As predicted, it snowed today. I am glad I harvested most of my veggies a couple of days ago.
October Snow
Month: October 2020
Last Big Harvest
There is rain and raw weather in the forecast for the next couple of days and hard frost for the two following nights, so I harvested all my tender veggies this afternoon – eggplant, three teeny zucchini, all the green tomatoes and a bunch of hot peppers plus a ton of chard. I also harvested my butternut squash (sadly only three this year, but weighing in at 7 lb. 7 oz. total). I cleaned up those plants and did some weeding and disconnected the hoses. The water was shut off a few days ago. Always a sure sign of the season ending. Still growing are fall greens (we will see how well they will take the frost), kale, carrots, radishes, chard and leeks. And a ton of flowers: dahlia, cosmos, marigold, nasturtium. I still have to plant garlic, which I plan to do this weekend.
Mid-October
The “fruits” are winding down, only a few more tomatoes on the vine, and a couple more eggplants. There are still carrots in the ground, leeks, fall greens, radishes, hot peppers and winter squash. And some beautiful dahlias. Still lots of kale and chard. Chorizo/kale frittata and a side salad for dinner tonight.
Apple Picking
We went apple picking yesterday. We always go to Honey Pot Hill Orchard. It was super nice and since it was a Monday afternoon, not crowded at all. We came home with half a bushel of apples (Cortland and Mutsu only, as these are the kids’ favorites). The sandwiches we had at the orchard were delicious (I used the homemade pickled green tomatoes I made yesterday). It was baguette spread with salted butter and grainy mustard, topped with sharp cheddar, apple slices (from just harvested apples), pickled tomatoes and lettuce. So good! Sadly, I forgot to take a picture.
Fall Harvest
I went to the garden today to check in and harvested some carrots, an eggplant and some green tomatoes. The tomatoes were quick-pickled to top tomorrow’s sandwiches – I am taking my teenagers apple-picking in the afternoon and we will have cheddar/apple slices/grainy mustard/pickled green tomato sandwiches aka Farmers Lunch Sandwich (No. 9) as served by City Feed and Supply around the corner.
Other People’s Plots
October in the Garden
There is still a lot going on: butternut squash, late tomatoes, carrots, leeks, still a couple of eggplants trying to grow fatter, hot peppers, kale, tons of chard, radishes, a few beets that survived the rabbit, fall greens (very much in their baby state), flowers. I plan to clean up much of the spent plants and some weeds this long weekend.
Some Summer Dinners from the Garden – 2020
(served topped with feta over rice) – Aug 25
Not pictured: countless Caprese sandwiches, creamy cucumber salad (with sour cream dressing), Swiss chard frittata.
Roasted Tomatoes
I roasted two sheets of tomatoes today. 250F convection oven (on bake) for 30 minutes. They were grape to cocktail size, and that was the right amount of time. I used them to top a tomato tart I made for dinner. So yummy!
