November's Garden (2021)

 

I have fourteen. 

Fourteen hoop houses. Last year I had ten. I don't know how that happened. Every time I heard a news report about the price of food rising, I planted a few more seeds. 

 

I ran out of row cover fabric and began stitching old pieces together but it wasn't enough. With freezing weather fast approaching, I purchased two of these covers from Amazon. 

The original plan was to cut them in half and cover four hoop houses individually. But instead, I left them whole after seeing how thin they are. 

We didn't even trim the length of the second cover, just rolled it under on the end because they were beginning to rip. It is doubtful if they will last more than one year.

They also hold moisture underneath and on the top which I fear may cause disease. The other houses dry quickly.  It may work out fine but as of now, I am not recommending this product.

As for the plants, the garden is a sea of green.  

It looks like too much food but winter gardens are much different than summer gardens.  They do all of their growing in the fall, and then go dormant through the winter.  

The horse manure has made a big difference in the health of everything so they are larger than ever.

The radishes under the fence row that were planted between the corn roots are getting quite large. A few winter celtuce were also squeezed in the few bare spots. They were from saved seeds from Green Mountain Winter Celtuce plants that made it through my winter a few years ago. They were always out in the open so this row won't be covered. The radishes won't make it to the end of winter no matter what I do.

Every year I purchase something new in addition to saved seeds. The new Pusa Guiabi Radish is going to be a keeper. The leaves are better than other varieties, more leaf, less stem, and could be used in fresh salads when small.

This row needed harvesting because what I thought were Sui Choy Napa Cabbages began bolting. Either the seed company or I got them swapped. They are in the middle of this row and are so tall the leaves are pushing up on the roof of the hoop house. They have started overshadowing the Golden Beauty Chinese Cabbages on the edges. Both varieties are new to me. 

Whatever the new plants are, we liked their flavor anyway (stirfried with onion, butternut squash, and leftover Thanksgiving turkey). Two were harvested and this is the big gap left in the row.  The mixup doesn't bother me - it just adds to the excitement of trying new things.

The Golden Beauty Cabbage looks exactly like the picture in the seed catalog so no problems there. None have been picked yet.

This is the row shown last month when I harvested the mature Tokinashi and Hida Beni Japanese turnips to make room for the Thousand Head Kale. The smaller turnip seedlings were left to continue growing but some began splitting. I don't know if they are winter hardy so all were harvested.  

Thousand Head Kale is supposed to get massive. The plan was to harvest the turnips so the kale could slowly grow over the winter and when it warms in the spring, remove the covers and let them expand.  However, they look spindly.  This bed did not receive much manure last year because perennial onions were in this spot. The soil is still like a rock which is how my whole garden used to be.  Manure will be spread under the mulch this winter and hopefully, it will make a difference before spring.

This is the bed I was excited about last month because it has assorted broccoli with Landis Winter Lettuce underneath.  The middle section has only lettuce and the back has Cascade Glaze Collards.  The broccoli leaves have grown so thick that the lettuce underneath is in the shade.  Some of the leaves have been harvested, (boiled in beef broth and the stems shredded into broccoli coleslaw) and in the process, something horrible was revealed.

A massive fire ant colony has built a huge mound and it is covering the lettuce.  I didn't even know it was there until I removed some of the broccoli leaves.  It is frustrating to constantly fight them. My experiments using different nontoxic home remedies are continuing.

The garden and I are ready for winter. All that is needed is to raise the edge of one cover, harvest enough for a few days, and then return to the warm house.  It has been worth all the work. Now I can rest for a while.  When I look out of the window after hearing the worsening news reports, I feel much safer. We have plenty of food growing.

Last Month's October Garden (2021)

Last Year's November Garden (2020)

Through the Garden Gate