Yesterday The Girl and I went out to the greenhouse to pick some lettuce for a dinner salad and were happy to see the mesclun lettuce we had planted earlier this fall was perfect for harvesting.
Look at those leaves!!
It’s almost November and here I am harvesting gourmet lettuce leaves. Does it get any better than that?
If I had to guess, I have about a 2 weeks worth of dinner salads in the 3-tiered pot I planted. I’m hoping I’ll be able to move the lettuce starts we have growing under grow lights in the house out to the garden by this weekend. Then we’ll see if I can successfully grow lettuce in our greenhouse this winter. {I’m keeping my fingers crossed}.
I’ve also got some spinach growing in a large pot as well. I can’t remember what variety it is though. Anyone know?
And take a look at Lemon. As of this morning we still have 7 meyer lemons growing in the greenhouse. Not as many as I had hoped for, but I’ll take ’em. I’m not sure when they are suppose to start turning yellow, but I suspect sometime in December or January.
Did I mention our tomatoes are on their way out?
Yep, these are the last of the Sun Gold tomatoes. 🙁
And what about the Green Zebra tomatoes you ask? Well… they’re dead.
Take a look at all the grey mold that has set in. Kinda creepy isn’t it?
Yep, it’s totally time to say goodbye to our heirloom tomatoes for the year and get the greenhouse prepared for winter. It’s coming, whether we want it to our not.
Do any of YOU have any tomatoes still growing? Are they on their last leg too or did you say goodbye to yours months ago?
Mavis wants to know.
Anndra says
I still have tomatoes and peppers growing but I am in Arkansas 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
When does it get cold there?
Anndra says
Freeze warning for the NW tonight but I am in Central AR so probably a couple more weeks for us. It doesn’t really get cold cold here.
Manette Gutterman says
I’m jealous over your greenhouse! I live in KY & have a freeze warning tonight. I planted tomatoes late this year thanks to all the spring rain but I had them finish up last week! Last year was such a mild year I had tomatoes clear to Dec – a record for me! My plants didn’t do as well this year though. They were small & some bug was bothering them (stink bugs, maybe?).
Indio says
I brought my lemon tree indoors and put it next to the grow lights. It’s loving life indoors because it gets the leftover coffee that keeps it acidic.
Katelyn says
My final CSA pickup was 10.10 and we still had tomatoes – in Vermont! A friend’s last week was 10.17 and they had tomatoes, too. We had a real rough start to the year out here (lots of flooding and early heat) but the late summer/fall has been just glorious.
Mavis Butterfield says
Wow! I’m surprised Vermont still has tomatoes this time of year.
Cliff Hawley says
My Sungold, Black Cherry, Red Zebra and Brandywines are all still alive and doing okay. It is taking a long time for the fruit to ripen with the days getting shorter but the cherry tomatoes are both producing new fruit and ripening fairly well. I live in the Central Valley of California so our usual first freeze date is sometime in late November. It can come as early as October but we are still hitting highs of 80 degrees during the day.
Wynne says
I still have Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes going outside and may for another 2-3 weeks. Northern Virginia, 7b-ish. My large tomatoes, Sun Golds, and other cherry tomatoes seem pretty done. Time to clean up the raised beds and plant the garlic, I guess.
Carol says
Mavis, your lettuce looks wonderful!!! I only had a few tomato plants as I’m still trying to see what will grow for me in pots. All of my plants are now dead. The last two nights of below freezing temps got them. I said my “good byes” and “thank you” to them all a few days before the cold really hit. Here at the south end of Lake Michigan (northern Indiana) we never know how long the growing season is going to last. I will be saving seeds again this winter to start again in the spring.
Thanks for all your inspiration!
Laura says
We are past our frost date, haven’t have a hard frost yet, but my Brandywine and Ace are still chugging along. I am not sure they are ripening though, they look as green today as last week. I have lettuce year ’round outside. You ought to be able to also. It does freeze so the leaves are stiff, but they thaw out as good as new! Lettuce is all I have growing for winter. Oh, I still have ornamental gourds too. I am leaving them until the vines die, but they are still making more gourds.
krista says
we pulled most of our tomatoes last month but one my daughter pulled broke off at the base and has since grown back and is producing leaves, she’s praying her tomatoes come back, she would go out every morning and pick her breakfast before school when it was school time. Right now she is trying to pick at lettuce sprouts or mint leaves, basil, or the last few remaining peppers that are still coming in
sakura says
We grew a few cherry type tomatoes and the sun gold by far are the sweetest. We still have a bunch of little yellow pear tomatoes that I’m hoping will turn color while our temps are still in the 60’s but we’ve pulled up all the big tomato plants.
Ellen in Clackamas says
Mavis,
were you able to get any of the “green” Green Zebra tomatoes to ripen in the house? I had a bunch still on the vines and brought them in and they just seem to rot instead of ripening like a regular red tomato will do. Any body have luck with them. Pulled the rest of the vines though…fresh tomatoes done for the year 🙁 .
sclindah says
We still have tomatoes and peppers but had a frost last night here in Upstate South Carolina. I covered them up and will for the next few days until it warms back up and see how long we can go. One thing you can do with pepper plants is to dig one up and pot it and put it in the greenhouse. We have a greenhouse and I’ve done that for the past two years and they will produce peppers and are actually perennials. I put two back out in the garden this spring and they produced all summer!
Also have you heard of Yuzu Ichandrin? I am going to plant one of these! It’s a hardy citrus down to zero degrees. Yuzu Ichandrin bears abundant, easy-to-peel 3” fruit with a tasty lemon-lime flavor with sweet tones of orange. I think we can keep it outdoors over our winters as we rarely get below 25.
Last year we tested growing outdoors over the winter and picked broccoli and Brussels Sprouts all winter as well as kale and other greens! We were able to pick something every month!
Patti says
My grandmother used to pull the whole plant with fruit still on it . She would hang the plant in the shed and they would ripen slowly
over winter and not rot. Worth a try if you have space. I live in a condo currently so have not tried it.
Patti
Carol says
What a great idea, thanks for sharing, Patti!