The snow was above my boots as I made my way through the garden to the high tunnel this morning. I unzipped the door and stepped inside to the now-familiar smell of damp earth. Snow had, for the most part, slid off the curved hoops and was deposited nearly five feet high on both sides, dampening the sounds from the outside.
Many of the raised beds inside are empty now - with remnants of a few small shallots and dried stalks of basil I had tried to save after the other tender plants froze in October. We had planted two beds to carrots in late August and I had made several staggered plantings of lettuce and Swiss chard after that. You can see the Swiss Chard above. It seems that the greens have stopped growing and are waiting for warmer temperatures and more light. It will be interesting to see what happens as the cold - and the light - strengthens. I harvested some broccoli florets - enough for a meal for the two of us - along with some parsley and sage. Carrots were my biggest harvest - aren't they lovely?
Next year I'll be better equipped to plan for the winter harvest by starting the greens a little sooner and planting them nearer the middle of the high tunnel instead of on the edge as they are now.
We'll plant the bulk of the high tunnel to tomatoes, eggplants and peppers again in the spring adding plantings of herbs such as cilantro and basil and shallots from seeds. Our Farmers' Market customers begin looking for fresh tomatoes almost as soon as the Market opens in late May and, though I was pleased with being able to harvest tomatoes in mid-July, I'm aiming for a even earlier harvest in 2013.
Some of the carrots you see below are heading to the soup pot this afternoon but I've enjoyed some of their exquisite sweet crunchiness for my lunch!
1 comment:
Gorgeous! I was just thinking about how I wanted to grow carrots in the high tunnel next year. I'm happy to see you had such success!
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