Saturday, November 12, 2011

November Tasks Almost Done

November has brought relative cooperation weather wise so we have actually got the majority of pressing tasks completed.
Carrots are still in the ground, but don't represent a very big job. I dug part and ended up with a nice bucket full.


One was very peculiar with three prongs. We get very few mis-shapen ones. Jodi got to snack on those that were very puny, assuming he didn't help himself to any he liked.


We grew celeriac this year for the first time. I harvested a few to see how they were doing. They certainly have a lot of rootiness and a lot of tops. I must ask around and see what to really expect.


I trimmed them up, washed them ans used some to make a Potato and Celery root gratin.


This has been a super year for parsley, so I picked some more along with some thyme. I shall miss the parsley when the real cold comes.
Bill stowed all the peony pots in the back garden until spring. 


The in ground pic isn't particularly interesting!




The bulbs are planted and almost all the "strays" are safely in the ditch.
We do have to install a bit of a snow protector for our internet receiver so it doesn't get demolished by snow coming off the roof of the back porch.
We had a very windy, wet Remembrance Day, but no damage was incurred. Today we are back in the chilliness mode, but nice and sunny.
There is still quite a lot of nice colour out back, although things are getting quite worn.
Fall crocus are still popping up here and there.
The birch trees are pretty well denuded, but look nice against the blue sky.

2 comments:

Year Round Vegetable Gardener said...

Great post Sharon (and Bill!).. those carrots are huge - they look fantastic! I'm glad you had a decent celeriac harvest.. I just picked a few this weekend too and added them to some chicken stock and nibbled on them raw as I sliced and diced..

To get the really big roots, you need to make sure the plants receive ample moisture - they're water pigs! I mulch with some compost or shredded leaves to make my life easier.. Also, I do remove the outer leaves as they fall horizontally - this exposes the crown and helps it to develop. If any sideshoots appear, remove these too.. I often leave one or two in the garden so that I can separate and pot them up in mid-autumn and bring them into the house. If set in a windowsill, you can enjoy celeriac stems and leaves all winter long!

In the garden, we leave the roots and in early to mid- December, we mulch them heavily with shredded leaves (about a foot) and then top the bed with an old sheet to keep the leaves from blowing away and I add a bamboo stake so that I can find the bed in midwinter when it's covered with snow. We harvest the roots whenever we want all winter long.. So good! :)

Sharon Bryson / Bill Wilgenhof said...

Great info, Niki. Our Gratin using celeriac was a great success.
Here is a link to the recipe.
http://www.finecooking.com/item/37852/potato-celery-root-gratin