Tennessee 2024 Garden

[Gary350]

Oh no! You sure got that “before and after photos.” Will you be able to get them to recover?

8 ft tall corn is twisted and tangled some stalks are broken. It is too much of a tangled mess to try and upright the plants. Corn can still pollinate but not sure how well it will pollinate. Just have to wait and see Sept 10 corn should be ripe. It will be hard to find all 300 ears in that tangle wad of plants. Corn better not get ripe early Sept 6,7,8 we have camping reservations.

[Gary350]

I pulled up all the carrots that were growing in a 5 gallon bucket for about 3+ months. Hot weather carrots are often hard as wood and have about as much flavor as wood. They taste like carrots, not hard as wood but not tender like winter carrots. The long pencil diameter carrots are the hardest. Carrots are good to snack on. Wife put them in a zip lock bag and put them in the refrigerator wait and see if they get more tender after being in the refrigerator 1 week.

[Gary350]

Dog barked all night, every time I looked with the spot light I see nothing in the garden. This morning I found 35 corn ears ready to pick 2 weeks early. There was a very nice full moon last might. We cut kernels off 25 ears and put 5 pints in the freezer. I saved 10 ears for my son. The rest of the ears appear to be a week or more from being ready to pick. It is very strange 99% of the corn seeds germinated the same day but not all ears are full grown ready to harvest the same day. Garden is desert again no rain for about 2 weeks. Later today I will give corn plants about 100 gallons of water every day for a week some of the ears are very small. I also found several ripe tomatoes.

[Gary350]

4 pm I noticed corn is getting ripe faster than I expected. I picked about 100 ears and we put 15 more pints of corn in the freezer. My son came for dinner, he went home with 15 tomatoes and 18 ears of corn and about 20 lbs of potatoes. And there is more corn in the garden.

[Gary350]

This morning I picked a few Rome Green Beans also known as, Roma Flat Beans and Roma Flat Pod Beans. These are better than the average run of the mill grocery store Blue Lake green beans. There are 1000s of green beans in 1 row but not many with beans inside the pots yet. These will go into a roast pot to cook with, meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, & beans for dinner later this evening. This is a 65 day crop.

[applestar]

Fantastic! You both work hard to make good use of your garden bounty, feed your family and enjoy the well-deserved reward for a long time

[Gary350]

Today I picked another 51 ears of corn. This year ears have 1" long corn worms and tiny black bugs the size of rice. I have never seen corn worms or black bugs in TN. Corn was planted 1 month late maybe corn worms and bugs are later season. Picture shows 2 of the best ears others are not this nice and some are small from poor pollination. Several of the plants that blew down in the storm did not pollinate well. Today 9 more pints of corn for the freezer. There are still about 20 corn plants in the garden ears might be ripe soon. So far we have 5+15+9=29 pints.

[Gary350]

Tomato plants are upside down about 5 ft, I picked 32 ripe tomatoes. I picked a lot of beans, too, also, as well.

[Gary350]

Today I picked the last of the corn it turned out to be 2 more pints, now we have 31 bags of corn in the freezer.

[Gary350]

I was surprised to find another 25 ripe tomatoes today. Plants are not usually this productive in this hot 90° weather. I have been giving plants a triple amount of wood ash just because I have too much and I want to get ride of it. Maybe I have learned something new? Plants are loaded with green tomatoes also. Plants are about 7'+6'= 13 ft tall the tops rolled over at 7' and have grown down 6 ft. 1 more foot the top of the plants will be touching the soil. I have totally ignored the tomato plants for a month I usually trim away all the dry dead leaves and limbs but not this year, plants are loaded with so much dead material it is hard to find tomatoes in all that dead stuff. Maybe that dead stuff is shade the plants need in this hot weather. I have been too busy trying to finish work on the camper to do much in the garden.

[Gary350]

I picked Roma Green Beans this morning at 7 am it was 65° it took about 35 minutes to pick 5 gallons. We both, washed, sorted, cut, and bagged Roma beans, we have 13 bags of beans, 1 bag of beans in the slow cooker and another 5 bags of beans from 3 days ago. Total amount of beans so far 19 bags not counting the 1 gallon of beans my son got a few days ago and we had beans for dinner about 1 week ago. Beans keep well in the freezer.

