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.
This year was a strange one for tomatoes. Overall, I had a ton of tomatoes all August (I harvested around two pounds every other day), but then production dropped off sharply. By the beginning of September, the early tomatoes were done, and the Ananas Noire and Black Krim had developed some type of rot. It was not blossom end rot, just small brown soft spots that got bigger and started to take over the entire fruit. None of the other varieties had it (with the exception of one big Dr. Wyche’s Yellow tomato in close proximity to the Ananas Noire plant). The spots did not affect the flavor (I was able to cut them out and eat the rest of the tomato), but I have not figured out what exactly the problem was.
I learned that another gardener in our community garden had the same issues with her tomatoes. Interestingly, Ailsa Craig, Brimmer and Green Zebra were not affected. Scotia and Stupice are also likely fine, but those varieties were physically far away from the diseased ones, and were almost done fruiting by the time the spots appeared. By early/mid October, only Ailsa Craig and Brimmer tomatoes were still producing, and I got a few more tomatoes from those plants.
I will need to do more research over the winter on what the problem might have been and plan my tomato varieties for next year accordingly.
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.