First day of February here brings much nicer weather than last week. Last weekend we had snow, sleet and freezing rain while this past weekend we had sun and 60 degree weather. It was a great weekend to get started on the garden. We got a trailer load of compost and began shoveling it onto the rows. There's still a long way to go, but we've got plenty of time until spring planting.
Most of my crops survived the collapsed row covers in the snow and ice. The lettuce, however, didn't fair so well. I cut it down to the soil in hopes that the roots are fine at that it will re-sprout. The other crop that isn't looking very well are the onions, which is strange because normally they overwinter with no problems. I think the really warm weather we had for a few weeks in December really confused the plants into thinking it's already spring.
Not much going on in the garden here. I harvested more Swiss chard, which is a regular part of my breakfast. It got a bit squished by the snow, but rebounded quickly.
The only other harvest this week was some purple carrots. They are fun, but I don't think they taste as sweet as my orange carrots.
Weekly harvests:
Carrots: 12.8 oz
Swiss chard: 10.4 oz
2016 Harvests: 13.2 lbs
That's all the harvests coming from my garden this week. To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Our Happy Acres.
I am in zone 6, Massachusetts, and even up here we also had a lovely weekend, it went up to 60!!! So interesting that you have chard for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Marie
Guess it's not normal breakfast food! I try to eat some leafy greens every day, so I find if I have them for breakfast it's more likely to happen.
DeleteDo you use your swiss chard in smoothies for breakfast or how do you serve it in the mornings? Ground too hard here yet to do any digging. Nancy
ReplyDeleteI have them sauteed with eggs and whatever other random veggies I have available. I've yet to make a green smoothie, but should try someday.
DeleteI agree about the purple carrots, they aren't as sweet as the orange ones, but I often prefer the less sweet ones when I cook them in soups and stews. And I love the color! I eat greens for breakfast too, they're great with eggs in tomato sauce.
ReplyDeleteYes, the combination of tomato sauce, greens and eggs is fabulous!
DeleteI had the same collapse issue with my lettuce row cover this past fall - I use tubing that's normally used for drip as a support, which works great normally, but seems to lose it's strength in freezing temperatures.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's how I felt about the carrots they grew at the farm I volunteered at - the coloured ones looked beautiful, especially when sliced, but when it came to taste, it's the orange ones that I went for.
My problem with the row covers is that we get very strong winds and one day it was so windy I had to anchor the row covers as low to the ground as possible to keep them from flying away. Then when the snow came, there wasn't much buffer space and it weighed the covers down to the ground. We're letting an area grow in with trees, so I hopefully that will be a wind breaker at some point.
DeleteI'll ditto what Michelle said about the purple carrots. I love they color they add to salads and other fresh uses, even if they aren't as sweet to just eat them by themselves. That trailer load of compost brings back memories. I used to go load up my pickup bed with composted manure. But then I had to spread it quick so I could use my truck for something else! It makes the garden grow, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteYes, the fun shoveling.. I'm thinking I need to come up with an easier method in a couple of decades!
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