Fall Gardeners Unite!

[jal_ut]

You zone 6 ers are drivin me nuts. Here it is 16 degrees F this morning and a foot of snow on the ground. The only thing growing is ice. Supposed to be another snow storm coming tonight.

[rainbowgardener]

These days I'm in zone 7. 60 degrees here today, although we do have a cold front coming with up to one inch of snow predicted for Sat. (It will be gone by the next day).

[Gary350]

About 15 years ago I had a very successful winter garden in flower pots. I planted, lettuce, kale, carrots, potatoes in flower pots. Every morning when the temperature was above freezing I put the pots outside so they got sun light all day. Every evening before temperature dripped below 32 I had all the pots in the house. I had 3 kinds of lettuce in 3 large pots and kale we had the best salads every day all winter. After several months we had 11 large carrots and a dozen potatoes. It was a lot of work to put the pots outside every morning then bring them inside every evening.

The next year I planted a garden on a 4'x8' 2 utility trailer. Every morning I pushed the trailer outside for the plants to get sun light all day. Every evening I pushed the trailer back into the garage and closed the door. Temperature inside the garage was usually 35 to 40 degrees all night, we had 17 degree weather a few times the portable garden did good. Garage was attached to the house there was enough heat from the house to keep things from freezing. We had, lettuce, chard, kale, beets, tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots in large pots. Like before I had to move plants outside very morning and inside every evening. It was an interesting experiment that turned out good.

Today it is 19 degrees and we have 1" of snow.

[rainbowgardener]

I am still eating last year's spring planted swiss chard and fall planted broccoli out of my garden! We did have a couple nights where it went down to around 15 degrees and I thought everything was done for. It looked pretty bad the next day, all wilted, etc, but then it came right back. Some of the leaves have frost bite marks, but the plants are doing great! I never even covered anything, since I thought it was done for.

The broccoli is bigger (plants and heads) than it ever got planted last spring (when it rapidly got too hot for it). And the spring planted broccoli had slugs and cabbage worms. Nothing is bothering the winter broccoli! For those of us with climates where this works, this is really the way to grow all the winter stuff!

[Allyn]

We had a total of about 24 hours of freezing temps spread over maybe 5 days that were sprinkled between overnight lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s. That has been the extent of our winter. I've got seedlings up already for flowers, tomatoes, lettuces and beans for spring. Some of the marigolds are already blooming. My peppers have overwintered and are setting blossoms again, though my Thai peppers never stopped producing. I guess the Fall garden is officially done and it's time to start the Spring garden. I'll see if my flytraps survived and figure out a way to cage them so the chickens don't eat the few I managed to save last year.

[Gary350]

I had vegetable beef Stew for breakfast and coffee. Corn, peas, Lima beans, carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, I love vegetables. It is 7 am and 60 degrees, going to be 70 and sunny today. It rained almost 2" yesterday lots of mud in the garden. Garlic, onions, lettuce, herbs are looking good in the garden. 3 more months I can start planting the garden. I think I will make a loaf of sunflower seed bread today.

[gumbo2176]

I had vegetable beef Stew for breakfast and coffee. Corn, peas, Lima beans, carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, I love vegetables. It is 7 am and 60 degrees, going to be 70 and sunny today. It rained almost 2" yesterday lots of mud in the garden. Garlic, onions, lettuce, herbs are looking good in the garden. 3 more months I can start planting the garden.

Sounds like you eat as unconventionally in the mornings as I do. I had a bowl of split pea soup with ham chunks for breakfast, sandwiched between cups of coffee to get the day started.

It just drizzled a bit yesterday and I had time to work the garden a bit and plant some parsley I had started in small pots into the garden, harvest the Brussels Sprouts, trim off dead leaves on the broccoli plants that are making plenty of side shoots and doing some weeding before cutting the grass and trimming the yard. Then I took all the garden waste and ran over it with the mower to chop it up a bit to put in the compost pile.

My lettuce and other salad greens took a bit of a hit with 2 days of below freezing weather early last week and they are making a great recovery with new growth getting bigger by the day.

[gumbo2176]

Well, we got some heavy rains this morning and when it quit I got out in the garden to pick collards. Nothing like picking two 5 gallon buckets worth and it counted out to 175 nice leaves to get cleaned, cut and cooked down with some seasoning ham, onions, a bit of garlic and a few other spices. That amount of greens will probably yield about 3/4 gallon of finished greens since they cook down so much.

[Gary350]

I had vegetable beef Stew for breakfast and coffee. Corn, peas, Lima beans, carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, I love vegetables. It is 7 am and 60 degrees, going to be 70 and sunny today. It rained almost 2" yesterday lots of mud in the garden. Garlic, onions, lettuce, herbs are looking good in the garden. 3 more months I can start planting the garden.

