Winter Harvest

It has been a while since I wrote about the garden! The final results for the garden this year are for the most part positive. It’s now December and as of 4 days ago we harvested the last of the garden; we managed to harvest 75 lbs. of carrots, 20 lbs. of parsnips, 4 ½ dozen leeks and a few beets. Not a bad haul for dismantling the garden in the spring and moving towards a Hugelkulture style! The leeks were started, along with the parsnips, in a cold frame I had built earlier but due to a huge wind storm in the spring I lost part of the seedlings! I figured I would not make up the loss but went ahead and replanted new seeds and transplanted the ones that had made it through the high winds into the newly formed bed. This was also true for the parsnips. Despite mother nature’s best efforts we managed to grow leeks, parsnips and carrots all season! When it came time to harvest the temperature outside was dropping (around 20 degrees f), it was drizzling rain and we had already had a hard freeze for the season. I usually leave root vegetables in the ground until the first or second hard freeze. I believe it converts the sugars and makes them sweeter! Sara went through 3 pairs of gloves in 2 hours of harvesting the carrots! My favorite time in the garden is harvesting the bounty but sometimes it can be a bit on the extreme side of liking as your hands are freezing and wet! Despite the uncomfortable conditions I have to say Sara was a trooper; even when I felt we had found all of the carrots she went about making sure every single last one was harvested!

Freshly picked carrots, parsnips, beets and leeks

For the last three weeks I have been bringing home coffee grounds and filling the beds with the grounds. Keep in mind the beds are formed with logs and contain sticks inside of the soil; the sticks create air pockets and help to keep the soil lose. The issue with using wood however is that wood tends to suck nitrogen out of the soil! To supplement this I am adding some nitrogen rich nutrients, coffee, mulch, compost and later I will add horse manure to the soil. When spring comes and it is time to plant, we will use a broadfork to lift the soil up, but we will not till the soil. The permaculture  process is to attempt to duplicate mother nature and mother nature doesn't till soil, she stacks on top continuously and as each layer is added it breaks down below.  This winter I will plan a rotation for the beds, not planting the same items but to move them to a different bed. The rotation is another way to give plants important nutrients left behind from the previous plantings. There are guides that will help in determine what should be planted after tomatoes have grown previously in one bed and provide information on where the tomatoes should move to next.

Fresh processed leeks!

The planning for a garden should happen in January and by time you complete your plan you should be purchasing seeds and investigating good seasonal planting dates. Some items may need to be started early and require you to plant indoors; this is something  we start this year and hopefully get to in time. Last year I wanted to plant celeriac for example but due to not getting the seeds started in time it never happened! This year however, I plan on getting those darn seeds started!

 

Admittedly our garden is a big undertaking and does require some planning; but you can start out small and manage your garden without it taking up all of your time. This is the time of the year you want to think about what you want to grow next season. You can order your seeds from various sources depending on your needs. We like to purchase non GMO seeds and heirloom seeds whenever possible. This is our choice but certainly you can grow what you feel best suits your needs. The other important decision to remember is one we are still learning; what to do with a successful harvest! Where in the world do you put all of those carrots and leeks! I like to can some of our produce but as a chef I have learned that canning removes a lot of the great nutrients and flavors of the produce. So, the next best thing, is to freeze your produce. We do this but often find ourselves out of freezer space! I suppose it is a nice problem to have and we do manage to cook with our produce and eat it before spoilage occurs.