Category: Vegetables

Ready for Winter

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Today I got my plot truly ready for winter. We had a few night frosts this past week, so I pulled the flowers, Swiss chard and tender lettuces, which all had frost damage. The fall greens are still going strong, so I am keeping them in for a few more days. I also still have carrots growing, which I will pull in a few weeks. Same with the parsley, of which I harvested some today. I am planning to overwinter my leeks.

I finally divided the asparagus, yay! I divided the big clump into six crowns and gave them plenty of space in between. I hope they will establish over the winter. I had planned to do this these past two years in early spring, but this spring I had COVID, which knocked me out for the entire month of April and made me miss the dividing window, and the year before the ground was frozen solid for much longer and then it got warm very quickly. Fingers crossed. The worst case scenario is that I won’t have much to harvest next spring.

November Clean-Up

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Today, I finished cleaning up my plot and getting it ready for the winter. The only thing left to do is to take out the flowers and divide the asparagus (or leave the latter for early spring next year). I still have Swiss Chard, leeks, fall greens, carrots, parsley and flowers growing. I spread salt marsh hay on the garlic patch and around the chard and leeks. It has been in the 70s today, and we have not had a frost yet this year.

Front left: next year’s garlic plus parsley. Back left: leeks. On the right: carrots, fall greens and chard. Flowers (cosmos, Zinnias and dahlias) at the fence in the back.
Next year’s garlic

Warm November

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We are having an unseasonably warm November. 75 degrees today (November 5) and the same is forecasted for tomorrow. The trees have almost lost all their leaves yet here we are enjoying the sun in our tank tops. I am behind with clearing my plot and I have not planted my garlic yet. Today, I cleaned almost half of my plot and will do more work tomorrow. Trying to get the garlic in tomorrow as well.

Back Porch Cleanup and Tulip Planting

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Yesterday, I cleaned up my back porch to get it ready for the winter. I covered the table and chairs, pulled most of the plants (the only things still producing are the Swiss Chard and the herbs) and moved containers away from the railings for protection from the elements. We are still promised a few warm days (upper 60s) this week, and I will enjoy sitting on my South-facing bench as much as possible until the first frost will force me inside for good. I also planted about 150 tulip bulbs, both in containers and in the front and back yard. I planted Little Princess Botanical tulips on my back porch, and the following tulips in the front yard: Queen of the Night combined with Apricot Parrot, and Purple Prince combined with Orange Brilliant Fosteriana plus more Princess Botanical. In the back yard and in the herb garden and the little side bed along the back porch, I planted Mixed Triumph Tulips. All bulbs are from Holland Bulb Farms. I am looking forward to a lot of color next spring.

Our neighbor’s maple is gorgeous this year

Glass Gem Corn

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Today’s harvest: glass gem corn, green beans and a small fall bouquet

Bad news. The rodents got ALL the King Philip corn. Even the ears that were not quite ripe. I was too late. They also started feasting on the glass gem corn, so I harvested four bigger ears this morning, even though it is still a couple of weeks early. Lots of things still growing in the garden. I still have plenty of green beans. The carrots are coming in nicely, I thinned them a few days ago. Fall greens are looking good. The winter squash less so; there are only a few fruit on the vines and those are not very big.

Anticipation

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My corn is not yet ready for harvest but I am very excited about the King Philip corn I planted this year. It is a historic Wampanoag flint corn native to New England (named after the Wampanoag chief Metacom who adopted the name King Philip) and has copper-colored, reddish kernels. Flint corn has a hard outer layer around each kernel (protecting it from rodents) and is mostly used for coarse corn meal. It can also be dried and used for popcorn. In addition to King Philip corn, I grew glass gem corn again this year. While mostly used for decoration, glass gem corn can also be ground into meal or popped for snacking.