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    Home » Gardening

    Transition from Summer to Winter (Weekend Gardening)

    Nov 15, 2009 · Modified: Nov 29, 2020 by Andrea · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads · 7 Comments

    Summer to winter sounds like a big jump, and that’s how it felt around here for a couple weeks. We hit a cold snap in mid October that caught the garden and us by surprise. Daytime temperatures dropped into the 40s, and though we didn’t have a frost the tomato and pepper plants stopped production. We pulled all the ripe tomatoes and left the green ones on for a little longer to see if they might ripen. After the hard frost on November 7, all the tomato and pepper plants drooped and we gathered the remaining tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos.

    leaning out the tomatillos and tomatoes - Andrea Meyers

    We brought in about 20 pounds of tomatillos, about 5 pounds of green tomatoes, and about 20 peppers, including a plethora of poblanos.

    Poblano peppers in our garden - Andrea Meyers

    The white habanero plant finally kicked in last month and we have a bunch of tiny yellow and white habanero peppers which managed to survive the frost. The chiles start out green, turn yellow, then finally white.

    White habanero peppers in our garden - Andrea Meyers

    Michael cleaned out the plants and we gathered all the tomato and pepper cages from the three beds. They look so empty now.

    Empty tomato cages, end of the season - Andrea Meyers

    The blueberry bushes have turned red and are dropping their leaves. We had a small crop this year, not bad for the first year, and we look forward to seeing the leaves return in the spring and perhaps a few more blueberries next year.

    Blueberry bush in autumn - Andrea Meyers

    The chards were overtaken by the monster turnip (far end), which we finally dug up. The scallions (left) have continued to thrive in the cool weather, and we are digging up the last of the summer lettuces and waiting for the winter crop to sprout. We have some cold frames we’ll put over the lettuces to keep them going through the winter.

    Raised bed #2, chards, scallions, lettuce, turnip - Andrea Meyers

    We harvested the ginger which had been growing in a pot on the deck all summer (photo taken in July).

    Ginger plant in a pot - Andrea Meyers

    We only planted two small nubs of ginger and were pleased with the amount we got in return. Since the experiment was a success we will grow more ginger in pots next year.

    Ginger, fresh from our garden - Andrea Meyers

    With the cool Autumn season our garden is still producing. The cilantro is happily sprouting in both the beds and the pots and giving us flavorful leaves, and the sage, mint, thyme, and parsley will continue throughout the winter.

    Sage and thyme in our garden - Andrea Meyers

    The garlic crop was a great success and we planted more this year. Last year we planted about 20 cloves, this year 80. Raised bed #4 (below) has 60 cloves planted around the perimeter and we put the other 20 in raised bed #1 after adding more compost and soil and raising up the herbs. We got the garlic in the ground a little later due to the sudden attack of winter—they need to be planted in mid October to early November—but they should sprout soon.

    Raised bed for garlic - Andrea Meyers

    We are much further along than this time last year. The beds are in place and we have cold frames and floating row covers all set to go, so hopefully we’ll be able to keep some winter lettuces and other things going until spring. And in the meantime, we’ll start planning for the next summer garden.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Nate says

      November 16, 2009 at 12:30 am

      How exciting! It's really cool that you got some ginger to grow. Have you tried cooking with it yet?

      I miss our old garden back in San Jose.

      Reply
    2. momgateway says

      November 16, 2009 at 2:19 am

      What a bountiful garden! I just have a container garden right now where I grow herbs, tropical plants and toomatoes but maybe when we move next year I can have a decent one. I'm intrigued by your white habanero. How hot are they?

      Reply
    3. Andrea says

      November 16, 2009 at 8:25 am

      Hi Nate. The ginger has good flavor, have already used it in stir-fries.
      Hi momgateway. The white habaneros are hot little devils. 😉

      Reply
    4. Alisa - Frugal Foodie says

      November 16, 2009 at 12:50 pm

      Wow, your garden looks amazing! I wish we could garden here, but the soil isn't any good it and we usually have frost / snow until May 🙁

      But, I can finally get a CSA this year! 🙂

      Reply
    5. Denver Landscaper says

      November 16, 2009 at 6:24 pm

      The vegetables look delicious, especially the peppers. Mmmm 🙂

      I don't have nearly the space you have for your garden, but with the small amount of space I do have, I'm extremely excited for spring already.

      Reply
    6. Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) says

      November 16, 2009 at 10:48 pm

      I think that planning for the next year is the best part of gardening, even more fun than the actual harvesting.

      Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. Weekend Gardening: Transition From Summer to Winter : Andrea Meyers | My Raised Bed Gardening says:
      November 16, 2009 at 7:58 am

      [...] more here: Weekend Gardening: Transition From Summer to Winter : Andrea Meyers Share and [...]

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