Hey everyone! Welcome back to the homestead. Today’s video is all about harvesting before the first frost of the season, and it’s a big one! My husband and I decided to pick all of our tomatoes and watermelons, making sure nothing goes to waste as the cold weather approaches. With the frost expected this weekend, we’re hustling to save our crops from the cold. ❄️🍅
We begin in our above-ground greenhouse, where we’re collecting all the green tomatoes that haven’t ripened yet. I walk you through how we plan to ripen them indoors by storing them in a box with brown paper until they’re ready. Once they ripen, I’ll be canning them for future use. This is a great method if you have lots of green tomatoes at the end of the season! We also harvest a few watermelons, which is exciting since this is the first year we’ve successfully grown watermelons in the Colorado mountains.
Next, we head to our underground greenhouse, or walipini, where we originally planned to just pick the ripened tomatoes. However, we discovered that a mouse (or some other critter) has been helping itself to our tomatoes! To avoid losing more, we decided to harvest every tomato, ripe or not. I also give a quick update on the other crops in the walipini, like peppers and eggplants, which are still thriving thanks to the extended growing season the underground greenhouse offers.
At the end of the video, we weigh our harvest, and the results are amazing—we ended up with 14 pounds of tomatoes and 3 watermelons! We chat about how important it is to get everything harvested before the frost, and how much of a game-changer the greenhouses have been for our high-altitude gardening.
This video gives you a glimpse into life on the homestead as we transition from summer to fall, preparing for winter by preserving what we’ve grown. If you’re interested in high-altitude gardening, greenhouse growing, or learning more about harvesting before the frost, you’re in the right place. We hope you enjoy this harvest update and find inspiration for your own garden, no matter where you live.
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more homestead updates, gardening tips, and DIY projects as we continue our journey living sustainably here in the Colorado mountains. Thanks for watching and stay tuned for more!
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