Jazz up the Christmas feast with herbs from the garden

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Here is just one potential Christmas feast maximizing flavor from the herbs still providing in the garden at Christmas: 

Fig preserves with rosemary cheese for appetizer
Quick herb almond bread

Rosemary inspired rack of lamb

Garlic and herb roasted vegetables 

Fresh greens with hot bacon dressing 

Topped off with cranberry mint sorbet

Fig preserves and rosemary cheese 

To make the rosemary cheese, combine 8 ounces softened cream cheese, 3  ounces softened goat cheese, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, and 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper.  Blend until smooth.  You can serve in a beautiful crystal dish or go for a mold.  For a molded cheese, put the mixture in the mold, chill for 2 hours, unmold onto serving plate (you can run warm water over the top of the mold to get it to release easier).  You are now ready to cover with fig preserves and serve with your favorite crackers. 

Figs are super easy to grow in pots.  I bought a Chicago hardy fig that survives in our Zone 6/7 garden.  I do bring it indoors each winter as a pot lowers the effective zone by 2.  If given a large pot, they will produce many fruits over the summer and fall season.  
Growing “exotic” figs

If you want to make your own preserves, simply cook in a medium sauce pan 1 pound of fresh, ripe figs (washed and stem removed) with 1 cup of sugar for 30 minutes, uncovered.  If keeping in the refrigerator, you can pour directly into a sterilized quart jar or 2 pint jars, leaving a 1/8 inch head space.  If you want to store in the pantry, you will need to “process” your preserves.  This is really easy.  Just put in a large stock pan, covered with water.  Heat until boiling and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove using tongs, allow to cool, and store in a dark, cool place.

I put my hot jars on a kitchen towel so they are not “shocked” by the cold counter top.  I also use Weck canning jars since they are all glass, including the lid.  
Lowest toxic options for canning  
If you have a large pot, you can can!

Low carb, quick herb bread

I found the perfect low carb, microwave almond bread recipe that I jazz up with my dried herbs.  Simply mix together in a small glass container 1 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter, 3 tablespoons of almond flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of herbs.  Pop the container in the microwave for 90 seconds and you have hot, low carb bread for dipping, preserves, cheese, meats and more!

Make your own "Herbes de Provence"

Rosemary inspired rack of lamb

Stop by your local meat market and get a French cut rack of lamb. Remove the fat and gristle, coat the outside with olive oil then cover with a 1/2 cup crushed rosemary and 1/4 cup sea salt mix.  Roast fat side out at 425F for 35-40 minutes in the oven or on the grill until the interior temperature reaches 150F.  Let stand 10 minutes before slicing so that the juices won’t be lost during cutting.  If you prefer garlic, here is another rub option-2 cloves garlic, 3 tablespoons parsley, 2 teaspoons chives, 2 teaspoons thyme, 2 teaspoons rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt,  and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.  Mix together and coat the rack of lamb and cook as above.

Garlic and herb roasted vegetables

This recipe works with any really firm vegetables you like.  Here is one variation.  Cut 4 sweet potatoes, 3 medium turnips into 1.5 inch cubes, and 2 large onions into 1.5 inch wedges.  In a gallon plastic bag, place 12 cloves crushed, peeled garlic, 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, 2 tablespoons fresh oregano or marjoram, 2 teaspoons salt, 6 tablespoons olive oil.  Mix thoroughly.  Add your cut veggies and squish them around until they are coated on all sides with the herb mixture.  Place on a cookie sheet in a single layer.  Roast in a 450F, preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until soft.  
Quick tip-”peeling” garlic  
Quick tip-make dried garlic into garlic powder  
Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

Potatoes, turnips, carrots and onions are all veggies that can be stored over winter if kept in the proper conditions.  Be sure to keep potatoes covered or in a dark place as when they turn green, they are toxic.  Sweet potatoes will keep for a month if kept in cool dry conditions and bagged with an apple to keep from sprouting.  
21 no tech storage crops

Mixed greens with hot bacon dressing  

An old Southern favorite is hot bacon dressing.  Cook 4 slices bacon until crisp, reserving 2 tablespoons of the drippings (grease).  Crumble the bacon and set aside.  In a small sauce pan, combine 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon grated onion, 1/8 teaspoon dried mustard, bring just to boil and add bacon.  Remove from heat and whisk before serving.

