We are getting our first frost warnings this week so I have had a chance to start using my GardenQuilt row cover which should protect down to 24F and has 60% light transmission (so I pull it off during the day once it warms up.) I bought a 10′x20′ piece of GardenQuilt and used most of it to cover my winter vegetable garden (my carrots have finally started to grow by the way!) The extra piece will not be large enough to cover the next raised bed I built but I can eventually sew a couple pieces together to make another large piece. For now it is draped over my tomatoes trellis to offer them some kind of frost protection while they finish ripening.

I harvested my first autumn Early Scarlet Globe Radishes this morning, I think they have gotten hotter with the cooler weather. I am definitely ready for this cool down too, anything over 80F has been leaving me drained but I am not sure if I am ready for frost yet. I am hoping my last pumpkin ripens before the killing frost as I don’t have enough row cover to protect it. It is about half way orange. You can see it at the very end of the vine to the left of the tomato trellis.

Does anyone know if there is any way for me to encourage it to hurry up and ripen? I do not intend on storing it for long, it will be turned into a pie in short order. Should it ripen at least.

Originally published at Michael and Jaspenelle. Please leave any comments there.

This morning I realized that I had not yet thinned my carrots when Damian yoinked out a a few and I noticed the drastic size differences. Not surprisingly when two carrots grow crammed next to each other one looses the battle of the biggest and the other never really reaches it’s full potential either. I don’t like thinning my plants, as is most obvious when you see my leaf lettuce patch. Plant abortions kill! Nom nom.

You don’t have to throw out those tiny carrots though, they are still deliciously edible. I washed them off and Michael and I snacked on them for breakfast. Also if they are cooked beyond a light stirfry they will revert to orange. In the thinning process I pulled out a couple larger ones, which I took a picture of. Not your typical carrots, but that is the joy of a home garden. I am growing purple haze carrots, which turn purple as they mature, though the core will remain orange. They are still a couple weeks from being fully developed but they are still going to be excellent in our lunch stirfry.

I want to do a successive sowing of carrots this year, after these are harvested. I am going to give making seed tape a try, that way thinning will not be necessary. If that works well I might do that for all my small seeds next year, a nice little winter project. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Originally published at Michael and Jaspenelle. Please leave any comments there.