[WEcoyote]

I harvested my first experimental crop of winter produce today. our night time temp has been as warm as 55 and as cool as 34 over the last 30 days. The Spinach has a normal cycle of 28 days from planting to harvest but the shorter days lengthened it to 33. The flavor of the Spinach seems to be superior to normal season Spinach. I have used a 10" tall raised bed with transparent plastic sheeting draped over it in a "covered wagon" style using dowel rods to support the plastic. The success of this first attempt at cheating winter has bolstered my confidence. Im going to replant the Spinach and see how the results change now coming into the heart of the cold season. I live in the 7 zone.

Reference : The Winter Harvest Handbook
by Eliot Coleman

 

[*Andi]

:2thumb: Congrats ... don't you love it when it all comes together. The thing I like about zone 7 ... well, our cold season is short.:2thumb:

 

[sailaway]

I've been eating more fresh fruits & veggies, usually from the farm market (organic) I feel better and my weights gone down 15#s. :2thumb: Next year I'll be putting in another garden, only portable in large plant pots.

 

[WEcoyote]

Absolutely zone 7 rocks. im on the border with 8 in very north GA but its easy to use 7 as a benchmark because the altitude in the mountains makes it colder even with the slightly longer days. I have the temp of 7 with the longer days of 8. the daylight ours here only dropps below 10 hours of son from dec 10th through jan 10th. ish.

haha sailaway i have lost weight myself but i think its more from going outside on my days off instead of playing the X-box then eating better.

 

[gypsysue]

Well, Pbththththtttttt to you from Zone 3!



just kidding! I'll make a snowman for you guys, if you'll go outside and stand in the sun for me and soak up the warmth for a minute!

 

[*Andi]

Well, Pbththththtttttt to you from Zone 3!



just kidding! I'll make a snowman for you guys, if you'll go outside and stand in the sun for me and soak up the warmth for a minute!

I was out in the sun today ... a very nice 72 today.:2thumb: Let me know when you get the snowman made.