December 1, 2016

Good morning, I hope all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Deb and I sure did!

It looks like it is finally cooling down a little bit. NOAA is predicting a warm dry winter although rain predictions continue to be popping up in the forecasts. This is always good. In the winter I do prefer snow to ice. As if I had a say as to what happens.

I finally put up my temporary greenhouses. Temperatures above 70 tend to make the greenhouses too warm and they need to be vented. The frequent changes from warm to cold or cold to warm usually entails wind. It can be difficult working large sheets of greenhouse film or fabric in such conditions. So I like to see a cooling before I erect them. It makes life easier. With the drip system there is only the need to pull the covers to harvest and perform bed work. I am hoping for sun this winter, cloudy days don't work with passive greenhouses or at least not as well.

It is a work in progress as to which veggies that I will grow in these greenhouses. I do know that my brassica (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower...) crops will not. I want them to have the full effects of any cold so that they can develop their flavors. I will cover the broccoli and cauliflower with heavy fabric in the advent that there is a deep freeze and their heads are forming. Like with peas the foliage can take freezes but the florets and pea pods are destroyed by freezes.

Presently I have chard, kale, and lettuce covered. I am contemplating beets, green onions, Asian greens and the boc choy.

It is good to see that the transition from summer veggies to winter veggies has gone well. Even though my butternut stash is not what I wanted to see but I do have a nice stash of sweets. They are not as big as they have been in the past but they are still tasty. The first hard freeze really did shut growth down. I think growth is starting to resume. Quite a shock from the upper 80's to the lower 20's within 24 hours!!

My peas are doing quite well and were not effected by the chill down along with all my cole crops. This chilling is what makes them tasty. It also causes the spinach to become sweet along with the parsnips and carrots. I plan to do a second sowing of peas the first week or two in December. The second sowing last year sure did extend the pea harvest. My mid summer peas only had a few pods, I think there was too much competition with the sweet potatoes. For funzies I do have a July sowing planned. They will be germinated and covered with the heavy fabric, then maybe in September, peas. We can only hope!!! Some things ya just gotta try.

Stocking levels are improving but it is slow.