December update

There have been many harvests since my last post in November. The garden provided everything necessary for a big salad to share with the extended family on Thanksgiving. Here are some other favorite things that we have been able to do with produce from the garden:

• pickled beets
• tabouli with parsley and tomatoes
• stir fry with choi
• miso soup with scallions, choi and thinly sliced carrots
• chunky cinnamon apple sauce
• kale and garlic saute
• green smoothies with kale
• plenty of fresh eating of carrots and salad greens

Of course, the mild weather is making season extension easy. I did replace the barely fitting plastic covers with more ample covers because there have been temperature dips near the mid twenties. I probably have only another week or two before a second layer of plastic will be necessary to protect the tender lettuce.

On my last harvest of lettuce, I discovered that voles have been busy gnawing at the roots in one garden frame. Based on my research, the best remedy will be to set out snap traps, which I hate to do, but these guys are having a major impact. This experience highlights one of the benefits of having multiple small frames. Damage from pests is often isolated to only one frame.

Here is an overview of the rest of the frames: