The temperatures in North Carolina have been extremely cold lately and will be getting worse before they get better. I decided to d a major harvest of my broccoli crowns and blanch and freeze them in order to preserve them.

The plants themselves looked fairly pitiful because of the cold, however the crowns themselves did not look like they suffered any damage.

I cut off about a dozen large crowns and brought them inside.

I got some water boiling in my canning pot and my large scooping spoon

And a bowl with ice water ready

Each crown was washed thoroughly

And cut

Then boiled for 3 minutes

After 3 minutes, the broccoli is scooped from the boiling water

And chilled in the ice water for 3 minutes

While the next batch is boiled. I ended up changing the boiling water twice and the ice water each time.

The broccoli goes from the ice water, to a draining colander

Then to the salad spinner

And then I put them in zip lock bags and froze them. I'm glad the weekend provided me some time to get this done before the extreme cold destroyed my crop.

How is your winter garden handling this unusual cold snap?

See my other Gardening and Homesteading Posts

I do the Mittleider Method, see my Mittleider Gardening Posts

• Mittleider Gardening
• Mittleider Book
• Deer Fence
• Mittleider Trellis System 
• Twine for the Trellis System
• Mittleider Watering System
• Benefits of the Raised Bed System
• In the Garden Greenhouse hoops

I also have tried the Square Foot Gardening Method

• Square Foot Gardening

Various Techniques and Equipment

• Pressure Canning Green Beans
• Hand Pollinating Squash/Zucchini
• Roma Tomato harvest and Water Bath Canning
• Potato Harvest and Pressure Canning Potatoes
• Black Eyed Peas - Harvest and Storage
• Harbor Freight 6x8 Greenhouse Construction

Harvesting Posts/General Updates

• Garden Update - Cabbage Harvest - 12/6/17
• Garden Update - Final Summer plants - 11/9/17
• Garden Update - 11/5/17
• Garden Update - 11/4/17
• Garden Update - 10/10/17
• Garden Harvest - 10/4/17
• Green Bean Harvest - 9/24/17
• Fall Garden Update - 9/23/17
• Garden Harvest - 6/23/17
• Garden Harvest - 6/20/17
• Garden Harvest - 6/18/17
• Garden Harvest - 6/17/17
• Garden Harvest and Food Donation - 6/15/17
• Garden Harvest - 6/16/17
• Garden Harvest - 6/7/17
• Tomato Progress - 5/31/17
• Garden Harvest - 5/30/17