My share today: Ping Tung eggplant, rutabaga, flat parsley, red Russian kale, jalapeno and ghost peppers (not pictured: tons of Thai basil).I spent some time at City Natives this chilly early fall morning, harvesting most of the produce and cleaning out all the raised vegetable beds. The beds will be demolished and the entire garden will be restructured and rearranged. We hauled in hot peppers, eggplant, rutabagas, red Russian kale and parsley, and there was still a ton of callaloo and hot peppers left in the ground for a later harvest, both of them in the ground-level beds.
Edit (a few days after the harvest): Here is what I did with the vegetables in the kitchen. I cubed and roasted the rutabaga in olive oil in the oven for an hour at 400F, and finished it with a couple of tablespoons of butter and fresh parsley from the back porch. This made a very tasty side dish. I turned the parsley into chimichurri, which was served as a condiment to potato wedges and alongside sauteed chicken breasts. The kale became kale pesto, which was served over fettuccine. I also used the kale pesto as a condiment for sandwiches, which were piled with harissa-roasted green beans and a fried egg. I used the eggplants to make this delicious Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce, which I served over rice. The hot peppers went into a big pot of black bean chili. No complaints from the family.
Today’s harvest and a butternut squash that is trying to make it.
Dahlias and Virginia Creeper.
Milkweed seeds.
Leeks … the only thing still growing in my plot. Today I spent a few hours in the garden harvesting my last carrots, parsley and kale and a handful of leeks before I did a final weeding of my plot and added a cover of salt marsh hay for the winter. I checked on the garlic and saw a couple of thin green sprouts.
I am sad the season is coming to an end, but it was a pretty good one. Tonight for dinner, we had roasted vegetables (the leeks, carrots and garlic came from my garden) with a smokey yogurt dip and salad (parsley from the garden). It always feels good to have home-grown food on the table.
September bouquet: dahlias, parsley, radishes and asparagus
Mini dahlia in soy sauce dish
Last night, we had the first night frost of the season and there will be a few cold nights ahead. I put all our houseplants indoors yesterday, but still need to clean up my plot. The nasturtium and dahlias look limp but all the veggies survived. The dahlia tubers will be dug up today and I will also harvest any tender greens from the plot and put the garden hoses away. The water in our community garden is now shut off. It is also time to clean out the plants in my containers on the porch and bring inside my herbs that I plan to overwinter: rosemary, sage, thyme.
Lightly frosted carrot leaves
Plot in early November: carrots, radishes, parsley, Swiss Chard, leeks, kale, chicory and flowers.
Today I spent a couple of hours getting the plot ready for winter. I ripped out spent plants, pulled weeds and turned the soil. During the process, I found a number of potatoes I had left in the ground, a welcome basis for today’s dinner of roasted potatoes and carrots and pork tenderloin with mushrooms.
The rain kept me from cleaning up more than I had planned to, but I still got to pick some flowers for a little bouquet. Planting more flowers this season was definitely a good idea. I loved having fresh flowers every week this summer and fall.
Dahlia, parsley flowers and foliage