Monday, January 2, 2012

Harvest Monday

I actually had a harvest today..well..this evening after I saw the weather report anyway. Winter is finally here for a few days anyway (by Saturday we are supposed to be back up to 60's again). Tonight is supposed to drop down to 24 degrees F. and I have never had spinach growing through the winter so wasn't sure if it could live through that cold a temperature and frost so I picked it.
It looks like a good bit doesn't it but, like all greens, I am sure it will boil down to next to nothing. Since the new year has just started I have decided to weigh it like some others do just because I am wondering how much I can produce in these little raised beds so I think I will try to keep track this year. This batch was 6.2 ounces.
It was kind of creepy picking the spinach only because the vultures have picked a huge pine tree behind the shed to perch in tonight so all the while I was picking there are these 30 or so vultures swooping in big circles over the house and their wings make all this noise and with so many you are afraid of ..um..what might fall on you. Anyway, nothing fell on me.

18 comments:

  1. It has been a very weird and warm winter here in Maine too. Your spinach looks wonderful!

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  2. Spinach is pretty hardy, cutting off all the big leaves and just leaving the center growing point is good for really cold weather if you can't protect them. If you have them under row covers then no trouble at all to freeze and snow.

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  3. I don't have the covered and I took as many leaves as I could. It is only going to be a couple days of cold, maybe they will keep growing afterwards.

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  4. You can make a temporary crop-cover with some newspaper and a few bricks... I used to do this before I invested in proper fleece and cloches.

    Didn't know you had vultures in GA - they are something I associate with Africa!

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  5. Glad you emerged from the picking unscathed. Your spinach looks great.

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  6. Beautiful spinach! I love growing spinach in the winter because there is less pest damage during the cold months. 30 vultures swooping?!? Creepy!

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  7. How satisfying to have winter veg to pick and enjoy. Happy 2012

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  8. Looks like a great salad in the making! Happy New Year!

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  9. I think spinach is fine in really cold weather and frost. I grow it in the winter here, but then we have mild winters so maybe not. Looks yummy though. Good harvest.

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  10. Since I am originally from New England, I really don't know what will grow through the winter here. It never occurred to me to grow things in the winter until these last few years. In New England everything dies in the winter so it isn't an option.
    Mark, we have the turkey vulture here which is a New World vulture and different from the Old World vultures and it has a range from Canada to the tip of South America. We have a rather large flock of them here at the lake and they always roost in the nearby trees though most of the time they roost on the trees closer to the lake.

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  11. How nice to have fresh greens in January! The vultures pass through here on their northern migration.

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  12. Don't let the vultures get "the drop" on you! Ha! Ha! Nice looking spinach. I have lettuce that is doing surprisingly well after two nights of being in the 20's. Now it's back in the 50's and 60's. I guess we never know how some veggies will actually do, so it's worth trying to give them some protection. Maybe they'll grow some more. I think it's always worth a try.

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  13. Your spinach looks tasty. And your veg in your last post looks picture perfect. Its great to have some things growing in Winter.

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  14. I had left the very smallest leaves and they are already growing so I guess the cold temps didn't hurt it any.

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  15. A very impressive harvest for Early January, I'm mostly just getting Thyme and Chives. I'd love to see your garden listed on Folia (free gardening website). It's great for keeping track of your plants, harvests, seeds etc. and has lots of groups you can follow to share knowledge and get tips. Here is a link to my own folia page so you can see what it's like: www.myfolia.com/gardener/CDfolia/invite

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  16. Cally, it won't let me go to that link. It takes me to the sign up page and I would like to look before I sign up for more stuff.

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  17. Nice spinach! :) I think I would have trouble harvesting with vultures flying around me! Glad you could do it. :)

    Lynn

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