# what's left in my garden



## chuckwood (Dec 27, 2014)

I've still got three crops growing, and it's almost January. The carrots turned out really well, I planted them late and figured I'd lose them from frost damage. But the carrots seem to handle below freezing temps very well, along with my onions and spinach. I've got two wide rows of carrots, and these have turned out to be very sweet, the best ever. Can't buy these in any stores. What I like about winter gardening is the total lack of maintenance issues, no bugs, no weeds, no watering issues.


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## Coldiron (Dec 27, 2014)

that looks nice! our gardens have to all be in before November or everything is froze solid. I grow some lettuce year round in a small aquaponics setup that I made, kinda nice but need more volume to feed the family more than a mouth full or two. I wish we had shorter winters. I can take the cold, the part I don't like is its winter here for 6 months.


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## chuckwood (Dec 28, 2014)

Coldiron said:


> that looks nice! our gardens have to all be in before November or everything is froze solid. I grow some lettuce year round in a small aquaponics setup that I made, kinda nice but need more volume to feed the family more than a mouth full or two. I wish we had shorter winters. I can take the cold, the part I don't like is its winter here for 6 months.



Anybody up there grow stuff in greenhouses in winter? My son-in-law is working the oil fields in your state right now, he'll be visiting us soon and I'll be asking him all about what a North Dakota winter is like.


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## farmer steve (Dec 28, 2014)

chuckwood said:


> I've still got three crops growing, and it's almost January. The carrots turned out really well, I planted them late and figured I'd lose them from frost damage. But the carrots seem to handle below freezing temps very well, along with my onions and spinach. I've got two wide rows of carrots, and these have turned out to be very sweet, the best ever. Can't buy these in any stores. What I like about winter gardening is the total lack of maintenance issues, no bugs, no weeds, no watering issues. View attachment 389732
> View attachment 389733


lookin good. all i have left are some cabbage, turnips and brussel sprouts. just me and the wife and we can't eat em fast enough. probably give some to the family. my 2 uncles live in N.D. and it can get brutal in the winter. 1 year they found antelope that had come in to find food and found them frozen next to the barns.


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## Coldiron (Dec 29, 2014)

chuckwood said:


> Anybody up there grow stuff in greenhouses in winter? My son-in-law is working the oil fields in your state right now, he'll be visiting us soon and I'll be asking him all about what a North Dakota winter is like.


I only know of one year round greenhouse. a guy up in Bottineau has an aquaponics greenhouse. really nice setup. he had 2 year old tomato plants and we were eating ripe tomatoes in November and it was in the single digits outside. he said the vines got to over 30 ft long before he trimmed them back. I really like the aquaponics setup as all the produce tastes good compared to the flat taste of hydroponically grown stuff and you get the fish. ND winters can be nasty, I remember one year that with the wind chill it was -90*f I had to go milk the cow and my Nose and eyes would freeze shut when I would inhale/ blink on my way to the barn. this year has been really mild so far. lot of ice on the roads though. I don't want to work in the oil fields, to hectic and a ton of Crazies, my 15 year old sister in law was killed two weeks before my wife and I got married in a car accident by a kid heading for work and lost control of his pickup. two weeks before that a friend of mine's brother was killed on the same highway in a head on collision with a semi. they pay well out here though. McDonald's starts you out at $15hr.


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## chuckwood (Dec 29, 2014)

farmer steve said:


> lookin good. all i have left are some cabbage, turnips and brussel sprouts.



I picked all my cabbage a couple weeks ago, got two bushels. Chopped 'em all up and they're gonna be good sauerkraut here in about 6 weeks. Homemade kraut beats storebought kraut hands down.


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## billb (Jan 8, 2015)

I keep carrots in all Winter. 
I cover the sides of them with leaves collected in the Fall. Just the leaves poking out.
Dig them all Winter. Push leaves aside and the dirt is usually soft enough under them. 
Spring bugs and freeze/thaw usually does in a percentage of any left.

I have some broccoli that is standing up to the cold.
Had to hit them with some BT just before Christmas and there were aphids too.


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## chuckwood (Jan 9, 2015)

billb said:


> I keep carrots in all Winter.
> I cover the sides of them with leaves collected in the Fall. Just the leaves poking out.
> Dig them all Winter. Push leaves aside and the dirt is usually soft enough under them.
> Spring bugs and freeze/thaw usually does in a percentage of any left.
> ...



I chickened out. My latest carrot crop got rave reviews from folks I gave them too, and they are the sweetest and best tasting I've ever raised so far. So when the forecast was 5 to 7 degrees overnite, I dug them all up and I plan on blanching and freezing them, keeping some in storage to eat fresh. Next year I'll plant even more and try the leaf method, I've got plenty of leaves. My broccoli didn't make it through the cold, I mowed 'em all down. Somehow, Brussel Sprouts seem to tolerate cold a lot better than broccoli, I'm gonna plant some of them next year.


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