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Happy Groundhoe Day to one and all. Feb 2 is a big day here in our neck of the woods. Phill saw his shadow again, as he always does, and we will have 6 more weeks of winter. In over 100 years he has only predicted an early spring about 18 times. But today was a beautiful day here in Pa, above 40 and very mild. I went out to my garden and harvested the last of my carrots. I have not grown carrots for many years because they did not do well for me here. Two reasons for that were my compacted soil, and the fact that I do not thin them the way you should. Oh I know, I know, you have to thin them or they won't do well, but I hate to kill a seed that wants to grow in my garden. So I let way too many live. This year I decided to try them again after many years of not growing carrots. They did fairly well because I planted in an area that I had double dug, but I still did not thin as much as they needed. I have been digging them out of the ground for a good while now, we have not bought carrots in low these many months. I have never had anything in my garden that I could harvest over winter, winter here is a dead time for the garden. Maybe a garlic or two peeking up, but nothing else. My old friend Rocco told me that you can let carrots in the ground and they will get sweeter after the frost. So I tried it and he was right, they have wintered over very well and are nice and tender and sweet. So this was my 1st harvest of the year. I have this thread open so that anyone can post info about their 1st harvest of the year. I am sure that many people will be picking tomatos way befor me, but for now harvesting produce on Feb 2nd is a big 1st for me. Maybe I can post some pics tommorrow.
After I dug up the carrots I started double digging my next section. Again this is a very early start for me here in Pa, March is normally when its warm enough to be out digging in the garden. I am doing the section next to my hugalculture experiment so maybe I can see how the end of the logs are doing. I will keep you posted.

PS If you want rocks lolly you had better hurry, I will be down to the rocks in a day or so,

Sorry, but I have plans for the weekend. My youngest sister is coming in from Hawaii and the family is getting together.

Great news on the carrots. Do you have a root cellar yet? That's one of the first things I want done, but I'm partial to potatoes and they don't over-winter well where it freezes.

The winter here has been too mild. If I'd known it would be this late in the season with no hard freeze, I'd be digging dirt right now. If I thought I could cover the backhoe by myself, I'd get it out tomorrow!

I do not have a root cellar, but I Do have a Basement. Potatos do not freeze down there. Mine are sprouting though, lol. Some will be seed for next years crop. The Back Hoe is all metal, go ahead and dig, what can it hurt? maybe a little bit of rust, but the machine will still work just fine. Have a Great visit with your family, those times come far less often than they should. Enjoy the time together.

Root cellar is on my list this year too Lolly. That's great that you still have carrots Guy, mine were eaten by varmints otherwise I'd be joining you. It was a beautiful day yesterday, and I too had the bug to dig and garden. I went down there and mulched a little with some barn litter, hay and wool and chicken poop, feathers and straw. It was all I could do to keep from digging, but it's still going to be wet for a while, and I would have just made a mud hole. I'll go pick some stuff tomorrow and try to get a picture or two. I think I still have some things I could harvest hanging on down there.

A basement is probably more convenient than a root cellar anyway! I've collected several old refrigeration units that were to be used for root cellaring various items. Well, the potato harvest last fall wasn't big enough to feed a family of four a pot of soup, so they are still waiting. The idea was to be able to keep potatoes separate from onions separate from apples without having an actual building/cave created as yet.

Reusing old refrigerators is a Great idea. They are cheap, the term free comes to mind, and they are well insulated. I have seem a smoke house design that uses an old frig set up hill from the fire pile. The smoke pipe runs up hill to the frig, a hole is cut into the bottom of the frig and the gasket is cut away from the top of the door for an exaust vent. The racks are there already for the meat. Finding ways to reuse worthless items makes alot of sense to me. Can you put them into or against the earth bag walls to help insulate them some how? Just a thought, might be a crazy idea, but its a thought. Keeps the stuff close for you to use.

I finally got a picture up loaded, I will try and post it for you.



These are some of the carrots I harvested on Groundhoes Day. I planted a variety that was to grow to 6" to 8". I did not want longer carrots than that because my spade is old and worn and I couldn't easily dig them out if they were any longer. These were mostly 8" or a bit more.




And just to be honest, There were alot of little misshaped ones too, They still eat pretty good, but they are alot harder to peel.

I guess those mis-shapen ones are to remind you that the vitamins are in the peelings that you are feeding to the chickens.

I made it to the garden this evening and found I still have some stuff hanging in there. I think I have enough cabbage to do another round of 'kraut, since I'm out. Amazingly some cauliflower looks like it's going to overwinter, and celery is for sure. I found some stuff for dinner as well. Leeks, brussell sprouts, celery, potatoes, cabbage, kale. Yum.

Your 1st harvest of 2012 was much greater than mine. It turns out that even with our mild winter here this year, nothing much will over winter here in Pa. Even cold crops like broccili or cabbage does not make it through one of our winters. I have never tried kale, I am thinking about planting some this spring. Any onions that are left in the ground just rot, I have not tried leeks. I have garlic sprouts up, but I sure don't think there will be any to pick until July. I am really ready to plant some tomato seeds, but I feel it is still way too early here. Even with my neighbors green house I don't think they would make it through just yet. His green house will stay 10 degrees above out side temps. So if it goes to 32 he is OK, but if it gets to 22, we are screwed. I start my plants here insde on the dinning room table. Its the only large south facing window that I have. Then once they are sprouted and growing I take them to his green house. The sickly spindely ones he gives mouth to root recusitation and nurses them through for me. It is a hobby for him, he had always wanted a green house, now he has one. He tries to over use the green house, by that I mean he grows plants in there that should be directly seeded in the garden rather than transplanted, like carrots and beets. But he is having fun, so what the heck.