Today, I finished cleaning up my plot and getting it ready for the winter. The only thing left to do is to take out the flowers and divide the asparagus (or leave the latter for early spring next year). I still have Swiss Chard, leeks, fall greens, carrots, parsley and flowers growing. I spread salt marsh hay on the garlic patch and around the chard and leeks. It has been in the 70s today, and we have not had a frost yet this year.
Last night, I pickled my green tomatoes. When they cool down over night on the counter, the color goes from a bright green to a pickle-greenish-brown. I am looking forward to using these on sandwiches (my favorite combination: sharp cheddar, grainy mustard, apple slices, arugula), or on burgers. Yum!
I planted my garlic today. I planted less than in previous years as one kid is out of the house, and the other one is with me only half of the year. This means I cook differently and don’t have use for 60 heads of garlic over the year anymore. Which is why of this year’s soft neck harvest, I made a small braid to give to a neighbor. Today I planted 16 hard necks (Red Russian) and 20 soft necks (Transylvania). I picked the fattest cloves of the three fattest bulbs I had harvested back in July 🙂
The garden is brimming with tomatoes. Pictured above is yesterday’s harvest, and I harvested almost as many tomatoes the day before. Time for a second batch of oven-roasted garlicky tomatoes and basil “pesto”. To keep it versatile, I make the latter only with basil, olive oil and salt. I leave out cheese and nuts to add in later depending on the use. Sometimes, I like to mix it with goat cheese for a pesto-goat cheese-spread or use it in a compound butter, which would not need Parmesan. I also found that it freezes better this way. For the tomatoes, I only use red ones and no big slicers. If the larger tomatoes are very juicy, I blot them with paper towels before they go in the oven. I roasted this batch at 275F for two hours and packed it in olive oil. This batch will go in the fridge, the last one went in the freezer for use in a few months. I like to use those in pasta sauces, on pizza or as toppings for sandwiches or savory crepes. It is amazing how a baking sheet packed with tomatoes gets reduced to a single half-pint canning jar.
Some more basil pesto for the freezer:
Today, I processed this year’s garlic harvest. I cleaned all of the garlic, saved the three biggest heads of each soft necks and hard necks (in the very left of the picture), braided the soft necks into two braids (the smaller one to give as a gift) and placed the hard necks into a crock in the pantry to be used up before the soft necks. Seven heads are damaged and will be used up first (small bowl in the top right). Overall, I harvested 58 heads, 27 hard necks and 31 soft necks. The hard necks are Red Russian, and the soft necks are Transylvania.
I harvested much of the two Thai basil plants on my back porch and made pesto. I used it for dinner to make Thai pesto noodle bowls with crispy ground pork. I followed this tried and true recipe for the pesto though. So good!
I harvested my garlic today. It was a good amount and decent-sized. I harvested 27 heads of hardneck garlic (Red Russian) and 30 heads of softneck garlic (Transylvania). 57 heads total of 60 that I had planted in the fall. I will air-dry them now for about two days and then hang the stalks to cure in my back hallway for two to three weeks, depending on the humidity. They will then be cleaned, and I will save two or three of the biggest heads of each variety for planting in the fall. The softnecks will be braided and the hardnecks, which we will consume first, will just be stored in a basket or wooden bowl.
I went to the garden this morning to water, and I harvested peas and garlic scapes. The garden is looking good, everything is growing nicely except the kale, which has become victim to some nibbler. If I am lucky, I will have one surviving plant. Other than that, everything looks great. The corn is coming up (I think, unless I mistook some weeds for it) and the dahlias (that I had stored in the basement since the fall under complete neglect) are also growing. I am excited.
I will have the peas for lunch (in a salad most likely) and will make pesto with the garlic scapes.
The plot does not like much yet, but things are happening. Today I sowed peas, spring greens (in between the two rows of peas) and spinach and rapini (a first for me). And so it begins …