There are greens still growing in the garden that are a perfect pair for the sweet hot bacon dressing-chard, sorrel, spinach, mustard greens, cultivated dandelions and even some winter hardy lettuce.  
Fall and winter greens  
Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter
Homemade salad dressing recipes with garden herbs

Cranberry mint sorbet

I am not a huge fan of the gelatin cranberry sauce.  This is a great way to include the traditional cranberry in a totally new and refreshing way.  

Combine in a medium sauce pan 3 1/4 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar, bring to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat, add 3/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, 2 tablespoons fresh mint and 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.  Allow to cool and strain.

  

Combine another 3/4 cup of water and 1/2 cup cranberries in a small sauce pan and bring to boil.  Cover, simmer for 8 minutes or until skins pop.  Cool completely.  Use food processor, process until smooth.  Strain out solids.

Combine orange and cranberry mixture and pour into 9x12” pan, cover and freeze.  Reprocess in food processor, half at a time and refreeze until ready to serve.

With this warm winter, straight from the garden herbs are an easy way to have dishes bursting with fresh flavor.  

I love giving my own herb mix as presents.  An herb garden is so easy and such a great value!  Most herbs are perennials so you only have to buy and plant one time and they come back year after year.  
Start a kitchen herb garden!

Quick tip 1 for green thumbs during winter-learn

 

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Winter can be a downer time of year for those of us that love to garden, but it doesn't have to be!  There are many "gardener" things you can do during the cold months of the year.  I'm going to share an idea each week for the rest of the winter on gardening activities that help satisfy the itch and prepare us better for the upcoming spring season.  Here we go with Winter Quick Tip 1. 

A top priority for me every winter is to research what I want to learn more about in gardening and including my newfound knowledge in my next year's garden plan.

There are lots of ways to learn.  You can subscribe to gardening magazines like Mother Earth News, Farmer's Almanac, Fine Gardening, and many others.  You can buy books on a subject you are interested in learning more.  You can browse books and magazines at your neighborhood library, too.  You can get free videos through your state's agricultural extension office.  Here is a link to ours in Kentucky https://kentuckyhortnews.com/horticulture-webinar-wednesdays/season-one/.  It started during Covid so there are currently 4 years of videos.  And there are thousands of videos on YouTube.

I have a little book I got years ago that covers the four seasons of kitchen gardening "In the French Garden: The Joys of Cultivating a Potager" by Georgeann Brennan.  I start re-reading this book every spring.  It isn't a thick book so it's nice to have a refresher that has easy recipes for what's in season. 

There are some really great information in seed catalogs too.  Territorial Seed as one that I learned so much from when I first started gardening.  They have general growing information for just about every type of common vegetable.  I still get their catalog and reference their growing information each growing season.  A few years ago, I discovered Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.  Their huge seed catalog that ships in January has in-depth history and growing information on a variety of highlighted vegetables.

If you are going someplace warm, you can go search for display or historical edible gardens to visit.  If you are interested in growing in greenhouses or under cover, you can see if there are any display gardens in your area or ask one of the year round CSA's in your area if you can come by for a visit.  Or check with your local agricultural extension office to see if there are opportunities they know about.  Many extension offices give gardening classes, too.

Of course, you can just google what you are interested in knowing more about and scan the million results that are brought up!

I jot notes to myself in my garden notebook on what I want to learn more about over the winter so I have a list that I can work off over the winter to have a more productive garden come spring.  Keeping a journal is a very helpful tool.

Planting schedule for edibles in an unheated portable greenhouse

Unheated, portable greenhouse
Sunday, December 10, 2023

My new edible gardening tool is a walk-in greenhouse.  I have had portable greenhouses since 2008.  I have grown salad fixings in them over the winter to keep having fresh salads and they have worked incredibly well at this.  With a walk-in greenhouse, I am looking to expand the growing season for other edibles.  This is what I have researched so far.

 

The impetus for getting a walk-in greenhouse was to be able to keep my tropicals outside for as long as possible, to overwinter the natives I dug, separated and put in quart pots, and to extend the season in the fall and spring for the summer lovers like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.

