Fig Jam, Growing pineapples & tropical plants indoors (VIDEO)

Harvested Indoor Sprouts (microgreens) + radishes from winter garden

Eat sprouts with sandwiches or in salads

Container & indoor garden with potted Cauliflower & microgreens

Much of the outdoor garden has been harvested like the broccoli, lettuce, peas, and radishes. I'm not sure if the artichoke will survive any longer through the winter, although I have attempted to cover it heavily through these cold nights.

But I dug up the cauliflower from the garden because they were growing so well, and I planted them in their own large pots. Also with the bok choy and nappa cabbage I bought from the store and ate, I planted the roots of the bok choy and cabbage.
At night I cover the potted plants individually with the grow bags I used for the potatoes. I can bring these potted plants inside, but I have so many potted plants as it is; so I am going to try and keep these covered every night through the winter, and even triple cover them if needed on the coldest nights.

Additionally, I am experimenting with growing microgreens to eat. I planted arugula, radish, and mustard seed and put them under a grow light. They have grown so quickly. Compare the first photo with the second, and you'll see the progress within a couple of hours of growing.

Microgreens usually take about 8-10 days, sometimes longer, till you can harvest to eat the sprouts for sandwiches, wraps, in smoothies, or as a garnish on salads.

Harvested Big Broccoli heads & planted Tulips for spring

Planted nearly 100 Tulip/daffodil bulbs, mulched & covered 

broccoli harvest

Seeds As StoryTellers: Colonialism, Biodiversity, Queering Agriculture, & Human Genome

Keeping crops covered at night + colors & critters of autumn

plastic sheets over artichoke and broccoli at night

plastic over fence to cover broccoli plants

broccoli covered with mesh sheet, with grow bags in between plants

greens covered with glass shelves

radish covered with glass pane from old fridge

mattress spring holding up swiss chard

blueberries with red leaves

figs covered with blankets & tree covers

cat in the woods

pear trees with yellow leaves

Broccoli coming to heads + Fig, Turnip greens harvest

collard green plant being held by spring from old mattress

one row of broccoli with artichoke plant

second row of broccoli

this radish gave me heart burn immediately! haha

patch of radishes

rows of artichoke with broccoli, radish, swiss chard, collards, turnip greens

cauliflower with artichoke

bought these tulip bulbs for 5$ !

Harvesting corn & lettuce for veggie tacos + peas & figs

Trucker's favorite corn variety harvested

 I harvested corn and lettuce from the garden to make veggie tacos. The tacos were made by frying onions, peppers, and corn with diced tomatoes and lettuce from the garden. I also like to eat these with vegetarian re-fried beans.

harvesting lettuce

figs & peas harvested

Made another mini greenhouse garden tunnel for winter growing

still harvesting figs and lettuce

 It's getting in the 30s this week at night, so I will be covering the fig trees since I'm still harvesting figs. Additionally, I am covering the broccoli plants and lettuces with plastic to protect from the colder nights ahead. I put together a polytunnel today using rebar to hold the plastic hoops and used plastic sheeting to cover over the lettuce.

growing lettuce in winter

I have patches of radishes, swiss chard, collards, and lettuce growing among the broccoli plants that I cover at night. I use what I have on hand which happened to be glass panes from an old refrigerator. In the photo here you see some covered this way. There's many ways to cover plants with recyclable materials. I use the grow bags to cover plants, as well as blankets, garden canvas, jugs, plastic pet cones; and I'm sure I will use many different materials in the future.

plus I made a winter shelter for the outside cats

Pineapples & Tropical house plants going indoors for fall & winter (& keeping cats out)

I really struggle to keep the inside and outside cats out of the garden and the houseplants. I have found ways of controlling this problem. In the garden, I made a fence along the rows to disorient the cats and keep them off of the garden mounds, in addition to fencing around houseplants indoors. To keep cats out, I also sit houseplants on top of dressers, stands, or grow hanging potted plants.

Here are some of my houseplants that I have been moving indoors to stay warm during the cool autumn nights and through the winter. I made a video of the houseplants which I will post on here soon, but I have rearranged the houseplants to all stay in the utility room with the cat litter to control the air quality. The utility room also has decent lighting and a heater for all the plants to get plenty of sunshine and heat. I also keep the ceiling light/fan on for the plants as well.

 Heartleaf Philodendon in hanging pot by window & stove to keep warm

With these houseplants, I have them on a short table with mesh fencing around the table to keep the cats out.

Christmas Cactus, Peace Lily, Dracaena, Heartleaf philodendron by window & heater for warmth

The palm tree is on an elevated stand to keep the cats out of the pot. Up from the palm is pineapple plants, another palm, snake plant, and heartleaf philodendron on a tall table.

Palm trees, pineapples, snake plant by heater with other houseplants

heartleaf philodendron with the other houseplants on table

It's not a good idea to put the big snake plant on a table considering its weight. But I have another snake plant sitting on an elevated stool to prevent the cats from getting in it.

Snake plants with other houseplants 

 I have additional house plants to bring indoors for the winter. Not only am I trying to keep the cats out of the house plants, but I am running out of room in the house for big plants. And this pineapple plant weighs at least a hundred pounds, so for now I am keeping them in the porch/greenhouse. At night I cover these with plastic so they are double covered. Eventually I am going to bring these plants in for the winter. I don't want to risk losing them to the cold winter after I have been growing them for years. I believe it is the pineapples fourth year...

Pineapples & aloe in outdoor greenhouse/porch

 One of the corn stalks fell over from the last storm, and to my surprise there was a big cob, so I picked it. The corn variety is Trucker's favorite, and it grew very quickly. I planted this corn late summer! I love the little surprises that the garden gifts us...

Uncovering broccoli & artichoke in the morning + pea harvest

I covered the broccoli plants with fabric and plastic sheeting last night since it was getting down in the 30s. When I woke up in the morning, I uncovered the broccoli, the artichoke.

While I was uncovering the plants, I harvested some peas, peppers, and figs as well. The hornets are still ferocious even in the cold mornings just to get their fill of figs for breakfast--I don't blame them.

Today before going to bed, I also covered the big pineapple plants with plastic so they would be double covered--now that I have them in the porch greenhouse.

Tomato, fig harvest & fig jam + pics of the broccoli garden

I posted some pictures of the spider webs that are magnificent works of art when the morning dew rests on them.

Also, since the nights have been cold, I made sure to cover the broccoli plants before then.

corn. turnip, greens growing on mound

I didn't taken a picture of the peas in the garden, but I have peas ready to be picked. Here I have a tomato and fig harvest.

The figs were processed with some apples that I bought from an orchard with organic sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. 

fig jam that's left after eating several jars already!

I bought fuyu persimmons from the store-they taste like pumpkin pie!