Fall / Winter Gardening

I have a fairly specific question at the moment about one particular plant but I thought it might do well to have a thread where any and all fall/winter garden related issues might be discussed. I know I've benefited quite a bit from the comments and advice of some fellow LTHers on garden-related matters and I'm sure others have as well.

My specific question today has to do with horseradish. I have a good size plant in the yard, the top of which has been killed off by frost and so the root is ready for harvesting. The question is: are there pros and cons between harvesting now and storing in the fridge versus leaving it in the large pot until I'm closer to wanting to use it? I know the roots can be left in the ground until spring and harvested then but with my plant in a pot and with very cold weather coming in a few days, I wonder whether it would not be wise to harvest now, even if I'm not intending to use it immediately (I would like to hold out until a bit closer to Christmas).

I've already looked on the internet a bit but am hoping to get advice from one of our experienced gardeners.

TIA,
Antonius

Don't know about your horseradish, but I saw this thread and thought I'd post about my mustard greens:

I planted mustard about four years ago, and I've gotten enough volunteers in each subsequent year for all the greens I'd use. The young leaves are especially tasty on a burger.

This year, I got two, maybe three generations of greens, due to the cool late summer. The leaves are still green and hearty after some heavy frosts. Like broccoli, the leaves are a bit sweeter than they were in midsummer. I harvested some of them for Thanksgiving mainly to use as garnish. They're nearly as decorative as Kale, with frilly edges and some mid-to-light-green varigation.

I would like to hear what other, more knowledgeable folks have to say about this (my official career as a gardener doesn't begin until spring, 2007), but would it be possible to bring the big pot inside the house and put it in a cool, dark place (like, say, your garden-level garret) until the root is ready for harvesting? If the whole pot is too big/heavy, perhaps the root could be exhumed and stored in its own soil...perhaps in a smaller container, inside.

Roots in the refrigerator tend to soften, which suggests loss of integrity and, perhaps, flavor.

David "Speaking from pretty much the depths of ignorance on this one" Hammond

OK, I don't qualify as a more experienced gardener or anything, however - on Good Eats, Alton Brown stores all his root veggies in a box of sanitized playground sand in a cold place (inside a tupperware in the refridgerator crisper drawer)

I'm guessing you could pull and store your horseradish root in this manner in your garage (I'm guessing it's too big for the 'fridge?)

HI,

I always begin garden related queries by checking Extension websites of land grant universities like the University of Illinois, largely because the answers are research based.

Growing Horseradish in the Home Garden - this had the most usefull information especially on the harvest.

From http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/peoria/

Heavily mulch parsnips, carrots, and horseradish to keep them from freezing for as long as possible so that you can harvest them for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Harvesting Fresh Vegetables -- This took a while to download and general though it is based on a fact sheet available from any extension office by James Schuster, who really knows his stuff.

Regards,

I'm very jealous (talkin' bout local!). All I can grow is weeds

We got one horseradish root from Farmer Vicki and it just did not last that long (I mean it was so small for all that it's good for).

For the first time we grew cauliflower this year and all in all we were pleased with the crop. The quality of the vegetables was very high but the yield was fairly small. I suspect that growing the plants in pots held their growth back (though the one we planted in the ground failed completely), but the lousy fall weather probably contributed to the small yield as well. I definitely intend to plant cauliflower again next summer for the fall but I'm not sure whether to plant some in the early spring. Any opinions and advice out there?

Here's our cauliflower (one of three plants)...

Just before harvest:


Just after harvest:


In the kitchen:


In the pan:


Ready to be served up:


The home-grown cauliflower definitely had more flavour than the store-bought; I just wish there had been more of it.

Antonius

I love farm-fresh cauliflower. I can imagine that home-grown is just as delicious, if not more.

Did you do anything special to deter critters from dining on your plants before you were able to? The neighborhood critters were relentless with me this year (they even destroyed my Halloween pumpkins) and I can imagine that a big dish like a cauliflower head would be very alluring to a squirrel.

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:I love farm-fresh cauliflower. I can imagine that home-grown is just as delicious, if not more.

Did you do anything special to deter critters from dining on your plants before you were able to? The neighborhood critters were relentless with me this year (they even destroyed my Halloween pumpkins) and I can imagine that a big dish like a cauliflower head would be very alluring to a squirrel.

EC,

No, the squirrels took no interest whatsoever in the cauliflower but then, I had an insanely massive bumper crop of tomatoes, which we all, humans and squirrels alike, shared. In fact, the squirrels are still taking some of the tomatoes I left behind for them.

I complained bitterly about the ravages visited upon my tomatoes by the squirrels in 2005 but this year, by increasing the overall volume (by a lot), we ended up with enough for everyone to be happy, a solution which I find preferable to killing the little fellows. That said, there is a problem in the early summer, when the squirrels sample many unripe tomatoes, leaving them behind but having ruined them for us. Better protection (wire screens) will be what I try next but the squirrels are both intelligent and strong and will likely find ways to get around most any device.

Antonius

Antonius wrote:...the squirrels are... intelligent and strong and...

...edible.

Hammond

Antonius - I found that if I pick the bitten tomato and drop it right there on the ground, they continue eating it and leave the rest alone, and it makes the plant make new ones. My parents used to leave dishes of water out for the squirrels, as well - some of it is just thirst (though this doesn't work for me)

Blood meal, if you can stand the stinky garden, can be a good deterrent as well.

I'm jealous of your cauliflower; tried both cauliflower and broccoli, got nothing but leaves from either - although I did get quite a crop of broccoli rabe early in the spring.

David Hammond wrote:

Antonius wrote:...the squirrels are... intelligent and strong and...

...edible.

Hammond

Not for me. My religion prevents me from consuming squirrels... I think.

***

Mhays,

I too leave the bitten tomatoes for Mijnheer Dikzak and his family (they've moved in next door but we're still on a Sie/vous/U basis) but early in the season, they often pass them up and leave them to rot and go on and sample more on the vine. They also like to check out the eggplants in this manner.

Blood meal? Hmmm... Aside from various kinds of blood sausage, I don't have much experience with blood in my meal(s)... Seriously though, if it's stinky, that wouldn't work well for us, since the garden is small, right by the house, and it's a place where I like to sit and read during the summer. The water/thirst theory is interesting.

Broccoli rabe I find very easy to grow from seed and I had great success with it last year. Unfortunately, this fall, I was away at planting time and forgot/was busy when I got back...

Ri Friariegli (‘e friariellë)
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=52520#52520 :
Ecco: ri nuosti begli friariegli



Antonius

Antonius,

Too bad about the religious prohibition, squirrels are not only edible but quite tasty:-)

I've found blood meal to be only stinky for a day or so, but then again, after it wasn't stinky it didn't seem to do anything to deter the rabbits that were devastating the particular garden I tried it on....neither did our dog at the time:-)

Is your horseradish question answered? I find that horseradish, wrapped well in cling plastic, keeps forever in the fridge. Your inquiry reminded me that I had purchased some well over a month ago, and lo and behold, it is ensconsed at the bottom of the crisper drawer, just fine.

I would think that if it requires heavy mulching (which is probably to render it diggable rather than to protect it from freezing) in the ground, then it would be in some jeopardy in a pot.

Another hazard would be the freezing/thawing that a potted specimen would be subject to, as opposed to one in the ground, which stays frozen until spring.