Good gardening friend Paul Parent of the Paul Parent Garden Club sends out a great newsletter every week with pertinent gardening topics. I encourage you to go to his website to sign up for his newsletter. Paul can also be heard every Sunday morning from 6 AM to 10 AM at his website or at WBACH (104.7 FM) every Sunday morning from 6 AM to 9 AM.
Paul recently sent out a great post about Caring for Winter Vegetables:
"Your winter vegetables are beginning to mature for harvest and
storage this month. Because of the warmer than normal summer and the extra
early spring this year, all vegetables, fruit, and berries are ahead of
schedule. Here are a few ideas to improve this year's crop and next years as
well. September can be very productive for both what you have in your garden
today and what your garden can do next year.
If your onion foliage is beginning to fall over, it is time to
pull them all up and give them time to dry in your garage while the weather is
in your favor. Choose a day when the garden soil has dried out or stop watering
for a couple of days. This will help the soil to come off the onions more
easily and help them store better. Use a garden spade and loosen the soil
around the onion plants before pulling them up from the foliage. The reason is
that you want as much foliage as possible attached to the onion for when you
dry out the plant for storage. As the foliage begins to dry out it will send
energy from the foliage to the onion bulb for storage and this energy keeps the
onion dormant longer, so never pull up the plant and remove the foliage until
it has all turned brown. Also do not wash the onions; just rub off the loose
soil, as watering the bulb can encourage disease during storage.
If you cut the foliage when it is still green it will create a
soft spot where the foliage is attached to the bulb, and the spot never seals
itself properly to keep out fungus and insects. Place the onions on the floor
of your garage or even on a covered porch, as it will take several days to dry
completely and onions should be in a single layer--not put into a pile on the
floor. Also allow the roots to dry on the plant; don't pull them off, as they
will dry up quickly and create a protective area on the onion to keep longer.
When the foliage has all turned brown cut it from the bulb but leave an inch or
two of brown dry foliage still attached to the bulb--they seem to keep better
that way. Store them in your basement or garage where temperatures stay between
40 and 50 degrees all winter long. I put my onions in a wooden basket, check
them weekly for possible rot development and remove anything that does not look
good. Red onions do not keep as long as the white or yellow onions do, so eat
or cook them first.
Potatoes are all finished growing if the foliage has lost its
green color and has changed to yellow or brown. With a garden fork dig them
up--but be careful not to get too close to the main stems of the plant. Use
your hands when the soil has been loosened and dig them out yourself. It's like
digging for buried treasure, so be sure to get every potato--even the small
ones. Collect the potatoes and set them on the floor of your garage for a few
days so they can dry properly, and any roots still on the potato will have time
to dry up. Any potatoes that are damaged in this process should be eaten as
soon as possible as they will not keep; they will quickly rot while in storage.
As with the onions do not wash potatoes; let them dry out of the
sun and the skin will become thicker, helping to keep them better while in
storage. Digging is best when the soil is dry, so do not water for 3 to 4 days
before harvesting and the soil will come off the skin easier. Potatoes store
best in a cool, dry basement or garage where temperatures stay from 40 to 50
degrees and never freeze. Those small potatoes you find in the garden are too
small for baking or peeling but they are wonderful when washed and used for potato
salads or a nice beef stew--with the skin attached, as small potatoes have a
very thin and tender skin on them.
Winter squash is growing quickly now and September is the month
they seem to put on most of their weight and size. This week, cut off the very
end of every vine that has squash on it. This will stop foliage growth and new
squash development that will not have enough time to mature. But fruit on the
vines that have been pinched will continue to grow larger in size and flavor as
cooler temperatures create less stress on the plant and more moisture and
nutrition will move into the squash. Your squash is ready for harvest when the
stem from the vine of the plant to the squash begins to turn brown and dry up;
if the stem is still green it is still growing so leave it alone. Feeding your
squash plant and foliage with a liquid feed can be very beneficial to the plant
at this time of the year. Liquid feeds like Miracle-Gro or even Neptunes Harvest Fish and Seaweed blend are fast acting and will promote additional size to your squash and
help thicken their skin for better keeping during the winter months. Watering
weekly also helps promote larger sized squashes.
Pumpkins that have turned orange are finished growing and should
be removed from the garden and kept in a cool place until the weather cools off
this fall. Cut the stem of the pumpkin with a sharp knife or garden shears and
be sure to leave a stem. Pumpkins without stems have a very short life span and
rot very easily. Also, never carry the pumpkin by its stem, as most are not
strong enough to hold the weight of the pumpkin--especially if it's a large
one. Pumpkins and squash keep best in a cool and dry basement, crawl space, or
garage where temperatures do not drop below freezing. Do not stack them on top
of each other during storage, as they will become bruised and will not keep as
long. Also do not wash them when you put them in storage as you will remove the
protective covering on them--like your other winter vegetables--and increase
chances of fungus problems on the skin.
Beets I leave in the garden until all the foliage has died and
then pull them out of the ground. I let them dry on the garage floor for a few
days and remove any foliage that remains before storing them in baskets that I
keep in my basement on the floor. Beets keep until February in storage areas
that stay 40 to 50 degrees and dry.
Carrots I dig up in November just before the ground freezes. I
then cut off all the foliage about an inch above the orange carrot tuber and
place the carrots in a wooden box standing up carrot to carrot. Buy a bag of
sand box sand and pour it over the carrots filling in the spaces in-between
them and cover them with an inch of sand. Keep in a cool basement 40 to 50
degrees with other vegetables and they will last most of the winter. When I
lived in southern Massachusetts Cape Cod with its sandy soil is
perfect for storage in the planting bed as long as you have a mild winter and
the bed is open to the sunshine.
If you have a surplus of tomatoes and a freezer do this; you will
have fresh tomatoes for sauce or soup all winter long. As the tomatoes ripen
wash them well, fill a freezer bag with them and place them in your freezer. On
a cold winter morning, pull out a couple bags of frozen tomatoes and place them
in a pot of slow boiling water to crack the skin from the tomato. It will peel
off very easily and you can then place the skinless tomatoes in a pot with low
heat. In a couple hours they will be all soft and ready for soup. I mash them
with hands or potato masher, then clean out the vegetable crisper in the
refrigerator and use up whatever I have there. Add onions, celery, carrots,
broccoli, cauliflower, etc. and let it simmer all day long. With a few herbs
and spices added to the pot, the entire house will soon smell great for supper.
The last half hour I add a bit of rice or pasta to the mixture and supper is ready
with nice crusty bread and a glass of wine. Let the snow fall!"
Thanks Paul Parent!
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
September 18, 2012
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