[Gary350]

6 tomato plants have about 50 green tomatoes and 3 ripe tomatoes. Aug. 30 and 100° and no rain for about a month tomato plants have NEVER grown this well in this type hot dry weather before. I mixed 1 hand full of 15-15-15 fertilizer with 1 gallon of wood ash = about 20% fertilizer & about 80% wood ash. I am feeding each plant about 1/2 cup of wood ash once a week plus about 1/2 gallon of water for each plant every day. Levee around each plant holds in water until it all soaks into the soil. None of the water escapes to grow grass and weeds in unwanted places. I have done no plant maintenance for 2 months I am being very lazy this year. The 1 gallon red color coffee contain is the fertilizer mixture.

Google search says, Wood ash typically contains 3–10% potassium (K), which is a key plant nutrient for flowering and fruiting. However, the amount of potassium in wood ash can vary depending on what type wood was burned. Wood ash contains 20% to 30% calcium depending on what type wood was burned.

[Gary350]

Drought and burn ban are over. It rained 3" in about 45 minutes it was very loud. Garden is flooded I hope this kills moles, garden has more moles than it ever had. Now chick weed will grow, I hope strawberry plants like this, beans were looking very dry & brown.

[Gary350]

Today I inspected garden potatoes we have stored in 15 boxes they all look good but several fingerling potatoes are growing sprouts so I planted 83 in the garden. I only covered seed potatoes about 1" of soil, when soil gets dryer I can rake 2" of soil over the seed potatoes, maybe Tue or Wed evening.

[imafan26]

Do you keep planting potatoes again after you harvest them? It seems like you plant them more than once.

[Gary350]

Do you keep planting potatoes again after you harvest them? It seems like you plant them more than once.

Yes, I use my new potatoes as seed potatoes when dormancy is over. This year I have not been keep close watch to see if potatoes are sprouting. When it gets colder here about Oct. potatoes go to the shed outside where they stay dormmate as long as they continue to stay cold. Seed potatoes come inside the house Jan 1st, about Feb 1st potatoes start to sprout, March 1st potatoes get planted in the garden. Most potatoes are a 3 month crop harvest should be about June 1st. Potato dormancy is a physiological state where potatoes do not sprout, even when conditions are ideal for germination. It's a survival strategy that ensures potatoes sprout only when conditions are favorable for new plant growth. Potato growers store potatoes about 45°f then warm them up to about 75°f to make them sprout. I keep potatoes inside the house at 74° it usually takes 1 to 6 months to get sprouts. Potatoes we intend to eat stay outside in the cold shed so they don't sprout.

This year is the first time I every grew French Fingerling potatoes I am surprised they are sprouting so soon. Red Pontiac, Red Norland, Kennebec, sometimes stay dormmate all winter but if there are a few potatoes that want to grow sprouts early I plant them.

Potato dormancy is a physiological state where potatoes do not sprout, even when conditions are ideal for germination. It's a survival strategy that ensures potatoes sprout only when conditions are favorable for new plant growth.

About a month ago there were several White volunteer potatoes in the garden starting to grow. I transplanted them to 1 row that slowly got longer every time I found more volunteer potatoes.

Purple potatoes loose dormancy in 2 months, lost garden potatoes are growing small plants several places in the garden. Purple potatoes are easy to grow like Red potatoes & they out produce White potatoes 4 to 1. We have too many purple potatoes we don't want anymore now so I pulled up all of the purple plants. Purple potatoes taste and cook like Red potatoes they have 50% less carbohydrates than white potatoes.

I use a lot of grocery store potatoes as seed potatoes it takes 1 month inside the house at 74°f in a bright shade sunny window to break dormancy they 1 more month to grow sprouts then potatoes are ready to plant. Each white seed potato plant will grow 1 lb. of new potatoes. Each red & purple seed potato plant will grow 4 lbs. of new potatoes. A white seed potato with 5 eyes will grow 5 lbs. of new potatoes. A Red or Purple seed potato with 5 eyes will grow 20 lbs. of new potatoes.

If you plant seed potatoes and they get too wet the seed potato will rot and die. Be sure to check your weather don't plant seed potatoes until there is no rain of a week. Pre sprouted seed potatoes will grow plants in 1 week. After you have potato plants rain is no problem. Potato roots like water.

3 month harvest time is often 2 month 2 weeks or 2 month 3 weeks, not sure why. I think is has something to do with our day time temperatures are too hot. If we start having 90°f temperatures we have new potatoes 1 or 2 weeks early.

