The plot is now all winterized. I finally took out the last (orange frilly) marigold and saved a few flower heads to dry for seeds. I hope it was not too late as we already had a frost this week. Still growing are leeks, kale, Swiss chard and parsley. And of course the heavily mulched garlic for next year.
Every year, I strive to prolong the season by preserving vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, hot peppers, winter squash, garlic) and herbs (Italian basil, Thai basil) from the garden. I do not can my vegetables in a way that makes them shelf-stable. The methods I use are quick-pickling, curing/drying, slow-roasting and freezing. This year, I had a decent harvest of pickling cucumbers, and I quick-pickled several batches, one to two jars each. I also pickled green cherry tomatoes at the end of the season.
I cured my garlic and my three (!) shallots, as well as my pathetic squash harvest (two small butternut and three small Delicata squash). For the first time, I oven-dried garlic scapes and turned them into a very fragrant and delicious garlic scape powder, which I am using in my cooking instead of garlic powder. I also slow-dried my super hot Thai peppers in the oven (at 175 F for several hours, checking first every 60 then every 30 minutes until they start to become brittle).
I slow-roasted several batches of tomatoes and made one big batch of garlic scape pesto, two batches of regular pesto and tree of Thai pesto. The tomatoes are topped with olive oil and frozen for future use. If not used immediately after making it, the Italian pesto is frozen in ice cube trays, covered with olive oil. This makes it easy to use. I just thaw a few cubes to use as pizza topping or for pasta. I freeze the Thai basil pesto straight in the jar (covered with sesame oil), as each batch makes one recipe for the crispy pork noodle bowls that we all love so much.
Today, I cleaned up my plot and prepared it for winter. It was a gorgeous 60 degree late fall day. Perfect weeding weather ;). I took out all the annual plants (except for one beautifully frilly marigold, which I am trying to save seeds from), loosened the soil and covered it with salt marsh hay. Still growing are the leeks, kale, some Swiss chard, and parsley. I harvested the last cilantro and the last calendula flowers. I also planted next year’s garlic, 16 cloves Red Russian hardnecks, and 18 cloves Transylvanian softnecks, 34 total. Like every year, I had saved the largest heads as seed garlic.
Yesterday, I made pickled green tomatoes. After the community garden fall cleanup day on Saturday, I brought home a few handfuls of green cherry tomatoes. I used a different recipe this time, which called for lemongrass and Thai peppers – both from my homegrown (and frozen) reserve. I am excited to see how the pickles turn out.
Today’s harvest: two small Delicata squash, celery (gift from another community gardener), green tomatoes and super hot Thai chili peppers.
I have been traveling this month and therefore have not spent much time in the community garden. It has been a weird, pretty bad gardening season for me. The tomatoes are pretty much done. I have a few green ones still on the vines (Ailsa Craig and Brimmer), but pulled the diseased plants (Ananas Noire, Dr. Wyche’s Yellow, and Black Krim) just before my trip. More on my tomato issues in a different blog post.
Currently, I have some winter squash growing and greens (kale and chard). Also cilantro, parsley and fall salad greens. The beets are still tiny, so I am not sure what to expect. The squash has been super slow to flower and set fruit. Just a strange season.
I have a lot of color in the plot though. The strawflowers have been taking off, as have the zinnias. And the marigolds and nasturtium are happy as usual.
This afternoon, I weeded the area where I had harvested the garlic two weeks ago and sowed one row each of sweet Italian basil, slow-bolting cilantro, Detroit Dark Red beets, Chioggia beets and Golden beets. The Chioggia seeds are four years old, and the Detroit Dark Red three years old, so we shall see whether they germinate. Fingers crossed.