 

For the tropicals, I was able to keep them outdoors for an additional month, bringing them inside yesterday.  I believe they would have been fine for another couple of weeks, but they were forecasting a low of 24 tomorrow night.  They already survived down to 22, but that was earlier in the fall when the ground was warmer.  I have left the potted peppers and eggplants in the walk-in greenhouse.  If they survive the hard freeze, then I’ll know the tropicals would have survived.

 

The potted peppers and eggplant did get damaged from the 22F freeze, but I had not velro’ed the windows of the greenhouse shut.  I had rolled the windows down, but should have used the Velcro closure to seal out more of the freezing air.  It will be interesting to see how long the summer lovers will survive in the walk-in greenhouse this winter.

 

For me, gardening requires research and experimentation.  I read up on what I want to learn more about and then go try it in the garden to see what works or what adjustments I need to make for my garden conditions.

 

One thing I do know about summer lovers is to be sure that you are keeping their stems and leaves off of the plastic.  Any part touching the plastic will get killed when there is a hard freeze.  You can also add mass inside or outside of a greenhouse to help moderate the temperature inside the greenhouse.  Mass absorbs the heat during the day and then releases it back at night.  The best exchange is when the mass is inside the greenhouse.  If you don’t have room, putting it outside the greenhouse up against the walls will help.

 

I was going to put a layer of straw bales around the outside of the walk-in greenhouse, but didn’t get around to buying the bales.  For the portable greenhouse, I have room to put gallon jugs around 3 of the 4 sides.  I spray paint the jugs black to protect them from the sun’s harmful rays.  Sun will break down the plastic, causing the jugs to become brittle and crack.  If you leave them in place with holes in them, they still work but come summer, you have created a mosquito breeding farm!

 

For the walk-in greenhouse, I left the potted eggplants and peppers around the walls and replaced the tropicals with the quart pots of transplanted natives in the center.  I left enough room to be able to walk into the very center of the greenhouse so I can water as needed easily.  My smaller greenhouses only need to be watered a couple of times during the winter after being closed up.  This winter, I will learn if that is the case with the walk-in greenhouse.  For the smaller greenhouses, the moisture from the pots evaporates, rises to the plastic and then condensates back onto the plants; kind of like a terrarium.  Hopefully, the walk-in greenhouse will be at least as close in water efficiency.

 

As it warms up in the spring, I plan on adding shelves around the perimeter of the greenhouse to be sable to start seedlings sooner in the spring.  I have been looking back in Eliot Coleman books on gardening year round utilizing unheated greenhouses.  I have 2 of his books “The Winter Harvest Handbook” and “Four Season Harvest”.  Since he lives in Maine, I am going to adjust his spring dates by 6 weeks and his fall planting dates by 5 weeks since this is the difference between the frost dates in his area versus the frost dates in my garden.  It may not be that simple since I’m using a tiny greenhouse and he uses huge greenhouses, but it gives me a place to start.  My last frost in the spring is April 2 and my first frost is November 3.  You can adjust your planting dates by taking the difference between my dates and those in your garden.

 

For spring, here are my adjusted dates for starting the seedlings in the greenhouse:

Mid-February-beets, greens, carrots

Mid-March-zucchini, peppers and beans

Early April-tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, watermelon and eggplant

 

Fall is different in that you are starting your fall and winter crops at the end of summer with the goal of getting them to full size by the time daylight hours drop to 10 hours.  For me, this is November.  Growth slows during the fall as daylight reduces and temperatures drop.  My initial plan is to move the seedlings I start in late summer to the walk-in greenhouse when the temperatures dip.  By moving the seedlings into the walk-in greenhouse, it will hopefully help them grow quicker in the warmth.

What to plant in the December edible garden

Newly sprouted greens inside portable greenhouse

Saturday, December 9, 2023 

You can still plant outdoors for the edible garden in December.  What you are planting in December may not germinate quickly.  Growth will restart in mid January when daylight hours get back to 10 hours.  Keep your edibles under cover to encourage germination and growth and to extend the harvest all the way through to spring.  

