Today I spent a couple of hours raking our back yard (I had great help by my son) and clearing out the front yard flower bed and then moved on to the community garden. It is supposed to dip down to the 20s tonight so I thought it would be a good time to get the garden ready for winter. I got a bale of field hay from Agricultural Hall and cleared out the plot: I dug up the dahlia tubers, harvested a nice amount of vegetables (fall greens, arugula, Swiss chard, leeks and some tiny golden beets), weeded and spread the hay.
Still growing are two stalks of Brussels sprouts …
…, two stalks of kale and about a dozen leeks. Ready for winter:
I planted my garlic today after putting in a few hours of community work in the garden. I planted two rows of hardneck (Red Russian) and 3 rows of softnecks (Transsylvania), 7 cloves per row. This is the earliest ever I planted garlic. Normally I wait until the first week of November. But we already had two nights of light frost and the weather the next two weeks looks good (50s and 60s), so the garlic should be able to set some nice roots before winter is here for good.
Today’s harvest: a couple of carrots, parsley, the last two hot peppers, a tiny butternut squash (the foliage was already damaged by frost), and the last dahlia. I pulled all the tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, nasturtiums and beans and semi-cleaned the plot to get it ready for planting garlic. I still need to do more weeding, pull the dahlia tubers and will need to get hay to mulch the plot.
Rainbow chard
Brussels sprouts
Mustard greens and baby kale (and weeds)
Temperatures tonight are supposed to reach 31 degrees. I harvested most of the rest of my tender vegetables tonight: chard, last (green) tomatoes, two last cucumbers, hot peppers, two small eggplants. Still growing: carrots, radishes, leeks, fall greens, arugula, kale, chard, butternut squash.
The last dahlias of the season (perhaps).
My share today: Ping Tung eggplant, rutabaga, flat parsley, red Russian kale, jalapeno and ghost peppers (not pictured: tons of Thai basil).
Today’s harvest and a butternut squash that is trying to make it.
I will take back what I said about cucumbers. I harvested two big ones yesterday, plus green beans and two eggplants. There are just a few more tomatoes on the vines now, sadly.
Today’s harvest: Swiss Chard, Kentucky Wonder pole beans, tomato, eggplant, dahlias.
I harvested a lot of basil today, about a third of what is in my plot. I will puree the washed and dried leaves with olive oil and freeze for use in the winter. I find that just freezing the basil in oil makes it more versatile for cooking and it keeps better. I use it to top soups or as pesto for pasta, pizza, potatoes or chicken. I just add the cheese and pine nuts (for pasta) later during cooking.
Today’s produce harvested other than basil. (My first red dahlia is finally blooming!)
Today is Labor Day and the temperatures are in the 90s. The tomatoes and cucumbers are winding down. There is still a steady production of pole beans and chard, and the eggplant has a handful of fruit. The arugula and radishes I sowed are coming in nicely. The golden beets and mache are a no-show. I never got mache to grow in my plot. Not sure what the problem is. I successfully have grown mache in the spring in trays on my back porch. Also, no fall greens and lettuce yet, which is strange. I might re-sow in the next few days.