Gardening Gardening

Our carrots do well in the ground here until December. The ground here freezes solid down well over two feet over winter even with heavy snow. I have some underground up at the cabin I will be digging for eating during deer camp next week. They are so sweet and good this time of year.

Here at home I got my 8' x 5' x 4' fall/over winter compost pile made with all my discarded 2018 garden plants, leaves, grass clippings, small game remains, and kitchen scraps. It is now up to an internal temperature of over 130f. It will shut down sometime in mid to late December. It will be easy to fire right back up with a turn or two in April, then ready for use in the beds as a top dressing in May.

I started another pile with leaves mixed with grass clippings and spent coffee grounds from work and church today. This is the one that all our kitchen scraps and more 5 gallon pails of coffee grounds/filters will be added to through the entire winter. This pile will be ready by early June to plant squash directly into.

 

That’s an idea! I’ve got about a yard of 3/4 ready compost I could lay over the top of them.

 

Winter greenhouse is coming along nicely. Cut the first lettuce last night.
Very good.


Winter squash in the bucket is really starting to take off.



Jalapenos are finally getting a chance. They got kind of spindly this summer when they were
being choked out by the tomatoes. Tomatoes gone now.


Beet greens soon.


4th generation Pink Lady, the only one to survive, is just about ready to go in a bucket.
Will be cutting spinach in a couple of weeks.
Been waiting for the patty pan squash to show for a month now....
bad seeds. Have to start over w/them.
This greenhouse is just too much fun.

 

If you harvest the tops of the beets, will you still get beets? Or is your main crop the beet greens?

 

….ya' know....I don't know.
We shall see.
Controlled experiment:
I will cut the greens on some and
leave some.
Stay tuned.

 

Putzed in the greenhouse this morning.
The bounty of the greenhouse will be on our table today.
Time to harvest the canner'o carrots.



They did pretty well just in potting soil.
I added some sand to see they will get a little bit bigger.


Cut the carrot away from the top and trimmed the top.




Then, back into the canner for round two. Is it a second generation
carrot or....what? The few small tops on the right are ones I pulled and
replanted a couple of weeks ago. They are taking off. Stay tuned.....
perpetual carrots.

A fresh salad w/lettuce/spinach /beet greens/ cilantro.

 

Where are you located to be able to winter garden? Curious.

 

Makes me "green" with envy. If I had the time and energy, it wouldn't take much to do the same thing here except we don't get as much sunshine as you would. Our winters are usually very grey. Not today though, the sun was out in full force. Just no heat to it.

 

Colorado Denver area.
Full 4 season greenhouse.
This was Tues. outside.

 

Supplemental heat? Ceramic elec? Believe my weather is a bit harsh but it would be fun!

 

Yes, ceramic elect. It's a tiny little heater. Last year I figured it cost
~$55 to heat it for the winter. All the framed walls/roof are 2x6 insulated w/a vapor
barrier. Floor is 2" hard foam insulation. Glazing is double wall polycarbonate.
The vent/fan doors are 1" foam insulation. Total greenhouse is 450 cu/ft.
It only heats about 300 cu/ft. The heater has a hi/low setting and 10 increments for each.
It is set on low setting, 3rd increment. It's a tight little box. Even when it is cold out, I have
to monitor it pretty close or it will get too hot. Wed. it was 26F out w/full sun. I forgot
to check it and by 10am it was 97F inside. It's just too much fun to play with.

 

Out of curiosity how are you figuring your heat cost? Calculated? Or observed on bill? I've done it both ways and calculated always seems much higher than actual observed! I have a small nicely insulated one stall garage I like to keep above freezing. I use small elec. as well. Easy peasy!

 

Observed on the bill.
Here's the built process.
Gardening - First project for the spring/summer.

 

I tried to dig up the remainder of my carrots that were still in the ground over deer camp up north at our cabin, but that ground was hard froze and couldn't be turned.

Here at home the ground is still able to be turned and snow covered.

My current large compost pile is running around 140f right now, so there is now snow on it. It smells great...an earthy smell combined with a pungent leaf mold.

The birds like landing on it for picking, and I assume warming. I will continue to turn it every 3-4 days until we get our really cold weather and it stops working...maybe in a few weeks the way the long term forecast looks as there is no below zero temperature in the 10 day forecast. It is already turning black and the red worms are working around the edges, so it is already pretty far along.

 

My first harvest for 2020. Leftover from 2019 out in the patch.

 

Yummmmm

 

Those are great with buttah.

 

They don't freeze and decompose ?

 

The Wif just looked over my shoulder at this Sculpture and asked "What is that made of?" "Butter" I told her. "Where did they get so much butter from?" I said "From really big cows! Or maybe from cows with really big boobs"! I immediately got the eye roll followed by "The Look".. There were no more questions.