What is a four season garden?
You can garden year round in small space
Planning for a four season garden

This month you can sow more greens, carrots, and herbs in the greenhouse.  You can also transplant trees and shrubs and even spring bulbs as long as the soil is workable.   Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

Here are the crops you can start outdoors in the December Midwest edible garden:

December seeds outdoors

Austrian winter peas-will sprout in early spring

Spinach seeds-will sprout in early spring

Snow peas-will sprout in early spring

December seeds under cover

Will sprout under cover

Arugula

Sprouting Broccoli

Carrots

Celery
Corn salad

Endive
Escarole

Frisee

Lettuce, Winter Hardy types

Mustard and Mustard Greens

Parsley and Parsley Root

Austrian and Snow Peas

Radicchio

Scallions

Sorrel
Spinach

Swiss Chard

December transplants

Trees and bushes until ground freezes

Transplants for winter and overwintering

Look for cold hardy varieties when planting for winter growing and harvests.  You will be surprised to harvest all through the winter months things like greens, onions, Austrian peas, carrots, and cabbage when you get them started in the fall.  You can also extend the harvest by looking for the same crop with different days to harvest timing so that they mature at different times.  For those you are seeding now, they will provide your late winter and early spring harvests.  

 Winter planted crops take longer to come to sprout and grow than they do in the spring.  It's because the days are getting shorter rather than longer and the temperatures are falling.  Winter solstice (the shortest day of the year was December 21) so daylight will be getting longer now.  Just be patient, the seeds will sprout when conditions are right.  Growth is very slow at this point as the daylight hours are less than 10 and temperatures are cold.  In my area, we will get back to 10 hours of daylight on January 21.  Growth will pick up in late January.  

To keep plants producing, keep them covered.  The biggest risk with covers is the plants overheating.  Full sun can raise the temperatures by 50 degrees.  Keep this in mind and give ventilation when the temperatures are getting up into the 50's with nice sunshine.

Window open on portable greenhouse

If you are using a row cover, they should be in place now.  I put mine in place when the temperatures are getting into the low 20's at night.  Your plants are safe from overheating as long as the temperatures don't get into the upper 50's with the full sun.  When temperatures are that warm, just open the ends of the row cover and close back up when the temperatures are forecasted back into the 20's or colder.

The same goes for greenhouses. I have my edible greens covered by my portable greenhouse with the "windows" open to vent when it gets into the 50's.  You can use cover to extend the harvest all the way to next spring.  Extend the season with protection for plants  Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter 

What's happening in the early December edible garden

Sunrise in the December edible garden

Sunday, December 3, 2023

Most think that nothing is alive to eat in a mid December garden.  Winter is hard on almost all living green things, but some can out weather even the harshest winter temperatures, especially if given a helping hand.

So, what is still surviving in December in our Zone 6/7 garden?  Perennial herbs and vegetables are still green in the garden along with cole crops.  Oregano, creeping thyme, mint, parsley, carrots, celery, kale, cabbage, sorrel, chives, miner's lettuce, cultivated dandelions, chard, sprouting broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts and onions are all still green without any cover.

The winter edible garden

Extend the season with protection for plants

Using pop-up greenhouses to garden year round

Cold season crops for your edible garden

Want a vegetable and fruit garden that you only have to plant once? Try perennials!

Edible December garden bed

Salad burnet

Oregano

Parsley

Chard

Rosemary

Egyptian walking onions

Kale

Under cover, lettuce, sprouting broccoli, celery, parsley, sorrel, chard, and kale are still green and happy. 

Greens inside portable greenhouse

Portable greenhouse over potted greens

In the walk in, pop up greenhouse, the tropicals are doing great, the petunia is still blooming, the kumquat tree is loaded with fruits that are starting to turn, the potted peppers and eggplant are still flowering and producing.  I have a couple of dwarf tomato plants, Tumbling Tom, on our covered patio that I will move into the greenhouse when it gets too cold for them on the patio.  They are flowering right now.  We should get ripe fruits on them in January.  I'm keeping a couple in the house, too, to see which method works the best for extending the season for the summer lover veggies.

Use the fresh greens in salads and herbs in salads, soups or cooked dishes.  It is cold outside, but the garden keeps giving.