Sounds like you eat as unconventionally in the mornings as I do. I had a bowl of split pea soup with ham chunks for breakfast, sandwiched between cups of coffee to get the day started. .

I am tired of the traditional breakfast, bacon, eggs, sausage, toast, waffle, pancake, muffin, cereal, after eating this for 60 years I can't stand it anymore. These days I often eat what ever was left over from last nights dinner, tomorrow morning will be meat balls with spaghetti sauce. Yesterday was enchiladas, one day was Swiss steak, before that chili, before that Rubin Sandwich, tacos, cabbage rolls, stir fly, gyro, beef stew, chicken salad, peanut butter sandwich, baked beans and coffee. Sometimes breakfast is a mix of anything I can find in the refrigerator that is not high carbohydrates. I sometimes search the internet to see what people in other countries eat for breakfast. I emailed a friend in Germany he said he had Bratwurst and coffee for breakfast. A few weeks ago I had left over India Food take out from a local restaurant. I would eat India food more often if I could afford $12 for lunch every day. I still love biscuits & gravy but not enough protein for breakfast it gets my blood sugar out of control.

[digitS']

Americans tend to NOT eat anything green for breakfast.

Few of the other world's people think that green is worth avoiding. But ... ask an American if they want a salad or green beans on the side or mustard greens ... . Okay, try this -- chopping an avocado into some scrambled eggs. Huh? How about guacamole in your breakfast burrito?

I can't quite get to green beans and mustard greens ... &, if we don't get some sun into my greenhouse house, I might have to go another month without bok choy ... for lunch! Or, dinner! Anytime, except breakfast .

Steve

[gumbo2176]

Much like Gary350, I will often eat some of what I had the night before for dinner for my first meal of the day, and that is usually around 8 a.m. after several cups of coffee and seeing the wife off to work. Yes, I'm retired and the wife hasn't reached Nirvana yet and plans to put in a few more years before hanging them up while I take care of all the things that need to be done around the home.

Just this morning I ate a small bowl of fried rice with tons of vegetables that I cooked while the Patriots were destroying the Steelers in Foxboro on Sunday night. The only time I really eat a traditional breakfast of eggs, bacon or sausage, hash browns or grits with toast is on the weekends when my wife and I can share this together. During the week when she leaves for work, I'll usually pack her an English Muffin with ham and cheese and some fruit to eat once she gets to her desk at the office while getting her day planned out.

[Allyn]

I love a traditional breakfast.....but not for breakfast. We'll have eggs, bacon, grits or hash browns, or maybe french toast or biscuits and sausage gravy...whatever, but for dinner. Like some of you, we just heat up last night's leftovers or make something easy like pasta and red sauce for breakfast. This morning I had a garden salad and a piece of garlic bread for breakfast. The salad had a chunked-up hard-boiled egg in it. Does that count as eggs for breakfast?

[lakngulf]

So, I'm supposed to have more than coffee for breakfast?

To me eggs, grits, bacon and biscuits are best at 10am or 6pm

[Gary350]

I love a traditional breakfast.....but not for breakfast. We'll have eggs, bacon, grits or hash browns, or maybe french toast or biscuits and sausage gravy...whatever, but for dinner. Like some of you, we just heat up last night's leftovers or make something easy like pasta and red sauce for breakfast. This morning I had a garden salad and a piece of garlic bread for breakfast. The salad had a chunked-up hard-boiled egg in it. Does that count as eggs for breakfast?

I love breakfast in the evening for dinner too. I can not eat carbs for breakfast it sends my blood sugar out of control but I can eat all I want for dinner about 5 pm. There are certain things I never get to eat a few weeks ago we had, pancakes, hash browns, biscuits & gravy, sausage, bacon, ham for dinner with REAL maple syrup and hot chocolate.

[Allyn]

...I love breakfast in the evening for dinner too. I can not eat carbs for breakfast it sends my blood sugar out of control but I can eat all I want for dinner about 5 pm. There are certain things I never get to eat a few weeks ago we had, pancakes, hash browns, biscuits & gravy, sausage, bacon, ham for dinner with REAL maple syrup and hot chocolate.

Oh please! It HAS to be real maple syrup. It can't be that artifical maple-flavored corn syrup that most people think is maple syrup. I introduced my husband to real maple syrup and real American cheese (not that individually-wrapped cheese-flavored food-like substance he always thought was American cheese) and he's never going back.

That sounds like a yummy breakfast-for-dinner dinner.