Winter Trials for 2011/12

Whew! The deep freeze warning that was posted for the Puget Sound area passed us by. Our winter trials still stand, getting more acclimatized to the new low temps and ground fog before they get pounded by our winter freezes and our wind-chill.
Yesterday we went and checked on our over-wintering cauliflower, sprouting broccoli, leeks, carrots, kale, cabbage and swiss chard.

We sustained some losses from root maggots on the OW Cauli, but we noted the losses so we don't chalk it up to cold damage in the spring.

Sprouting broccoli is standing there looking stoic, except for the Apollo, which is still producing nice long-stemmed florets.

The winter leeks look nice, they range from ready now (and holding) to ready late winter/early spring. If we leave them long enough we will get leek scapes-yum.

Carrots- we planted two late successions, one we harvested yesterday for a taste-test today. The other planting is close to mature, but we are going to hold it until mid December if we can.

The red kales are getting darker and darker. Scarlet F1 and Red Monarch F1 still look every bit as nice as Redbor, we are pretty excited about these new varieties.

The Swiss chard took a little beating from our low thirties temps, but the colors are getting more intense, especially the oranges.

We have a few savoy cabbages that have small heads, and some red cabbages with young but harvestable heads. We will leave them as long as we can.


Steve and Kevin thinned the OW onions, we have a considerable trial for next spring. Brussel Sprouts are hanging in there, everything has at least small buttons, and some are nearing maturity (this will be our second harvest, Capitola was excellent mid October).

We direct seeded a large block of collards, kales, and sprouting broccoli, they are a nice juvenile size for weathering the winter. We also put in a late crop of radicchio, though they may never head up, only giving us rosettes.
All the cover crops are up. We were tight for time with dry weather, and rather than drive the tractor home in the dark, rainy evening, we opted to not till in the seed, but let it germ on top of the soil. The pounding rain helped press it in a bit, and I think we did not have much loss in the rye or triticale, and about 20% loss of germination in the Austrian Winter Peas.

Debbie direct-seeded our tomato hoophouse to lettuce, corn salad, chinese greens, mustards, and our new mixes. She will direct seed the raised beds with more lettuce mid November.

For our storage crops, our onions have cured down (most varieties) and are sitting in trays in a cool warehouse. Squash was kept at 70 degrees F for 2 weeks, and have been moved inside for storage. You could really see the curing process with the butternut varieties that had green streaks.We will do a taste test on the pie pumpkins and winter squash next week, and post the results soon after.

We know our grower customers are pushing the cropping season later and later, and we are trying to keep up with new varieties and planting date suggestions. I am just grateful our land does not flood (knock on wood), and for rubber gloves.