Almost 8 inches of snow

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greenhouse after the big storm3-120513It was a pretty good snow storm that came through Utah 2 nights ago. I had a problem with the snow load on the greenhouse and had to do some last minute fixing. I also had to change the shape of the greenhouse to the rounded instead of the Gothic arch. The Gothic arch added another foot and a half of height so the wind was really blowing it around. My only concern now it this shape of greenhouse and it being able to handle the snow load. I’ve tried to do this on a major budget but have learned that you’ll need to do some critical things to make it more solid than the simple Eliot Coleman PVC and rope greenhouse. That’s simply not going to work when you have the kind of weather that we have. But he’s in Maine so it should be a little similar I would think. At any rate, it was 8 or 9 degrees two nights ago and underneath the greenhouse it was 34. I’ll post soon to show what it looks like under the greenhouse. It’s great under there. I was able to go out into the garden and effortlessly harvest loose leaf lettuce, mizuna, tatsoi, mache, spinach, and arugula. More snow on the way and single digit temperatures at night for many days to come.

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Arugula and radicchio with a Honey-lime viniagrette and carmelized pecans

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arugula and radicchio saladI have many hobbies-in fact my wife calls me the “hobby king.” To this day I’m not convinced she says that in a good way. But when you have a garden that produces such tasty things as this, how could you not develop a cooking hobby? That’s the case with me. Tonight I harvested arugula and radicchio from the garden. It’s been grown in cold weather so the arugula doesn’t have that overpowering peppery taste that usually comes with it, and the radicchio is no longer bitter. Slice some Granny Smith apples, make some carmelized pecans and a honey-lime dressing, and top it with blue cheese. I promise-you’ll have people asking you for the recipe. The winter harvest-the absolute best.

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My late November garden

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TWE 110813 south viewThe weather has really changed this week.  Today it was 28 when I woke up with temperatures around that for the rest of the week.  Winter is arriving quickly.  My greenhouse plastic has finally arrived and it’s now up.  I’ve had a lot of success growing all winter in northern Utah for years with my basic setup as shown.  I just thought I would put up a greenhouse so that I can garden and harvest without getting snowed or rained upon.  I definitely did it for less than $100.  There is no heat involved-other than the sun-but it doesn’t matter with the crops I’m growing as they all love this cold weather.  Plants have certainly slowed in their normal growing pattern, but now it’s time for the winter harvest.  There’s no work out there to do at this time.  No watering needed, and no pest problems to speak of.  Hopefully we’ll get another snow so that I can post a picture of the greenhouse and what’s growing underneath it.  Fun stuff.

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This weeks activities

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perfect skyphos lettuce 111113This week has been a lot of fun. Usually I’m busy amending all soil, emptying the compost bins and getting ready to close down most of the garden for the season. I ended up bagging a lot of leaves and will finish that chore this week. I’ve emptied my compost bins and have started to fill them up with all the usually things. My biggest job was putting up my greenhouse. It didn’t take me too long-about half an hour. I did it for a grand total of $75, maybe a tad-bit less. We had a light snow earlier in the week. I had the greatest feeling of going out during the storm and tinkering in my gardens with the temperature in the greenhouse at around 50. It felt like I was in a different world under there! This will the most enjoyable winter garden I’ve ever had. I have 96 squares filled with 25 different crops that will be harvested throughout the winter. Probably the best part of this week was the salad I got to make. I snipped some radicchio and arugula leaves which are nowhere near as bitter as they normally would be when grown in warm weather, and combined them with blue cheese and carmelized pecans. I slices some Granny Smith apples and topped it with a honey-lime vinigrette. Can’t wait for salads this winter. You should learn how to grow your own in cold weather. They really taste notably different when grown in the colder climate.[ois skin=”below post”]

Closing down the compost bin

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compost 110113I’ve begun the process of closing my compost bins down for the year. Here is a picture of finished compost from one of my two bins. It’s in perfect shape and will be used for next spring. In the meantime, I’ll be doing nothing but adding compost ingredients during the winter months. This time of year is perfect for the collection of “brown” or carbon ingredients-shredded leaves, branches, pine needles, corn stalks left over from Halloween decorations, etc. After filling both of my bins up with material this week, I’ll have a lot of leftover things-especially leaves. I’ll cover these bags of leaves with a tarp to keep out moisture. Come next spring I’ll use them to sell to people attending my gardening workshops when there is little of the brown ingredients readily available. Everybody wants to start making compost at that time. I won’t water any of my compost bins from this time forward but will only concentrate on adding material. If you water them in like you normally do in the spring and summertime, the bins become little ice cubes and take a lot longer to get going come springtime. It’s hard to believe that there isn’t one tablespoon of dirt in this finished compost. It’s so easy. And it’s the best fertilizer you’ll ever use-all from free ingredients.[ois skin=”below post”]