Out with the old and in with the new, right? Or at least let’s clean up all this stuff and plant something decent that will thrive over the winter months so I don’t have to hibernate inside until next March. Sound good?
I’m not going to lie here. Pulling up spent plants is one of my least favorite activities on the planet. It’s incredibly depressing. Especially in the late fall when there are not a whole lot of options for growing fresh vegetables.
I already have carrots, beets, turnips, potatoes, Brussels sprouts and broccoli growing in the raised garden beds, so I decided to plant a couple of pots with lettuce.
And now comes the hard part. Waiting. With any luck I should be able to harvest a couple of bowls of leafy greens in late January. We rarely get snow here in the Pacific Northwest but if the temps start to dip, I can always pull the pots into the garage for a few days.
I also cleaned out the 2 stock tanks we had tomatoes and nasturtiums growing in this sumemr. I’m still not sure what to plant in the tanks for winter {we can only eat so much lettuce and root veggies after all}. Maybe some spinach would be good. We’ll see.
It’s sad to think we won’t get to enjoy another homegrown heirloom tomato until next summer. I loathe grocery store tomatoes BIG TIME so we usually go without during the winter months unless there is some sort of tomato emergency {like a BLT}.
We use home canned salsa for our weekly taco night in the off season and use the tomato sauce we put up during the summer for pasta dishes and it seems to work out.
Having a naked patio should be a crime.
Pinky and her flock are keeping a good eye on the root and brassica crops. November. It’s kind of sad.
~Mavis
Lisa Millar says
I hate pulling up plants at the end of the season too.
I completely agree about store bought tomatoes. Totally devoid of flavour and expensive – we also go without during the off season! The hothouse does extend the life of the season for us which is nice. I also pull up tomato plants that have green ones on and hang them in the hothouse (can be anywhere dry and sheltered/warm and the green ones will continue to ripen for quite some time.