December 2023 Edible Garden Planner

Early December garden; chard in the foreground, herbs in the background

December 2, 2023

December is when many stick to the indoors and staying warm.  When winter arrives, it may appear that everything is dead outside, but there is still life in the garden.  In the beds, kale, cabbage, salad burnet, sorrel, rosemary, oregano, garlic, onions, lettuce, leeks, chard, dill, celery, sage, carrots, broccoli, spinach are all still green in December.  Under cover, greens and lettuce are growing.

Winter edible garden

This fall had weeks of above average temperatures followed by weeks of below average temperatures with below normal for rainfall.  I am still watering the outdoor pots of edibles. I bought a walk in, pop up greenhouse this fall, so we brought most overwintering tropicals, pepper plants, eggplant and petunia into the greenhouse.  My bay tree, large lemon tree, aloe vera, and brugmansia were brought into the basement.  I have a few more hardy tropicals still outside like a grapefruit, moringa tree, and jasmine tree outside.  I try to keep them outdoors for as long as possible as they just do better outside than inside.  I have treated them for pests to try to keep them healthy when they come inside.

I will keep an eye on how cold it is getting in the walk in greenhouse and bring the rest of the tropicals in when it starts going below 26F inside the greenhouse.  I have the eggplant and pepper plants along the walls of the greenhouse.  When they start getting nipped, I'll definitely know it is time to bring the tropicals indoors.

 The eggplant and pepper plants will continue to produce for a few more weeks in the greenhouse.  A neighbor brought over 4 Tumbling Tom tomato plants.  I transplanted them into larger pots.  I'll leave 2 inside the greenhouse and bring 2 into the house and put in a sunny window as a test to see how long they will last in the greenhouse and which conditions produces the most tomatoes.

Outdoors, fresh herbs, onions, kale and broccoli are just steps away from the back door, my 2 small portable green houses are packed with greens.  My rosemary did not make it through last winter.  The one I started from seed in early summer also did not make it.  I have another rosemary that I potted up this fall.  I haven't decided if I am going to bring it indoors or leave it in the greenhouse.  I've tried all different kinds of "hardy" rosemary and our typical late winter warm up followed by an early spring blast of frigid temperatures kills them every time if left in the garden bed to overwinter.

Most Mediterranean herbs are perennials so you get to enjoy them practically year round.  You can also grow many herbs indoors as well like chives, oregano, rosemary, parsley, chervil, and basil.  Rosemary, basil and bay are good ones to dig up and bring indoors to guarantee survival through the winter.  Just place your potted herbs in a sunny window.  I keep my bay tree in a pot and bring into the basement with grow lights for the winter.  My bay trees is over 8 feet tall after 7 years in a pot.  I should repot it into a larger pot and divide the starts coming up next to the mother plant.  

Growing herbs indoors for winter

If you are using a greenhouse or row cover, your kale, celery, mustard, lettuce, chard, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, sprouting broccoli will be happy all winter.  They will not grow much until sunlight gets back to 10 hours per day in late January, but you can still harvest from them through the winter if they are of good size now.  Be sure on sunny, warm days in the 50's to pop the top on your covers or you can scorch your greens.  It can get 50 degrees warmer inside a greenhouse on a sunny day than the actual temperature outside.  Do check to make sure your pots in the greenhouse have enough moisture.  Open when it is warm to check, water and harvest.  I try to open when it is warm and raining.  You don't have to water much when the greenhouse is closed as it keeps all the water vapor inside.  While plants are actively growing, fertilize every couple of weeks.  

Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter

Cultivated dandelion in a pot

All cold crops are at their sweetest during the cold weather.  Frost brings out the sugars in cold crops.  Hardy greens like chard, kale, spinach, mustard greens, cultivated dandelion greens, pea shoots and collard greens make great salads and are tasty steamed or braised.  You can still sow seeds in December to get a head start on the spring garden; the seeds know when conditions are good for growing and will sprout.  What to plant in the December edible garden

Make sure if you have any potted veggies to put them on the ground if they are on coasters to keep them warmer during the winter.  The ideal location is in full sun and a sheltered area on the south side of the house to extend their growing time.  Placing straw bales around them or mounding mulch provides extra protection.  Moving them up against the wall on the south side does double duty-southern exposure gets the most sun and warmth and the wall radiates its warmth back at night.  Pots left exposed on all sides will be a zone colder than the ones planted in the ground.  If you are in Zone 7, be sure that plants left in pots are hardy to at least Zone 6 if you want them to come back in the spring.  If they are not, put under cover, mulch around them or bring into the garage or basement for the winter.

