da-fiore-edible-flower-146-57/ It produces an abundance of flowers and is supposed to be a good variety if you want a lot of flowers to use in cooking.

It’s december! https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5552888/veggie-tales-december-2018