See attached potato sprout pictures. These were sprouted in a sunny window they look like a 100 tiny roots ready to have a root explosion soon as wet soil touches them. Plants will be up in 3 or 4 days and look very nice plants in 7 days.

[Gary350]

This morning I planted a 25' row of cauliflower and 25' row of broccoli. I am usually very saving with seed it is slow work to drop only 1 seed every 6". Today I sprinkled all 200 seeds in each 25' row. If there are too maybe plants I might transplant some to another row or 2. I covered tiny seeds with about 1" of soil. Garden is still too wet to use the tiller and wet soil is turning green with algae again. Sky was clouds all day yesterday I hope we have a week of clouds it will keep soil from getting to dry for new plants. Left to right, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes.

[Gary350]

2 pm I searching through my seeds and I find Early 75 day Round Dutch Cabbage so I planted a row. I sprinkled about 100 seeds in a 25 ft row. Little white butterflies probably like these.

[greenstubbs]

Little white butterflies probably like these.

Yeah, those little white butterflies as you call them are an invasive species actually called "Cabbage Moths" are very destructive to Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, B. Sprouts, Kohlrabi, and anything else I missed that's in the cabbage family! They lay their eggs on the plant and the caterpillars will much the snot out of the plant! I had a huge issue with them in my garden when I lived in California, you don't want those little Mo-Fo's in your garden, at least I don't!!
How do you know when a moth farts?....................... It flies in a straight line!

[Gary350]

7 am it was 68° I pulled up all the old strawberry plants by hand about 30 min job. After lunch 85° I spent 8 minutes planting iceberg lettuce in a 32' row. Seeds small as dust are hard to deal with there is probably 100 seeds in this row. Poor germination rate crop will still be good. Soon it B time 2 plant carrots & onion seeds.

Left to right, beans, lettuce, strawberries, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli. potatoes, tomatoes, zinnia.

[Gary350]

I keep finding seed packages that never got planted. When I was growing up my family never grew greens so I never learned how. YouTube videos show a lot of people planting greens now. I planted a 30' row of 8" diameter cabbage. I planted garden row #7 with 100 seeds, 30 cabbage will be nice, 1 cabbage is all I need for coleslaw and cooked cabbage.

Next is a package of Napa cabbage seeds, I found a good YouTube video. Seeds or plants can't be planted outside until every day temperature is 70°f or less, 80° will make napa bolt. Napa does good down to 25°f. 70° high for the day will probably be late Nov or Dec for my TN garden. Napa is a 2½ month crop. Start seeds inside house then it's a 2 month crop outside. Also plant nape so it gets early morning sun then shade after lunch, bright sun plants will get warmer than the air temperature and bolt. Napa will need to be planted where tomato plants are now that is where the shade tree is, but I think this tree has no leaves in winter. I might need to grow napa in a pot under the ever green tree.

3" of rain destroyed the strawberry plants about 50% appear to be dead. Oh well, I don't care. Some plants appear to be growing a new center leaf so wait & see what happens.

I need to plant garlic next week & plant onion seed also. Need to plant 500 carrot seeds soon also.

A few more weeks dry beans will be ready to pick.

[Gary350]

Interesting conversation on TN garden forum came up and several people jumped in with the 2 cents worth of information.

1. I only planted a few seed potatoes and moles ate them all.
2. I wanted 30 lbs of potatoes and only got 1 lb. moles ate them.
3. I planted 100 lbs of seed potatoes mole population is 10 times worst than ever.
4. I never get any new potatoes moles eat them all.
5. We only got 2 lbs of new potatoes thinks to the moles.
6. Every time I plant potatoes moles destroy my garden.

I planted more seed potatoes this year than I ever did there were no russet new potatoes I suspect moles ate them. Potato harvest was 340 lbs. mole population is worse than it has ever been there must be 50 moles in my garden mole tunnels cover the whole garden. I have always suspected moles are eating my new potatoes because locations with many tunnels never have many new potatoes. I also think moles like to eat white potatoes more than red or purple potatoes. Next year I will sprinkle 100 caster bean seeds in each 30' row of potato plants. It is interesting that TN zone 7a & 7b has moles from Memphis to Bristol ≈ 500 miles of moles.

[imafan26]

I ate the sweet potato I harvested early but did not color up actually until I cooked it. It was sweet but I cured it more than 3 weeks in a paper bag. Even though it wasn't "old" by potato standards it was already trying to spout and the skin was starting to dry and shrivel.