Extend the season with protection for plants

Veggies like your favorite tomato, pepper, eggplant, or celery that you potted and moved indoors will continue to produce indoors if provided warmth and enough sunlight.  My Chiptelin pepper plant is one I bring in every year.   I also started a tiny tomato plant and a variegated foliage pepper plant indoors in June.  Both are still doing well in the sunroom and producing fruits every once in a while.  For the large pepper plant, I place it in the sunniest spot in the garage or basement and supplement with 4 foot fluorescent grow lights.  

Your indoor and outdoor plants will still need to be fertilized at about half the rate as during the growing season.  A liquid fertilizer every two weeks would be plenty.  I used a slow release all natural fertilizer for my greens when I covered with the portable greenhouse covers.

Be sure to spray your edible garden beds with deer repellant, sooner rather than later.  The deer and rabbits will be getting hungry and your edible garden will look like a feast to them!  If you keep them from getting into the garden the first time, it is much easier to deter them after the fact.  Quick tip-how I keep the deer away

Chives in front, sage and rosemary in back

In addition to the greens, onions and fresh herbs fresh from the garden, we will be eating the extras I put up over the summer and fall.  I have green beans, okra, tomatoes, pesto, winter squash, sweet peppers, zoodles, sweet peppers, eggplant dip and hot peppers in the freezer.  Canned tomato sauce, hot peppers, pickles, pickle relish and deer meat in the pantry.  I have my first storage veggie in our new cellar, Trombetto that can be eaten young as zucchini or stored over the winter as winter squash.  I have dried onions, dried shiitakes, homemade chili powder and herbs for seasoning dishes.

Preserving the extras from the summer garden

If you don't have much freezer space but want to grow what you can preserve without freezing, check out this blog for your garden this next year Crops that store themselves 

If you weren't able to put in your own garden this year or have enough to put up for the cold months, buying local is a good option.  Many farmers markets will open up again right before Christmas.  You can also look up local farms at www.localharvest.org  If you want to support your local farmer and get fresh produce come spring, buying a share from a local farmer is an excellent option.  It's called CSA (community supported agriculture).  You buy a share now and then get a weekly allotment of fresh produce when gardens start producing again in the spring.

Before I started our own edible garden, we joined a CSA.  It was great.  We got lots of super fresh produce, our weekly grocery bill was significantly reduced as our meals were planned around the vegetables, and it was an adventure getting to try new recipes with veggies we had never ate before.  
Eat well, be healthy

A CSA shows you what grows well in your area.  You can find out the varieties you like and when they come into season.  You can even save the seeds from the varieties that you want to grow in your future garden if you partner with an organic CSA that grows open pollinated and heirloom vegetables and fruits.
What do the terms GMO, natural, heirloom, organic, hybrid really mean?

To advertise as “organic” you have to be certified.  Many farmers cannot afford to do this.  Some farmers participate in the "Certified Naturally Grown" program.  This is less expensive than USDA organic, but also relies on inspections by other CNG farmers, non-CNG farmers, extension agents, master gardeners and customers instead of USDA certified agents.  If you are interested in produce grown without pesticides, herbicides or other chemicals, ask the farmer if she uses organic practices.  Go visit them to see the garden for yourself before you commit.  You can also check out reviews on line. 

Many sell out by January so don’t delay if you want to join!

Tarragon, thyme, sage, rosemary and chives

Winter is time to savor the fresh herbs from the garden along with what you have preserved, browsing for canning ideas, and planning next year's garden.  A potential Christmas meal using what is growing in the garden in December, Jazz up the Christmas feast with herbs from the garden  Consider making herb mixes and herbal salts to give to family and friends as Christmas gifts.  Make your own "Herbes de Provence"   Using herbs, flowers and fruit for flavored sugars and salts   If you had a bumper canning season, consider giving extras as Christmas gifts too or to your local food panty.

