Cold Snap

Here's the expected average temperature for the past week:

And here's what it really looked like:

Yup, that's right SEVENTEEN DEGREES. When it's supposed to be in the MID-FORTIES!

Sorry about the all caps. But when one gardens in the south, one counts on those averages for the fall garden to remain alive until harvest.

Here's how my garden survived:

The first few nights when temps flirted with the freezing mark my priority was to cover the frost-susceptible plants. I had a few remaining bell peppers in one tank, and a bed surrounded by spaghetti squash vines. I also had Irish potatoes in two of the beds. These were the priority for covering, as I didn't have a huge amount of time to properly prep.

I use Garden Quilts, which the label says is rated down to 24 but during last winter's single-digit cold snap it kept my broccoli and carrots alive.

I got a few more days out of the garden, which meant I got another dozen peppers picked. Then when the temps threatened to drop into the 20's I went into full winter mode.

The peppers and squash were sacrificed. The Hi-Rise Super Hoops went in. The broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts were saved!

The potatoes however did not make it. I guess you can't win them all.

Mid-Fall Update

What does a fall garden in Alabama look like?

Clockwise, from lower left: Spaghetti squash vines, kohlrabi, beets, volunteer Yukon Gold potatoes

Foreground: Dakota Pearl potatoes; Background: parsnips and carrots

Marigolds, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli

Sugar peas

Garlic! (shallots in there too, but not up yet)

Trying Turnips

I get sucked into the "exotic" garden produce I see on television cooking shows. Like root vegetables. Granted, as a kid most of our garden-produced vegetables were probably blanched, frozen, and then reheated in the microwave before being finished with a pat of butter and a little salt and/or pepper. Obviously potatoes and squash didn't go this route, but this was the case for green beans, English peas, sweet corn, kohlrabi, beets, and a few others well suited for this type of food preservation.

So imagine my fascination when I see things like parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips appearing in various baked and mashed root vegetable concoctions. Between the camera angles and the hosts' descriptions of the final dish, I was sucked in. And then I see them in the seed catalogs and even my handy ACES Vegetable Planting Guide - I can grow them down here!

After careful planning and selection based on available space, growing days available, and my own curiosity, I dutifully planted carrots, parsnips, and turnips for my fall root vegetables.

My first clue that maybe I should have reconsidered was when my friend's dad asked what they were, and said he had only heard of Southerners growing turnips for the greens. (For the record, I can't stand any type of traditional Southern "greens" whether they be collards or otherwise.)

My second clue was one of my online friends commenting that turnips were an "old person's food" and even though her family was often planting heirloom and heritage crops, they never planted turnips.

Then came the day that the turnips were big enough to begin harvesting.

First I tried them roasted. I scrubbed and cubed them, tossed them with olive oil, herbs, and kosher salt, and set them in the oven at 450 degrees until they were browning on the edges.

Though they had a pleasant aroma, the flavor was decidedly not. I can't quite describe it. I choked down about half of the final product and tossed the rest.

So I set out to begin exploring all of these great turnip recipes I had seen on television. Scalloped, mashed, pureed, I was determined to try several to see if it was just the way I had made it. I saw most recipes called for boiling the turnips in milk or using a milk-based white sauce.

I tried a recipe from a never-failed-me-before website. There was more dairy than turnips in the finished product.

Turnip gratin

Again, though it smelled wonderful, I could only handle a few forkfuls. The slices of turnip ended up just a carrier for the delicious melted cheese and white sauce.

I promptly pulled out the remaining turnips and threw them on the compost bin.

The more things stay the same

Remember this picture from an earlier post?

US Drought Monitor map, Sept. 30, 2014

Of course you do. It's from the last post I wrote. (Sorry about the lack of posts - you should have seen my work calendar last month.)

It doesn't look too much different from this, does it?

US Drought Monitor map, November 4, 2014

Well, not much different for my location anyway, though I still argue that my own little corner of Macon County should be in the tan or mustard yellow zone and not the sunshiny yellow blotch.

See, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Not looking toward the next water bill given how much I've had to run the sprinkler in the garden.