Winterizing Chores

I took advantage of some relatively warm temperatures last week to work outside and in the greenhouse. I’ve done quite a few things already to get the garden ready for winter, but there were a few more that needed to be done. And with an arctic cold front due to arrive over the weekend, it seemed like a good thing to take advantage of the warm weather while I could.

this cold frame cover needs replacing

One thing I did was to work on weeding, planting and re-covering the cold frame beds. I replanted one bed where basil had been growing all summer. The basil is long gone, so it was time to get that space back to work on growing something else. I had some spinach seedlings ready for transplanting, so I set out plants of Giant Winter and another heirloom variety I’m trying this year called Amsterdam Prickly Seeded. The plants are still small but they should make it through the winter all right and give us some fresh spinach early next year. That bed also had a few parsley plants that I left growing, as they will continue to produce until they bolt to flower next spring.

cold frame bed with spinach seedlings and parsley

I already have one cold frame bed planted with spinach, but it’s a great crop for overwintering and we use all I can grow. I’ve got Giant Winter and Viroflay planted in that bed. Some of these plants were started in the greenhouse and transplanted into the bed about a month ago, and the rest was direct seeded about the same time. I had some direct seeded spinach there that I sowed back in September, but I lost most of it after a rainy spell in October drowned it out. Fortunately I had extra seedlings from what I started for the greenhouse beds. Some of the leaves might be big enough for salads soon. We still have some in the freezer from the spring harvest, but it’s always nice to have fresh spinach.

cold frame with spinach

One other cold frame bed is planted with a mix of lettuce and some arugula that self seeded there. I’m taking a chance with the lettuce and hoping it will get big enough to harvest before it gets frozen out. Lettuce can take quite a bit of freezing weather if it is protected by a cold frame. The arugula should make it through the winter just fine. We’ve been enjoying it for several months now.

arugula and lettuce in cold frame

I cover all our cold frames with Agribon-19 material, and some of that needed replacing. I really wanted to get that job done while the weather cooperated. There’s nothing worse than trying to work with row cover material on a windy day! Fortunately it was calm the day I did it. I had just enough Agribon on hand to get the job done, but unless there’s some hiding from me somewhere I need to order some more.

cold frame covers with new material

The cold frames sure look better with their new covers, and they should be well protected from the wind and cold this winter. And hopefully they will give us some nice fresh greens in the months to come. There’s a lot going on in the greenhouse too, and I’ll be back later with a tour of what’s happening in there.