Winter Garden 2015 and Ripening Tomatoes in a Box

As Ive said before, one of the best aspects of living in the South is 2 growing seasons. I love my summer garden and all that comes from it but I must admit a winter garden is so much easier to maintain. Mostly due to sun, heat and water issues in Texas. Since its the year of the El Nino - Austin has had much more rain than usual. All winter, the garden has been taken care of my nature as much as myself. Its a great partnership. ;)

First week of the winter garden

Once December rolls around, its best just to pick your green tomatoes and slowly ripen them indoors. This still preserves the flavor and give you months of fresh ripe tomatoes way after the growing season is over.

December Tomato Plants

Good yield and size - I forgot the name of this plant variety but they were med sized

The Harvest of Two Plants 

There are a million ways to ripen green tomatoes, this is my preferred method. I'm a photographer at heart so I will just show you step by step what to do in photos. Once youve packed all your tomatoes, simply unwrap a few at a time and only those will turn red. I do two at a time. Keep in a cool dry place like my pantry.

Hooray! Tomatoes for months!! I will eventually riped all these and then roast them in the oven to make marinera sauce. Ive done a few blog posts about my sauce before you can search for.


Now that we are in Mid January 2016 - the collard greens, cauliflower and herbs are all doing good. We haven't had a true frost yet so all is green and happy. The sunchokes have run their lifespan and I am digging them up as I use them as they wilt very quickly.

Collard Greens and Cauliflower

Sacred Geometry in the collards

Sunchokes from one plant! Hurray!

 I planted some kale late in the season that I have yet to see sprout. It may be too cold. Our weather this month has swung from the mid 70's to the 50's during the day. There has been some overnight temps around 33 but no real freeze. I was reminded today by Scott at the farmers market that if you want to grow potatoes and garlic, it planting time!! Get on it ! Thanks for reading along.