As an old-timer here on GardenWeb I urge you to put this reading project on your winter calendar. Recent reviews of a newly published book were so interesting I ordered it from Amazon.

"THE SEED DETECTIVE by Adam Alexander, Uncovering the secret histories of remarkable vegetables."

This book is a treasure.... one of the most interesting horticultural writings published in many years. I leave those of you with an interest in vegetable growing to discover its well written wealth of information. Enjoy!

Last week I finally got my garden tilled. I'm happy to have that done. Now I need to find a good weather day to get the garlic planted.

It's now official >>> Our first killing frost hit here this morning. Glad I picked VgQn some flowers yesterday. It's back to raking leaves today and yanking out the dead summer plants for the compost pile.

Same here, vgkg. My basil is toast but that's the only frost sensitive plant I had growing out there. The other greens and parsley look fine.

It was down to 31 overnight.

It got down to 33° here this morning.

Still no freeze here this fall. I can't believe it froze in both northern and southern Va; but not here! But it's only supposed to get above the twenties one morning in the next week.

Jack - Thanks for the report on the Emerald Crown broccoli. That convinces me on this variety.

Two of my neighbors saved their leaves for me and now my gardens are covered in about five/six inches of leaves! Love it!!

Cindy - The leaves will just sit there all winter? Can't do that around here. Too much wind!

Margi - I have fencing around both gardens and one of them still has the netting in place over the top of the bed. It will stay there until snow brings it down. Plus, it's raining here so they are now all dampened down. The fencing stays in place all year(s).

We got another full inch of rain last night and today will be the warmest day (55F) for the next several days of mid 40's for highs and mid 20's for lows (Jan temps). Will stow away the rest of the outdoor hose reels, turn on all warming tapes, and shut all crawlspace vents. Will pick what needs picking in the gardens and add some protevtive measures for what remains to ripen up.

The lettuce looks good poking up out of the inch and a half of snow we got yesterday. I was surprised that the snow laid.

We ended up with 1.2" of rain from yesterday. Surprised that it was that much.

^^^ Thx for reminding me Cindy, need to dump the rain gauges too before they freeze and break. I lose 1 or 2 every year that way.

With 'winter' here I am glad I only have mulching the strawberries left that needs to be done. It may warm up in a few days band maybe there will still be some life left in the few things left.

I had a fresh from the garden salad yesterday with dinner.

How about that snow in Buffalo. Already 36" in Orchard Park. Seems to me that they need some help with snow removal equipment and multiple crews per truck. Or maybe just the crews to relieve the local drivers.

It was down to 28 here overnight. My lettuce, Swiss chard, and parsley still look good.

They are predicting 18 degrees for tonight. We shall see! It's windy out there right now.

A high in the mid 40's here today and a bit too wind/chilly cold to keep raking leaves, but maybe after lunch I'll give it a shot. Low 20's tonite down here Cindy, cold enough, ugh, but thankfully no 5' of snow, double ugh.

Here's our persimmon tree after all the leaves have fallen and with 95% of the fruit already picked. We couldn't pick the top fruits (up 12' high) as you need to snip (not pull) each persimmon from the fruiting twigs. These persimmons are stubborn and won't let go easily without snapping the twigs where next year's fruits will form....

Once these remaining fruits soften up the birds will go after them. We picked around 250 so we don't need em'.

I got my first seed catalog for 2023. Fedco seeds.

So glad that we don't have that snow here!

I got my first catalog...Twilley.

I didn't mean to be gone so long, but after a month with cold nights and me gone, I didn't expect there to be much left. I came back to find zucchini, eggplant and Poblano Peppers ready to pick. The baby winter squashs I left are now huge and pretty much fully grown. I guess my city side yard didn't freeze afterall.

The Meyer Lemons are ripe already, which is early for them. And, I picked-up about a dozen Mexican Limes off the ground with more hanging on the tree.

I did bring inside the potted young Pomello and two potted tomatoes. They will go out in the sun every afternoon on their rolling carts. I'm told this Valentine Pomello doesn't like the cold, but it managed to survive my absence.

that's a good idea. frost has ruined most of my garden here in N Calif, down into the high 20's. Peppers I had not yet picked, some are partly mushy, maybe a few are still good. And the tomatoes, mostly lost but maybe a few of the san marzano can still be used. But if i had a few of these plants in pots, I could have even transplant a few into pots, and bring them in to avoid the freeze and put them back out in the sun, they could still be productive. There have been many very nice sunny days, even though night temperatures below freezing.

