Winter Gardening Harvest Pictures

Food Fight #32: It Takes Two To Fight

Winter eased up this season. Compared to recent times, so far this one has amounted to taunts and jabs rather than uppercuts, hooks and haymakers. A few days ago temperatures reached the middle forties Fahrenheit again. It was also the third time this winter the store in the backyard has provided garden produce.

The soil has sufficiently protected these vegetables in their fresh state despite rain, snow and temperatures 40 to 45 degrees colder this winter. These vegetables, under less than ½ inch of leaves, have survived several freeze/thaw cycles. This is of little surprise since squirrels have been using ground storage forever, the thin, near surface roots of grasses survive harsh winter better than harsh summer and earthworms are wiggling about and very much alive beneath the surface despite the cold above.

The long, light-colored carrot on the right side resembles the bottom half of many a plastic doll after falling into the wrong hands.

The varicose veins/black lines/dark lines must have been caused by pressing against its own root system. The flesh was white, firm and showed no sign of discoloration. Several potatoes like this were fried and eaten as shown below. There with no negative effects and no taste or texture difference.

For the curious, the potatoes were fried with onions and placed on top of tomatoes surrounded by avocado. Fried eggs on top and a slathering of ketchup and a few hits of hot sauce.

These Sprouts were planted last spring and first harvested December 30, 2011. The leaves have a muted green color instead of yellowing or browning associated with dead leaves. Perhaps they'll spring back!