Winter Stops By

Winter stopped by for two days this week, bringing temperatures into the teens.  This meant I had to actually use the row covers I was so excited about two months ago.  I had planned to only have one or two winter beds and thought I had plenty of fabric, but it turns out that my fall plantings were still thriving and I didn't want to loose them.  I ended up covering five beds, but didn't quite have enough fabric.  I was hoping the broccoli could handle the frost better than the lettuce, carrot, or radish, so they got the abbreviated cover.  I have also harvested most of the main crowns, but was hoping to keep harvesting side shoots.

Some of the leaves on the edge are a bit droopy, but it seems they survived.

In the lettuce, onion, and cauliflower bed, the romaine and leaf green lettuce did well while the mesclun mix is wilted.  I will have to remember that for next year's planting.  However, they were located on the end of the bed and it was a windy night and the row cover may not have stayed put too well.

The radishes look a bit droopy, carrots seem fine, and in the back is a pathetic artichoke plant.  Last spring I had a bout of impulse shopping at the farmer's market and bought an artichoke plant.  Even though I don't eat artichoke often, I thought I would if I grew it.  However, I got zero artichokes and hundreds of aphids this past year.  I was suppose to dig it up and store it for the winter, which you can see did not happen.  It's not looking too great... we'll see if it survives.

 

Another bed of carrots, beets, turnips, and some others also seems to have made it through the chill.

Domino has been working hard to clean up the leftovers in the garden, including cabbage leaves:

Temperatures are back up to the 60s, that is until Winter decides to stop by again.

Harvest Monday

This week we greeted our first frost here in South Carolina.  I've still been harvesting strawberries and I'm surprised that they are still producing, but no complaints!

 

I also harvested some peppers (covered during the cold nights) and some peas:

I have never grown turnips.  How do I know when to harvest??  They don't look as big as I thought they would be, but I don't want them getting woody. 

My main causality in the frost was the basil:

I've got plenty of pesto frozen and plenty of dried basil to get me through the winter months, so the frost wasn't a tragedy.  The basil is now my Halloween decor!

I hope everyone had a Happy Harvest Monday!  To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

First Frost!

Last night brought our first frost to the Piedmont of South Carolina. 

During my morning visit to my garden, I was greeted with ice in the birdbath,

 frozen droplets dotting the pea leaves,

and frosty strawberry leaves.

Our average frost date is Nov 6th, so this was a week early.  I had made a cold frame for my lettuce bed, but didn't actually cover it!  I'm hoping they recover.  The romaine looks fine and spinach can handle it, but the looseleaf lettuce and some of the mesclun blend look a bit sad.  The forecast predicted 33 degrees, but I guess it got down to 28 degrees.  I did cover the pepper bed because I'm not ready to part with them.  I had a late start with my peppers this year, so they were slow to produce and there's still quiet of few ripening peppers.

The rest of the garden is fall crops that should be able to handle the frost although I should probably mulch for some extra insulation.  There's suppose to be another frost tonight and then warm up for the rest of the week.

I think its time to have a steaming cup of tea and curl up under a fleece blanket.  Wish all my garden plants could join me.