Here’s the latest update in my garden as of Sunday October 18th. The season is winding down fast now, and so am I. The pics above are what we harvested today.
Some warm season crops like cucumbers, summer squash, green beans, dry beans, butternut winter squash and corn are finished. Today’s harvest of the warm season crops like tomatoes and peppers were picked, including some green tomatoes which I will ripen indoors. I got a couple of butternut squash and cucumbers too. I turned off the drip systems to all of them today.
The perennial fruit crops-strawberries, grapes, rhubarb and blackberries are also done. But the raspberries, which are a fall crop are still giving up some berries but are slowing way down now too. I will leave the drip systems on the perennials till it freezes.
Other cool season crops in the garden are still shining, loving the cooler weather we have right now. These include cabbage, chard, another winter squash (sweetmeat) and kale are still in the main garden and ready to harvest. I’ve been harvesting the kale, cabbage and chard for a long time.
I am harvesting broccoli heads, warm season lettuces and radishes that I planted as succession crops in August in my garlic bed which has been vacant since July. I figured I would have enough time to harvest them before I plant a new garlic crop back in it. The garlic heads are coming this week and I will plant them by the end of October in that bed once the other veggies are harvested.
But the season doesn’t end yet. I currently have some cool season crops that I started inside under lights like lettuces, spinach, arugula and Pak Choi. They will go into my cold frame and greenhouse this week but not in the main garden. I’ve actually been waiting till both the greenhouse and cold frame are cool enough in the day to put them in so they don’t bolt and this week with the daytime temperatures in the 70’s and the nighttime temperatures in the 40s is now perfect to put them out. They should last till December using row cover when the temperatures drop to freezing at night to extend their lives. It will be nice to get greens and lettuce from the garden in November. My last hurrah!
giantveggiegardener 
Why did you pick all the tomatoes now?
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First they were really slowing down with this cooler weather and second we are expecting 28 degrees in a week on Monday Oct 26 nite and 29 degrees on Tuesday nite. I just felt it’s time and not many more (if any) would ripen in the coming week. I think we did pretty good with a nice warm Indian summer this fall. We usually get a hard frost by mid-October. How did you do this year?
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Wow, what a bounty! Your veggies look fabulous.
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Thanks Pamela! How did your garden do this year?
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What abundance!! I see good food in your future!
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Rhubarb is so rad, and not many know about it. Wasn’t it more popular years ago? I have grown the same rhubarb since before Kindergarten. I got it from my great grandfather. Sadly, it is missing after the CZU Fire. The spot it was in did not burn, but was grubbed for the installation of temporary water pipes for the homes that survived the fires. It may regenerate later, but for now, I can not see it. I will need to get a copy from someone else’s garden. At work, there is another variety that I believe has green petioles. At least they seem to be always green.
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My stalks are green too. The variety is Victoria. Yes I think rhubarb was more popular years ago too.
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If anyone asked, I compared mine to ‘Victoria’. The leaves look the same. Actually, now that you mention it, The rhubarb at work has the same leaves! I did not consider that it could be ‘Victoria’ because I think of ‘Victoria’ as having striped petioles like mine does in the Santa Clara Valley. It was just slightly blushed here, so may not be different from what grows at work.
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Yes mine is mostly green stems. Sometimes a slight blush but mostly green. Still great taste though.
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That is probably why it is the most popular. Those with ‘mild’ flavor seem odd to me. If I wanted ‘mild’ flavor, I would not grow rhubarb for it.
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