On thanksgiving the high is supposed to be 76F and the low 39

Tomorrow, Wednesday low 37 and high 71F

If frost hadn't ruined so many plants a few days ago they'd probably still be productive

We got another 2 inches of rain here and the weather has been mostly in the 40s, so the tomato plants are still looking good-hopefully this cold snap won’t he a detriment to the flavor or texture of the tomatoes. I also got a couple seed catalogues-one on Saturday (Totally Tomatoes) and one today (Seeds n Such).

I just planted 40 to 50 Egyptian Walking onions. Purchased them from two different sources so hopefully a number of them will survive. I used to have a good crop of them but for some reason they died out.

I finally was able to plant my garlic a couple days ago. I need to connect a hose and give it a drink to get it going. It's been so cold for the last couple of weeks, but finally last night it actually didn't get below freezing. First time in maybe 10 days.

Good luck with the walking onions, Cindy.

This morning I pulled together the brine for my turkey breasts. It sure is nice to be able to run out to the garden and collect some herbs. The rosemary isn't looking great, but It should be fine for my needs now. I will use some sage too, and of course parsley. To round things out, I guess I should toss in some thyme, to make S&G happy. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme....

Just " HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Rick ( Okie whatever....)

YES! Have a great day cooking and eating what you've grown.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Hangover ;-)
A chilly rain here today. Yesterday I composted the remains of the cabbage, lettuces, and defunct flowers. There's still some broccoli side shoots to be had and with warmer nite temps ahead (40's) we should get more from them. The collards and carrots continue to look great and I finally planted that last row of overwintering spinach, though a little bit late. Turkey sandwiches are on the lunch menu today.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all. And Happy Black Friday. We're going out to cut a Christmas Tree at a small tree farm run by a retired teacher that we've going to for at least 15 years..

We also had a little rain this morning but the majority of the day has been sunny and breezy. It was supposed to hit 60 but it didn't.

We'll be having Thanksgiving tomorrow so today I made the pies (pumpkin and pecan), homemade cranberry sauce, and the mashed potatoes. Yesterday I made the stuffing and green bean casserole. Tomorrow will be the turkey cooking day as my son and grandson will be here. My grandson loves turkey, or at least he did last year.

Raining again this morning, already have 1/3" and looking at the radar we'll probably end up with at least a full inch before it ends by late afternoon. The collards & carrots are the 2 main crops now, with 3 more smallish cabbages and broccoli side shoots holding on. Time now to take seed inventory and preps next year's order to fill the gaps. I'll be trimming the gardens down a bit more for next Spring planting, downsizing from mini-farm to micro-farm, or just plain old gardening ;-). Will still have the same crops but with more intensive planting and cut backs on certain space takers (sweet potatoes, corn, melons, etc)

A belated Thanksgiving wish to all of you. Our house has been beset by RSV, beginning with 5 year old Madison 3 wells ago. She is down again and the rest of us have shared. Nasty bug.

The summer gardens are put to bed and cool weather seedlings are growing well. I had a varmit crop off two healthy cabbage starts grrr

For something different this winter in growing fava beans. They are in the ground so I'll do some photos next time I'm outside.

I just sent in my first seed order of the season...to Fedco. Symphony cauliflower, Yaya carrot, and Incredible sweet corn.

Brrrrr, getting a cold rain today, already 2/3 inch and may top off at 1 inch. Picked some broc sides shoots yesterday and may get a few more, a predicted low temp ~25F on Friday morning. Time to put out the Xmas decorations, hope we didn't over do it...

nyuk

Len, do you eat those Fava beans with a little Chianti? lol

Chocolate Stripes

San Marzano

Brandy Boy

Brandy Boy

Pruden’s Purple

Paul Robeson

Dark Shekel

Druzba

Celebrity

George Detsika’s Italian Red

Sungold

Paul Robeson

Pruden’s Purple

Big Beef

Richard - They all look so happy! I hope you have a good season.

I went ahead and started December (!) https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6327738/december-2022-veggie-tales#comments

Cherokee Purple

Black Krim

Watermelon Beefsteak

Jalapeno, Red Norland Potatoes and the outside containers have the just planted Egyptian Walking Onions