Early October harvest: a couple of tomatoes, some green beans, the first glass gem corn (kind of a test to see whether it was ready to be harvested as the husks are not really dry and brown yet) and flowers: Zinnias, dahlias, Jerusalem artichokes and asparagus
The tomatoes are winding down as are the green beans, of which I did not have many. The chard and kale are finally taking off and it looks as if there will be quite a few butternuts. The glass gem corn is not ready yet but should be in a couple of days. I am still getting so many flowers from my garden. And yes, I need to weed …
While I was working in the garden this morning, a fellow gardener told me that today was National Sunflower Day. So, here is my contribution. I love sunflowers. This one is ten feet tall, so I can’t even pick them to bring home. It is all good as now the entire neighborhood gets to enjoy them this way.
I did some weeding and clearing today and transplanted a scraggly looking Kagran Summer head lettuce and some basil seedlings. I also sowed more fall greens, radishes and more pole beans.
The glass gem corn is flowering and looking great. The squash vines are all over the place and there are many flowers, but so far, I have not seen a fruit. The cucumbers are winding down, I pulled the vines from the pickling cukes, there is only the slicer left and I might get a few more fruit from the plant. I harvested a few carrots as well.
The tomatoes are still going very strong. The chard and kale are very short for some reason. Not sure whether they are shaded too much by the corn and tomatoes or whether they just had a slow start. I pulled the parsley as it was dying. Again.
Picked my first “real” tomatoes today. Unfortunately, I did not remember to look what type they were. One is a Striped Roman, two could be Black Krim and one could be Baker Family Heirloom. I have to go back and check the labels. I also harvested cherry tomatoes, two pickling cucumbers, a large zucchini and a few green beans. And flowers.
Lots of things are coming up in the garden right now: eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, cukes and kale and chard. I will pull some carrots and beets soon, and plant salad greens in the spot where the garlic used to be.
I am so happy I planted more flowers this year. Zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers. I am picking several bouquets each week. Also harvested today: a giant zucchini, a couple of handfuls of green beans and a few tomatoes.
I spent some time in the garden today weeding the spot where I pulled the garlic a few days ago. I planted carrots and beets there and saved some space for fall greens that will go in the ground in a few weeks. I also sowed more pole beans, as some of the plants had been chewed down to their little stems by, I suspect, a rabbit. My harvest: a couple of pickling cucumbers and flowers.
I also cleaned the garlic today and hung it in our back stairwell to cure. In about two to three weeks, I will braid the softnecks and destem the hardnecks and store them for the long-term.
Today, I planted the remaining seedlings. I meant to do it last weekend (Memorial Day Weekend), but it was so rainy and cold (in the 40s at night) that it seemed wise to wait. In order to make space, I had to take out most of the walking onions and six humongous leeks. I planted 2 eggplants (Fairy Tale and Ping Tung), 1 pepper (the mystery one), 1 more tomato (Striped Roman), 3 kale seedlings, 3 Swiss chard plugs, 3 cucumbers (pickling, Dekah and Tokiwa), 3 winter squash (Butternut, Delicata and Lakota), 1 zucchini and 1 watermelon. I also interplanted the tomatoes with marigold, planted camomile and sowed glass gem corn among the squash and Zinnias with the Swiss chard. I don’t think I can fit anything else in my plot.
The only thing not in the ground yet are green beans. I will plant some with the corn and squash once the corn has a good height and will plant a lot of beans after I harvest the garlic. Last year, I planted beans late in July and it was very successful.
