We had several hard frosts last week, where the top layer of the soil froze at night. But it "defrosted" during the day. They were also forecasting snow for the latter part of the week. It didn't materialize, but I couldn't know that, so I harvested all the remaining root vegetables.
I took all the remaining "Mokum" carrots, an Amsterdam type, that were spring-planted.
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| Mokum carrots |
As well as the "Yaya" carrots, a Nantes type, that were also spring-planted.
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| Yaya carrots |
I decided I'm completely sold on pelletized carrot seeds. They are so much easier to handle, and no thinning required. Sure, not all germinate, and you have to use up all the seeds in one season, but it is totally worth it to me. I wish more varieties were available in pelletized form.
All the remaining leeks were picked. They never really got big this year, but at least the voles left them alone, so we got a good harvest of this useful vegetable.
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| Carentan leeks |
I also went to chop down the cauliflower plants, which had gotten very big but produced no heads, I thought. So I was pleasantly surprised to find this when pulling them apart for the compost. They are only tennis-ball sized, but it made for a very nice side dish that night.
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| Snowball Self-blanching cauliflower |
Needless to say, The Kitchen Goddess had a very busy day when all the above came in. She kept some of the leeks out for cock-a-leekie soup (yum!), froze the rest, and froze all the carrots. She got so into it she forgot to leave some out for fresh eating! Not only that, but I discovered all the Red Norland potatoes in the bin in the cellar had started to sprout, only three months after harvest. So she sliced them, dipped them in lemon juice, blanched them, and dehydrated them in the oven. They will be very useful in the coming winter months.
With that, the garden is bare. I bid it goodnight, and thanked it for its service. Our freezers and cupboards are full. Despite the usual setbacks, it was a pretty good year. I hope it was for you too! So no more Harvest Monday posts this year. Thanks for reading, and for your comments over the year. And a big round of applause, please, for our host, the talented Dave, at
HappyAcres.blog.
That looks like a big haul of carrots! I do like the pelletized seeds too. My biggest problem with growing carrots is the thinning, which I never seem to do in a timely manner. The deep freeze is coming here today, with temps likely in single digits overnight. If this is November, what will January bring???
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave. January will be balmy, I promise!
DeleteLook at those carrots! I should try pelletized seed too. I need to thin my carrots in the next week or so.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sue. Thinning carrots is a pain, and I'm glad not to do it anymore.
DeleteLovely harvest of carrots and I am glad the voles didn't scissor off the leaves from yours, as happened here!! I have never even thought of dehydrating potatoes like that. What an excellent idea. Mine are still OK at the moment but with the weird conditions, I can believe they will stat sprouting at the wrong time so thank you for the heads up on that. How thick does you DG slice them please?
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy. She slices them 1/8 inch thick.
ReplyDelete