Picking before the first Frost of the Season

Now that we are starting to enter the time of the fall and winter months we are going to need to start worrying about frosts and freezes. These both can be very devastating to your plants and produce however there are ways to help keep your garden alive and producing during these cold days ahead.
The first possible to solution to this idea is to convert your garden box into a greenhouse. This has its positives and negatives and if you are growing the majority of your vegetables and fruits you will need to create a greenhouse that way you are continue through these cold months producing produce. I haven't ever built one myself however you can find several how to guides on the internet by searching "outdoor garden box greenhouse." For someone like me who is just getting into gardening, I wouldn't recommend this approach for starters because of the cost behind the creating the greenhouse, heating the greenhouse, and the time spent every fall and spring. In the spring you will be needing to tear down the green to avoid storms tearing up the greenhouse. While in the early fall you will need to remember how to put it back together and.put the green house together before the first frost but not to early otherwise you rise burning up your plants.
The other approach is more of temporary solution for the first frosts of fall and the last frosts of spring. This approach is very simple, during the nights of frosts you will need to create a fire up wind from your garden. This will allow for the heat off of the fire to keep the air around the garden warmer than normal. I haven't ever tried this way however I know my grandfather has done it several times in the past.


My useful tip of the week
This weeks useful tip resolves around the first frost of the year and what you should pick from your garden before the first frost and what you should pick up. You will want to pick all of your peppers, tomatoes, and more sensitive vegetables before the frost otherwise the vegetables will start their rotting process. This rule does not apply to vegetables growing underground like turnips, onions,..... This is because they have more insulation around them due to the dirt covering them. Don't get me wrong this won't protect them from a hard freeze but they will last longer with the occasional light frost in the mornings.

Gardening using Pottery Part 3

First off I know I sound like a broken record continuing talking to talk about gardening your pottery even though I have told you can't product as much fruit and vegetables in pottery like you can in a raised bed or traditional garden (at least in my experiences).
This week I have learned one thing that I thought was interesting and wanted to spread it to you though and yes it involves gardening your pottery. This is something I should have put together a while ago but didn't. Did you know if you are using a pot that using a dish to hold the extra water that you can actually cause your dirt to rot and cause root rot if the dirt is always sitting in water. In my case this explained why when I tried transplanting plants into bigger pots the dirt always smell rotten and the plant never seems in good shape (on the edge of death). Since I have start switching over from pots and water saucers underneath now to these new pots (new to me) I am actually seeing better looking plants and overall healthier plants too.
I would recommend only using these kind pots for indoor use though because if you keep them outside you can temporary flood (rains) your plant which can use your plant to die. This is because it will take the pot longer to drain out the liquids that it would the traditional pot with several holes in it.

On a side note
The reason I am bring up gardening using pottery is because I now using this technique to grow my habernos and other plants for my greenhouse.

Fact of Week
In terms of gardening I have learned that pepper plants seem to grow a better in spring and fall than in summer including habernos, bell peppers, and jalapenos.

Greenhouse fruit of my labors

I just had to post that I have now officially received my first gotten my first haberno from my greenhouse. Now I am trying to figure out what to do with it... If anyone has any ideas please let me know.