The weather reports were wrong. It warmed up and rained, allowing for another chance to harvest the root crops. I dug up my garlic and made a large if somewhat messy garlic braid for the first time in my life. It's pretty, but now my entire house smells of garlic. Oh well, no vampires in here for awhile.
Yesterday I brought in the carrots and potatoes. I obtained the carrots by jumping up and down on the shovel to break through a couple inches of frozen soil. They look great, plump, even and not frost damaged. The potatoes provided more drama. I grow them in a tub above ground, just because potatoes are cheap here and I don't want to use my precious raised bed space for them. The tub was too small for me to balance the shovel in it and jump up and down, so I tried to turn the tub upside down and empty it, figuring the bottom soil wouldn't be frozen. I could heave the tub on its side ok, but it was too heavy for me to turn over. My greatest efforts succeeded only in rolling it onto my foot or over away from me. Finally with a burst of effort I tipped it into a hole left over from moving a rhubarb plant, and the soil emptied out in one lump. I desperately scrabbled away the near-freezing soil from the bottom of the tub-shaped iceberg, looking for potatoes. By the time I found the first, some lovely Black Beauties (really purple) I had a six-inch-thick disk of icy soil. I could tell there were more potatoes in there, but it was too hard to separate. I picked it up and smashed it on the ground a few times to break it into three pieces, then stuffed the pieces into a large bucket which I brought inside to thaw overnight. I do not recommend this method of potato harvest.
I did get enough for a nice side dish for Thanksgiving. Purple and red and peanut-yellow. Colorful if not a bumper crop.