I can't really store root crops well. In summer inside or outside it is 85+ degrees and humid. Onions will start off sweet but after a few weeks, they get very hot. Potatoes and carrots start to get hairy and sprout inside the refrigerator. Onions on the counter will rot or sprout. Even the dasheen I harvested earlier had started to dry out. They were left outside. About the only thing I can keep in storage is ginger in moist sand or peat moss. It keep it from desiccating, but eventually they will spout in that as well.

[Gary350]

I picked all the dry Roma bean seeds I could find before the hurricane rain arrives tomorrow morning. If I don't pick seeds now wet seeds will grow on the plants then die. I watered, potato, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Dutch Cabbage, Lettuce, 8" cabbage, rows just in case we get no rain. There are a lot of broccoli & cauliflower plants coming up. Most of the strawberry plants died after that very hard 3" rain we had several weeks ago.

[Gary350]

I now have, carrot bed, garlic bed, onion bed, all in the same 32 ft long bed. I planted 70 garlic in the garlic bed this morning before hurricane rain starts. Forecast is 3" of rain in 2 days..

Carrot bed is 30"x45"=1350 sq inches that = room to grow 1350 one inch diameter carrots or 5400 1/2" diameter carrots. If I plant 5000 seeds we can start eating carrots when they are 1/2" diameter this will make room for larger diameter carrots to grow. I think I can germinate 5000 carrot seeds inside the house then mix seeds with 3 gallons of water than pour water over the bed and not damage any of the sprouts. Carrots are tricky to grow I need an automatic water spray system to keep seeds wet for 5 months. We have 5 days of rain in the forecast and 70° temperature I'm not sure I should risk planting carrot seeds now or wait, mother nature can't be trusted. Once weather gets cold carrots don't grow they wait for April warm weather to grow.

[Gary350]

I planted about 35,000. carrot seeds in my 4 empty corn rows it took about 1½ hrs. After tilling the soil I hilled soil up 12" high then made a 5" wide flat place on the top of each hill. I sprinkled carrot seeds in the 5" wide flat surface then I hilled the soil up again to cover all the seeds. Farmers Co-op sells 2 oz seed packs for $8 that is 40,000. seeds. I still have a few seeds left. All 20 garden rows are planted with winter crops.

[Gary350]

This morning I finished planting the last of the orange carrots seeds, plus 250 Red carrot seeds and 250 yellow color carrot seeds. Red carrots claim to be best flavor or all carrots. The carrot bed has all 3 type carrots planted there. I planted 19 ft of carrots at the end of the tomato row that never had anything but 6 tomato plants there all summer. I put a lot of potassium fertilizer on the 19 ft row. I forgot to fertilize all the other rows but I can do that later. I covered the carrot bed and 19 ft row with boards to hold moisture so seeds germinate. I hope to be able to remove boards in a month and have tiny carrot plants. In the past carrot crop always looked good in the beginning but in the end we only had enough carrots for 2 meals. Maybe this year we will get 4 meals.

Tomato plants are producing tomatoes at a, just in time speed, at this stage of the garden 2 tomatoes every day are better than 40 every day.

What has happened to my camera there are a lot of blurred pictures?

[applestar]

I was going to suggest boards or a thin quick drying fabric for the carrot bed.

When it’s warm it doesn’t take that long for the carrots to sprout. They do need light to sprout so it’s important not to bury them too deep.

The boards should be removed after 4 or 5 days (or as soon as you see one sprout). Board is not the best choice if you are having slug or pill bug problems in the garden.

If using the thin fabric, they should be laid directly on the ground and pinned down loosely. You need to water every day and check every day for sprouting and then RAISE the fabric up with support (cross-crossed strings for example) so they don’t touch the ground (need to be sure the fabric won’t flap in wind and slap the seedlings down). This way, the fabric provide a bit of shade if sun is too hot.

[Gary350]

Today I tamped the carrot hills soil down lower, 1/2 long carrots don't need tall hills. Hills are now 2 times wider that spreads seed spacing 8" wide. I don't have any 8" wide boards to cover soil until seeds germinate. 32 ft long rows x 8" wide x 4 rows = 12,288 sq inches. This makes it possible to grow 12000. carrots 1" diameter each. Past history growing carrots we might get 1000 carrots but not likely to get many 1" diameter. We finally got a very tiny sprinkle of rain 1 hr ago it has been very over cast all day.

