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| Leeks and Pac Choi
I have been avoiding the garden for a few weeks since there is little left except the chore of cleaning it up for the season. I am hoping to get that done this week and my garlic planted. I visited last week and harvested a few things that survived the hard freeze we had October 19th. I pulled the last of the leeks. These were from leek plants I purchased as actual leek plants, not from misidentified plants from Dixondale. As such, they benefited from being planted deeply in holes so there is more blanched white bulb then the shallowly planted ones from Dixondale.
I also have a bed of kohlrabi, choi and Napa cabbage that was covered with row cover. Those did nicely except for the kohlrabi. Apparently kohlrabi is only moderately cold resistant and you can see the one pitiful survivor in the picture. The choi and cabbage did fine under cover and I harvested one of the Joi Choi heads for a stir fry. The Soloist cabbages are getting a nice size so I tied them up to blanch the centers. I am hoping for another week or two of decent weather for them to get a little bigger. I have a batch of kimchee planned for them. The ones I harvested this summer were so infested with slugs and earwigs I tossed them in the compost.
The carrots I planted in August in another bed are surviving as well but I am not sure they will get to harvest-able size in the few weeks we have left before solid freeze. I picked a few of the larger ones to try but the wind was blowing so hard I somehow lost them from the bag. We get some wild winds in the winter so I have to get the plastic mulch and row cover removed and stowed away soon.
My brassica bed with the kale and sprouts did not fare very well. The caterpillars have had a field day and pretty much destroyed everything. I may be able to get a few leaves of kale from the whole bed this week. The Brussels sprouts are a failure again. They have just tiny, pea-sized sprouts which will not size up in time. Like Susie I think I am done wasting space and effort on sprouts and will just buy them from the local farm stands. My wife hates them anyway.
That’s what happened (or not) in my garden last week. To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting, visit Dave’s Our Happy Acres, our host for Harvest Monday.
Note: posted late because LiveWriter has decided to be cranky, so this was manually done with the Blogger editor.
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Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Harvest Monday 2 November 2015
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It sounds like live writer isn't the only cranky thing. I have to admit to a bit of a malaise about the garden lately, I'm a bit tired of how it dictates my schedule, especially in late summer and fall. My kitchen/fridge is still sporting bags and baskets of veggies that I don't feel like dealing with. Sheese, just because I CAN grow it doesn't mean I should... I know I'll be happy for all the bounty and associated work when the garden is offering just greens, which I will be double happy for when I see the ice in colder climate gardens!
ReplyDeleteI can understand why Daphne burned out after a few years of being the one blogger who HAD to post on Harvest Monday. No weeks off. At least now most of the bags have been cleared from the fridge, although I am still finding an occasional bag tucked away with mystery content in it.
DeleteI am guessing the Blogger editor leaves a bit to be desired....I'm with you on the Brussels Sprouts too. My last attempts got me nothing. For that matter I've not had much luck with bok choy. The bugs always eat mine up, usually slugs and sow bugs. I've started garden cleanup but it is not one of my favorite tasks. I hope to make a dent in it tomorrow, when it will at least be sunny and warm outside.
ReplyDeleteYes, you have to cover the choi to keep the cabbage caterpillars away but then the slugs and earwigs are protected as well to do their damage. I have had enough mixed success with choi to probably continue for another year.
DeleteDitto with Brussels sprouts, I gave up few years ago. Lovely leeks and bok choy. Weather has been so unusual, it may just stay warm enough for your carrots to size up.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that's the case, but of course we already had our killing frost to take out the more sensitive plants that could oif benefited from the weather.
DeleteYou were able to get such nice long white stems on your leeks - they look great! And that's a beautiful head of Joi Choi - I had such a hard time with choys this year. Joi Choi is usually such a great producer for me but this time round I had caterpillar issues, like you, as well as aphids and I barely got a few leaves from each plant.
ReplyDeleteI knew these were leeks so they were planted in an 8 inch deep bed by using a dibble to make a deep hole. Then you just drop the plant in and don't add soil. Eventually soil washes in as you water. The leeks I thought were onions were planted at onion depth (about 1 inch) and don't have as much white. So it is possible to grow leeks in raised beds if you know they are leeks.
DeleteYou sound depressed, Dave! Best thing to do is get out the seed catalogues and plan for next year... Some things grow well in one garden but not another - for instance I seem to manage to produce some decent Brussels Sprouts, but really struggle with Celeriac. My Leeks are very thin and spindly this year, which is a disappointment, but I'll try again next year.
ReplyDeleteHah, the Dixondale onion catalog was in the mail today, so I'm already onto next year!
DeleteI took a page out of Mark's and Daphne's book and covered all of my brassicas. The Bok Choy is really doing well for me! The others...well, time will tell. Your leeks are lovely as well as your Choy.
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