Time for another update. The winter has so far been extremely warm until the first of the year. Then we had a surge of cold air and it actually got down to about 33 here. I covered most of my plants for the first night and we had some frost. There was very little damage. Then the second night it wasn't supposed to get too cold so I uncovered my plants. We still had some frost and there was some damage to the beans, squash, and tomatoes.
the beans were almost done bearing anyway and the squash will recover as it wasn't damaged too much.
I decided on a new tomato strategy for next year. I will plant early to mid season determinate varieties in the fall and then wait for spring to plant the late season indeterminate varieties. This way I won't have to cover tomatoes that are over 4' tall during the winter. Here are some of the things I have been harvesting.
My first Cherokee Purple tomato. And a large one it was.
The first picking of the purple bush beans. I simmered them in a pot until tender. They turn green when they are cooked.
The first harvest of beets.
To the left is the swiss chard and then some Kwintas pole beans and two Cherokee Purple tomatoes.
The large cherokee Purple tomato sliced and ready to eat.
My second lettuce planting after being thinned .
Strawberries still putting out berries.
Perfectly spaced cabbage plants. When the plants are small it is so easy to think they will never get very big. However, properly spaced plants are happy plants.
My lettuce and spinach still growing and now pretty much mature. Soon if they are not picked they will start to go to seed.
Nice cabbage heads about ready to pick.
Eggplant and peppers had some cold damage on the leaves.
Some of the peppers fruiting.
A few blueberries on the plant.
A Florida Prince peach I planted to replace the Red Barron that died. I built up the soil so that if it floods again the root ball won't sit in standing water.
I harvested all the Kwintas pole beans and took down the trellises. I am going to build permanent trellises out of pvc. Here is the last of the Pak Choi. I will be planting some different varieties of Pak Choi now that the seeds I ordered arrived.
Here are the Cherokee Purple tomatoes after the frost.They are loaded with fruit which I hope will ripen up. I need to build bird net cages around them because I found 2 that were ripening and birds pecked the ripe areas out.
The second crop of Pac Man broccoli. Now on to start seeds for the third crop.
The third crop of carrots getting off to a good start.
The zucchini with lots of blooms. I hand pollinated a couple when it was cold and they appear to be getting larger so maybe I'll get a couple soon. Some of the leaves got frost bitten but the plants still seem vigorous and growing.
The Sugar Snap peas still getting taller and the chard is growing well.
My Beef Master tomato survived the cold fine and has a few fruit on it. It is almost over 5' tall which begins to be a problem when trying to protect it from the cold.
That's all for now. I am going to get some seeds started for the spring planting.