I sprinkled all my saved onion seed mix in the onion bed. Last year onion seeds grew what looked like 1 blade of grass and appeared to die when we had -7° for 2 days then they grew some nice onions that I pulled up about June 15.

About 100 tiny broccoli & cauliflower are growing. I picked another 100 dry Roma bean for seeds next year.

[Gary350]

I have, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce come up what is good to prevent bugs?

[applestar]

This time of year worst pests are caterpillars— both the white and yellow butterflies as well as three kinds of moths at least. For lettuce, I think only the fall armyworms out of the caterpillars.

Also slugs and grasshoppers, crickets… and maybe in your case, you would still have harlequin stinkbugs that would like the cabbage family stuff.

Once it gets a bit cooler, watch out for aphids on all of them.

I’ve completely switched to using low hoop tunnels and insect mesh row covers for the cabbage family (slugs and crickets get inside, but so far no caterpillars).

I’ve tried and am still trying uncovered beds with occasional (once a week or so) Btk treatment (DiPel) against the caterpillars. This does work — I find caterpillars that have sickened and died — turned black. But I don’t like to use Btk in wide swaths because then the butterflies I want will be killed (they can get infected and transmit the disease to their eggs and offspring)

Some of the caterpillars end up with parasitic wasp pupae on them, so garden patrol is working, and at least earlier in the season, I think the yellowjackets were snatching them up along with the paper and mud wasps to feed to THEIR babies.

I’m also finding whiteflies on the unprotected broccoli — they became infected with some kind of black spot disease that I blame on the whiteflies. I’ve aggressivelystripped the leaves and even infected floral buds/heads, and they are limping along and grudgingly producing secondary side shoot heads, but I’m considering pulling them out and just planting new stuff in their place.

As non-toxic repellant, try hot peppers and garlic extract — boiling in water, or soaking in vinegar or oil. The vinegar should be used 1:200 dilution, and oil should be used 1 tsp per quart or 1 Tbs per gallon (this is actually close to the 1:200 ratio, btw.) Adding a drop or two of liquid soap will also kill aphids and soft bodied nymphs of stinkbugs.

• Vinegar spray is said to also act as a plant tonic — strengthening their health and making them able to resist pests
• Don’t use the oil spray when it’s hot and sunny — oil can burn the leaves.

…Diluted Coffee is supposed to be effective repellent — for slugs? aphids? I have to look it up again.

[applestar]

I have wire hoops that have lasted for decades, and have also tried joined lengths of coated metal tubing that have recently flooded the gardening market from China. They are both effective and you can buy rolls of insect mesh fabric in widths suitable for the row width and hoop height you are building.

But I like trying new things, so this is going to be my next project —
https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=vEX1o0PF ... e=youtu.be

[Gary350]

I have wire hoops that have lasted for decades, and have also tried joined lengths of coated metal tubing that have recently flooded the gardening market from China. They are both effective and you can buy rolls of insect mesh fabric in widths suitable for the row width and hoop height you are building.

But I like trying new things, so this is going to be my next project —
https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=vEX1o0PF ... e=youtu.be

I have not used 7 dust in 40 years. My neighbor uses 7 liquid he sprays his garbage plants they look good. I still don't want to use 7 liquid either. ???

My garden is almost bug free, corn, beans, onions, garlic, potatoes, melons, carrots, peppers, lettuce, okra, have no bugs. Tomatoes have stink bugs starting mid June then get very bad in July. I stopped growing bug magnets, squash & cucumbers attract 1000s of bugs then the whole garden has bugs. Cabbage related plants attract tiny white butterflies its been so long since I have seen bugs I don't remember what they look like. I have tried a few organic sprays that never work. I like zero maintenance zero work garden. I have white bug nets bugs seem to get in anyway. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower will attract lots of bugs.

[applestar]

Sevin is poison. It’s good that you Don’t use it.

I suspect it’s all those birds you take care of, taking care of the bugs for you.

I have bugs — some are pests but many good bugs too. Birds, frogs…. I don’t use toxic chemicals.

White cabbage butterflies and cabbage moths are just too hard to control. I’ve tried doing nothing and picking the caterpillars off. But even then, the wasps used to crawl between the tight spaces between the leaves inspecting and taking off with the green caterpillars clutched in their legs. I just had to be careful not to get in their way.

