This post should be entitled Harvest for the New Year as I picked my first harvest on the first. It was a nice way to start the new year. It was the perfect day for it.
We had had some really cold weather, but then last week we started to thaw. We didn't quite make 60F, but 59.6F is pretty warm. All of our snow still isn't melted, but it is well on its way. I had to dig the front of the hoop tunnel out. I was wondering how it would do in all the snow. Well one side partially collapsed. All I used here is 9 gauge wire for support which isn't as sturdy as the plastic hoops most use. I crossed two of them in the middle to form Xs and overlapped my Xs. This made it able to mostly hold up to the blizzard. The one side it collapsed on was near a higher part in the wall and the snow couldn't slide off of it which was the reason for the collapse.
Underneath the tatsoi and turnips did just fine. I harvested a nice batch of them.
Dying Fun Jen
But the boc choy and the Fun Jen were starting to rot out. The boc choy looked good from the top, but from the sides you could see the stems had started turning brown. I removed some of the outside ones and it was dying all the way in. So boc choy couldn't handle the cold as well. Interestingly enough the Fun Jen I picked two weeks ago and a month ago are still holding up (I kept them because I wanted to see how long they would last, but have eaten most of them). So for next year I know to pick the Fun Jen before the freeze happens, but the tatsoi should stay in the ground.
I haven't redone my sidebar yet to start the new totals for this year. Or my spreadsheet to track my totals. I'll get to it eventually. I'm sure I won't get another harvest for a while. I've got more tatsoi, but I'm more interested in seeing how it does through the winter than harvesting it. I might do some outer leaf harvesting during the next thaw.
- Tatsoi 9.4 oz
- Salad Turnips 3.2 oz
- Year Total 12.6 oz
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.
What a nice way to start the New Year...a harvest from your garden!
ReplyDeleteThat grow tunnel did amazingly well consider the extreme weather you just went through! We are in a deep freeze at the moment and I am losing a few plants in the unheated greenhouse. Happens every year but others survive and it all works out in the end! We are supposed to warm up a bit mid week and I can really assess the damage then.
ReplyDeleteNo Harvest monday post for me this week as I had my daughter home for a visit this past week and was more focussed on enjoying her than updating my blog. I will have to do a catch up Monday harvest post next week.
beautiful, Daphne!
ReplyDeleteYour tatsoi is just picture perfect! My first attempt at growing them didn't work out so well this year. They grew some leaves, but not as many and not in the beautiful rosette pattern as yours do.
ReplyDeleteI need to start some more tatsoi seeds now for transplanting later this month. From your assessment, it seems as though they would fair rather well in the hoop house.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, your greens look wonderful!!! How cold has it been at night there?
ReplyDeleteWe're just coming out of a deep freeze again with below zero temps at night and single digit or teens for the high during the day. Supposed to get up to almost 30 by the end of the week... a heat wave.
I've had to really protect my little hoop house to keep my greens alive.
Lovely tatsoi! It's such a hardy green, a real workhorse for winter gardening. Too bad about the tunnel collapse but given the blizzard I guess it could have been a lot worse. I'm glad we only got a little snow and no blizzard!
ReplyDeleteI'm really impressed that you have something to harvest :)
ReplyDeleteYour tatsoi is so beautiful, I had no idea that it is so cold tolerant.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy that you've been hosting Harvest Monday, it's been really interesting to see what other gardeners have been harvesting and when. It's also been really interesting to see what my garden has produced over the course of a year. I never kept track of my harvests before and I had no idea how much was coming out of the garden in the past. I can already see that 2011 is off to a different start just from glancing back through the early 2010 harvests. This should help me in my planning for the rest of the year, I hope...
Thanks for being our Harvest Monday host Daphne!
WOW!! How awesome that your beautiful tatsoi survived that terrible Christmas blizzard! What a gorgeous harvest!
ReplyDeleteI've had good luck with tatsoi as well and other more open faced 'cool' tolerant plants.
ReplyDeleteAn inspirational start to the year!
ReplyDelete(Word Verification "windines" - hope it's not an omen)
I love how pretty the tatsoi look!
ReplyDeleteRobin, thanks
ReplyDeleteLaura, My son left earlier, but I put my daughter on the plan yesterday. I was sad to see them gone. Have fun with yours.
EG, thanks
Thyme2garden, mine are usually smaller when I harvest. But this fall they seemed to love the weather and really took off.
Thomas, My ground is still frozen solid. The rock wall just lets too much cold air in. The blizzard helped though as the snow was pretty good insulation. The rock wall had a solid mass against it until yesterday.
Toni, so far we have only had a low to about 14 degrees I think. My weather station wasn't up yet during the coldest weather. The problem really isn't the temps though it is the dang rock wall that leaks air into the ground. The ground is more subject to freezes and thaws that way. Next year in a real bed it ought to be better.
villager, I was shocked to see it standing at all after a foot of snow. I'm glad it held up though.
Foodgardenkitchen, thanks
michelle, i find keeping track really helps me to figure out what to grow in the next year. I'm not a great record keeper, but I really try. Harvest Monday helps me to keep records. I have to show them off every week, so I'd better not forget.
ReplyDeleteJane, thanks.
Ottawa Gardener, I'll have to find all the really hardy ones for next year.
Mal's Allotment, lol we have had some bad windines recently. I like the calm weather much better.
Holly, thanks.
Fantastic winter garden harvest! I let this fall slide away from me and didn't do as much with my beautiful cold frames as I could have. I planted too many summery lettuces and greens, and not enough really hardy plants. Although, looking back, I think the fall and winter garden planning starts as much with the seed order as anything! I'm adding tatsoi to my list for the coming year... it looks great!
ReplyDeleteGreat looking harvest! Amazing that you grew part of it under a snow drift! I might have to try using some of those hoop tunnels next winter. It looks like they really help a lot!
ReplyDeleteNo harvest for me this time, but I did a post about my garden just the same. I celebrated New Year's Day by turning my compost pile! A hard-core gardener to the end!
A day late again, but I'm linking in!
ReplyDeleteYour harvest looks really wonderful. I wish I liked cabbages of any type. Somehow I doubt I'll aquire a taste for it this late in the game. HA!
Tricie, it does. I'm still trying to figure out what seeds will survive the winter.
ReplyDeleteVeggie Pak, Mine are frozen solid still. I don't think they will have any attention until the end of March maybe.
Barbie, I've trained myself to like a few veggies that I didn't has a kid (like zucchini). But some I just can't take (arugula). So I don't plant them at all.
Oh wow, you have really inspired me to want to do row covers! Looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteThat tat soi is certainly pretty. What a nice gift under the snow.
ReplyDeleteThat is some lovely looking tatsoi Daphne! It hit 11c here on New Years day... unfortunately it only lasted one day :-)
ReplyDelete