Harvesting for Hard Frost

Last week we had our first frost, but it only went down to 30ºF.  We harvested the tender stuff like tomatoes and cucumbers but tonight a hard frost is predicted, down to 27ºF, so it's time to get other stuff harvested.  The book says that celery does good with light frost but not hard frost.  This journey with celery that started way back in January is coming to an end.   

I had no idea how the celery would do so I planted lots.  In fact, I figured they wouldn't do well because celery needs a long cool season which we don't have here in desert Idaho.  Well, they did just fine.  The pile of celery bunches stacked up to my knee and three feet wide.  We harvested both celery and celeriac, grown for its root.

Tomorrow we start getting it in the freezer.  We'll eat some of the celery fresh, but most of it we'll cut up and freeze for soups all winter.

I learned some things about celery this year.  Yes, really do start them January 1st.  Repot them in big pots and make sure there is only one plant per pot.  They seemed to grow to whatever size they have, but not a bit bigger.  Plant them where they'll get afternoon shade and try to keep them moist.   We planted these north of corn and east of a large tree.  They got much more shade than I expected, which is probably why they did so well.

The gourds may not take a hard frost either, so my 10 year old twins, who planted these beauties, got them harvested and into the garage.

Cabbages are doing well.  We pick a big purple one and it'll feed us cole slaw for several days.