The butterflies and moths get desperate and start egg dumping, then they get to be too much to handle.

The key with the mesh covers is to be sure to tuck the edges down or in your case, probably easiest to bury the edges — dig a trench, drape the long edge in the tench and then shovel or hoe soil over.

IF you use two lengths that generously overlap at the top, you won’t have to unbury the edges.

Use the bungee method in the above video to keep the fabric tightly secured against flapping open. ***BUT*** you have to have a separate way to hook the bungee than the method used because you need to keep the edges tight to the ground — I noticed that and am going to be thinking of solution that would work for me. (I also have a whole bunch of stainless steel wire clothespins and clips to hold the edges of fabric closed or onto the end hoops)

In my case, the ground is very mucky/clay/muddy and hardly ever loose/dry … AND … I don’t have enough path space and loose soil in between rows.

So LOTS of 4~6” U-shaped ground pins with plastic circles for landscape fabrics work well most of the time, even for zig-zag bungee or string to tie down the tunnels.

For tightly closing long lengths, I also use thin poles that I secure over the edge of the fabric with the U-pins.

I get 10” long ground U-pins for the ends of the fabric which I tie a knot and secure.

Insect mesh won’t flap much in the wind. But for vented poly and solid poly covers, I sometimes also need to use the 10” long pins for the tie-downs and camping tent pegs or even rebar for the ends (tie with twine/string).

[Gary350]

Sevin is poison. It’s good that you Don’t use it.

I suspect it’s all those birds you take care of, taking care of the bugs for you.

Blue birds come early last week of Feb. check out the houses, build a nest, lay eggs first week of March. Eggs hatch in 15 days, babies are gone in 15 days. When parents are coming & going fast as they can fly I know they are feeding babies. Blue birds have 3 broods of babies every year. & there were 2 Blue Bird families that = about 24 babies. Robins have been returning to the same 2 nest every year they laid eggs 2 times. Doves have a nest they return too also. Zinnias attract yellow finches they eat zinnia seeds & bugs also. Zinnias attract lots of butterflies I like to set 10 ft away under the shade tree & watch butterflies. This year we has less butterflies than last summer.

I saved sweet corn seeds from 2 sweet corn ears = about 1500 seeds. I know these seeds will not grow hybrid corn but they will grow corn. Next summer when most crops are gone I will plant all 20 rows with corn. It might be all yellow or could be white corn. It might be mix.

[Gary350]

I pulled up all the Roma green bean plants today and picked off all the green beans and seeds. Now I have an empty row for Napa cabbage. Napa needs to be started in pots inside the house then moved outside for sunlight only when 70° or less. When outside becomes 70° all day plants can be transplanted outside. I don't think I can start seeds until about Nov or Dec.

[Gary350]

Boards covering carrot seeds did a good job of holding moisture there are 1000s of carrot plants very high germination rate. Our forecast is 93° for 2 days then 90° for 3 days record high with no rain. Soil will be dry as desert by 2 pm carrot plants will be dead. If I water plants in 93° heat that will kill plants also. I can't keep carrot plants covered up they need sun light. I have no other choice water plants middle of the day anyway.

[Gary350]

I am very surprised carrots survived 94° hot sun with no clouds all day. I watered the carrots at 5pm I can see 100s of tiny green plants.

[applestar]

Looking good! You’re lucky you can grow carrots through the winter and harvest as needed.

[Gary350]

Looking good! You’re lucky you can grow carrots through the winter and harvest as needed.

I saw this idea on a YouTube video a commercial grower hills soil up so it becomes deep enough to grow carrots. My soil is basically only 5" deep but I can hill it up 12' deep for carrots & potatoes & corn. I don't have the original video but I found a better video of the same idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c-RAzirbAU

Last winter -7° rotted the tops off of several of my carrots and 1 small pot of carrots totally froze all the carrots. Carrots planted in garden soil hills will not freeze very deep. It was interesting to note carrots that froze last winter did not show signs of being frozen until a week later. I pulled up several frozen carrots they appeared to be good flavor was good and they were very sweet. I should have pulled up all the carrots and eaten them a week later they were rotted.

This year my entire garden is planted, I have never done this before I look forward to a winter vacation from the garden. I don't intend to baby sit plants all winter when our weather changes and we have lots of rain and bugs have frozen to death I think the garden will do good with no help from me. The biggest garden problem will be mud when we start have rain 6 days a week.