I have used Christmas break in the past as the time to finalize my garden plan for the spring.  I look back on my notes from last year's edible garden and this year's seed catalogs to decide what new varieties to add to my standbys.  Here is my 2023 garden reflections and plans for 2024.

Reflections on the 2023 edible garden and plans for 2024 

Seed catalogs have started arriving and there are tons to look at on the internet that you can start ordering for your spring garden.  For tips on choosing seed catalogs to order from:   New seed catalogs are here!

Using pop-up greenhouses to garden year round

Pop up, walk in greenhouse

Sunday, November 26, 2023

I like to garden as close to year round as I can.  Going to the garden daily gives me something to look forward to and the most nutritious produce you can eat.  As soon as a vegetable or fruit is picked, it starts losing its nutritional value.  Eating right after picking, maximizes taste and benefits.  Besides succession planting and picking varieties best suited for the season you are trying to grow them, a pop-up or portable greenhouse is a cost efficient and fairly easy way to extend the season into winter and then get a jump start in the spring.

I just bought my third portable greenhouse.  I bought my first one in 2010 for around $40.  It was a smaller pop-up greenhouse that I was able to put 2 nice sized self-watering pots in and keep us in salads all winter.  The zipper finally gave out about 6 years ago.  I bought a larger portable greenhouse that is 6' wide x 5' deep by 3' tall to replace it in 2018 for around $45.  A couple of years ago, I bought a second one just like it.  The plastic material is started to degrade on the 2018 greenhouse and I can't get the same model any longer.  Last year, I just put a material row cover over the top of it during the coldest weeks and that worked fine so that is my plan for this year, too.

In the fall, winter and spring, I grow greens in these smaller portable greenhouses in self-watering pots.  As long as the greenhouse is closed up, you don't have to worry about watering as the moisture that evaporates, condenses on the inside of the plastic and drips back down on the plants.  I typically only water a couple of times after putting the covers on and closing them up.  If it is a warmer day and calling for rain, I pull off the covers to let them get a good soaking.

I also plant Austrian peas in with the greens.  You can plant those now and they will survive even uncovered all winter.  Under cover, they will give tasty pea greens through spring.  In early spring, you will get peas as a bonus.

Portable greenhouses

You can grow any cool season crops in a portable greenhouse.  I grow chard, celery, parsley, arugula, plantain, lettuce, peas, sprouting broccoli, cultivated dandelions and mustard greens.  You could also grow kale, spinach, radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, or carrots.  I grow Egyptian walking onions in a pot that I leave uncovered.  You could grow onions in a greenhouse.  You should grow what you will eat the most often.  I like greens because you get a lot for the space and you can harvest the outside leaves and the plants will continue growing new leaves.

Plant growth slows to a crawl towards the end of November until the end of January because daylight is less than 10 hours and it is really cold.  The optimum plan is to have your cold season crops to full size before the end of November so you can harvest from them until spring.  Keeping your greens in a greenhouse does keep them warmer so you will get more growth on the plants than if they were in the garden bed.  Come February, growth really starts popping.

This fall, I ordered a pop up, walk in greenhouse for $148.  It is 8' wide x 6' deep and easy to walk in to.  I have put all my potted peppers and eggplant along with my tropicals.  I am seeing how far I can extend the harvest of the peppers and eggplants.  So far, I am still getting fruits off both.  I will move my tropicals into the basement and keep them under grow lights when it starts getting below 20F.  My tropicals don't do nearly as well inside as outside so I am trying to minimize their indoor stay.

Lettuce inside my first pop up greenhouse in January

After I take the tropicals out, I have native ferns, native flowers, and herbs I separated last month and transplanted into 4" plastic pots that I will move into the greenhouse in their spot.  I hope to improve their survival rate and give them a jump start come spring.

Speaking of spring, I will add metal shelving units to the walk in greenhouse so I can start peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, squash and okra in it.  I will try starting the seeds indoors and moving into the greenhouse as well as just starting the seeds in the greenhouse to see which method works the best..  

Long term, I'd like to do a larger greenhouse that you run pipes under the ground and back into the greenhouse so it keeps the greenhouse warm without having to put a heater in it.  I may be able to keep my tropicals, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants growing all winter with that set up.