Beets for Krampus.

   I felt it was time to dig the last of the beets.

   I covered them after I harvested the greens.

   The burlap makes for easy snow removal.

    I am sure Krampus will be pleased.

Digging Potatoes

   Yesterday I dug the last of the potatoes. Late blight came through in mid September and killed all the tops. I waited to dig them till after we have had a few hard freezes in hopes that any spores would be killed. In this patch I had planted Reba, a long season baker and Augusta, a mid season yellow.

   Like jewels in the dirt. The Rebas had a high level of blight rot but the Augusta had none. The yields on the Augusta were much higher too. A really fine potato.

NOT A FUCKING TURNIP!

   Today I pulled the rutabagas. I have never grown them before and figured that if all else fails I will have some good veg in the root cellar. A rutabaga is a brassica. A turnip is a mustard.  Like how tigers look like house cats but taste not at all the same. If you have only had them boiled and mashed and have an opinion on them(turnips or rutabagas) you are a fool. That would be like saying you do not like steak because you have only had it boiled.

   Oddly some got bigger than my head but still good to eat. I guess about 150lbs. I will grow these again for sure.

  The root cellar is full of some yummy stuff for the cold winter to come. I am thankful.

   I had a look a the potatoes and dug a few for the week. I only found signs of blight on one but I will leave most in the ground for now.

  It has been a frustrating year and in the end fruitful. Dust to stardust, ever onward.

Digging Carrots

   The ground is starting to freeze so I thought it would be a good idea to dig carrots. It turned out to be a good year.

   Some really nice big ones.

   I planted one bed about 20 feet buy 2 feet.

   I am guessing this is about 70 pounds. I am pleased.

Not Much Left

  Pulled the last of the turnips, napa and daikon today. They say down in the teens again tonight.

Roy's Calais Flint Corn Shelling

   I grew this corn for meal this year. It is an Abenaki strain and is said to be one of the few things that grew in Vermont in the summer of 1816. I have never shelled corn and do not have the right tools.

   This worked very well. I planted one package of seed from High Mowing and in a rather shitty, colds, wet summer. I got about 90 ears, some quite small. I had no idea that the yield would be so good.

  
   I am astounded. This will make more corn meal than we tend to use in a year, with lots of seed for next year. Fuck you Monsanto.

Planting Garlic Bulbils

   Today I got around to digging the bed for my bulbils. In that this was woods three years ago it was a bit of work.

   I let 12 scapes go and and saved the "seed" for planting.

   I am hoping that this will be a permanent perpetual bed.

  Just a bit of raking in and some mulch for winter.

   Now we just wait till spring and see, next year I should have first year garlic and garlic chives. The next year I should have proper bulbs. Then after that I should always have garlic with out having to replant each year.

Hugelbeets

   I finished one hugelbeet in the spring and planted tomatillos on it this year. They did well and I have more than I want. The freeze killed them last night.

   My lack of good soil limits what I can do so I find this interesting. Today I thought it would be a good idea to work on the second one.

   I raked a bunch of leaves on top and I will add more good stuff till snow. I will be building a perpetual garlic bed just above for my bulbils this week. They look like crap now but in time they will blend in and I will have useful terraces.

Cabbage Harvest

  So today in a windy spiting rain and snow before a night that is going to drop in to the teens I harvested cabbage.

   12 fat heads that I planted in mid July. Never again will I mess with most brassicas in early summer. They do not like the heat and there are too many pests and weeds.

   Feels good to have the root cellar filling up. Only potatoes that I will not store because they have blight and rutabagas. Oh dear, rutabagas... Hundreds of pounds of rutabagas.

Putting to bed.

   So the unglamorous work of cleaning up the lower beds is mostly done. I moved the hoops to keep a high tunnel over the arugula, bunching onions and a bit of spinach to see what happens. I will put up the plastic tomorrow.

As always George helps. Trying burlap bags as a winter ground cover, I may tuck some leaves or rotted hay under if I have the time. Nice to have a cold drizzle and a bit of hail to keep one focused. I still have a bed of beets that need to be pulled before the hard freeze tomorrow night. Then over to the winter gardens to pull the cabbage and get it in to the root cellar. Seems the chill is for real this time.

Celery makes a tasty house plant.

   With the nights getting colder I figured it was a good day to bring in the last celery plant. The rest of the celery and celeriac went in to the root cellar last week.

   Last year I had celery that we bought at a fall farmers market that had a bit of root on it and after we had eaten all but the few core ribs, I felt sorry for it and put it in a glass of water on a window sill in the kitchen. It rooted out in a week or so and I planted it in a pot. It thrived and we had fresh celery all winter. The leaves really are great and seldom found on celery you buy.

  
  So this year I thought it would be fun to try it with a big healthy plant from the garden. They have quite an interesting root system, fat roots almost like tubers.

   I will give it a good bit of a trim in the next few weeks to promote more new leaves. It is quite handsome sitting on my planting bench.

First snow on the hill.

  
   It seems a bit silly to try to pick a day of the year to start this, as gardening never begins or ends. With the tender plants all picked and put by, it seemed the first snow at least marks a change and would be as good of a place as any to begin.

 

The leeks seem fine after a night in the low 20s.

The zucchini on the other hand looks a bit sad.

All good things must come to an end.