What have I been doing?

Sep3

Wow-it’s been almost a month since I last posted. How time flies! I go from posting a lot in July to not much at all in August. So what have I been doing in the last month?

Harvesting! Harvesting! Harvesting!!

TOMATOES
This year has been a great tomato year vs last year which sucked. When the harvesting starts in earnest, I become headless (but in a good way)! I can’t process the tomatoes into tomato sauce fast enough as it seems everyday was a new bumper crop that needed to be picked and eaten and dealt with (can’t let any of them go to waste)! Plus I’ve been selling some this year. I’ve really loved all those Caprese salads and know they will end in the not to far future.

CUCUMBERS
Most of the cucumbers have been harvested and preserved. I’ve made sweet pickle relish, Bread and butter pickles and cornichons. I tried to ferment some green DILL pickles but failed miserably (I’ll have to get my fermentation friends to help me). The dill pickles were too salty and not crisp like I had hoped. I think I left them in the crock too long and now the cukes are slowing down. Oh well, there is always next year.

BEANS
The green beans, Emerite are slowing down and the Zolphino dry bean pods are starting to dry out so I am harvesting them as the pods dry out and will shell them later this winter. I don’t wait till the end of the season but pick the dry pods as they are ready, otherwise the beans fall out of the shell if I wait too long. I’m so excited as I got them in Italy 2 years ago and last year when I planted them a gopher ate every plant and every plant I replanted. Of course the gopher had to eat my most expensive bean-it was 40 Euros/kilo (that is 47 dollars) over there as it is endangered in Italy and they are trying to bring it back. One thing is the gopher had good taste-it didn’t go after my less expensive beans.

CABBAGES
The Kalibos cabbages are ready for harvest too. All my fermenter friends will love getting one of these for sauerkraut or kimchi! I keep one too but they are so big, one does me just fine and will last for months in the refrigerator.

PEPPERS
The Corno de Horno peppers and Lava Red peppers are still green. I will wait till they turn red when they will be sweeter. There will be a bumper crop of both of these this year. Nice problem to have! I’ll have to figure out what to do with all of them! The Jimmy Nardello peppers are turning red (at a reasonable rate for harvesting). The Shishitos peppers have been kicking for a good month.

BERRIES/GRAPES
The grapes and blackberries are done but the raspberries are just starting to kick in and will be in full blast harvest mode soon. We are harvesting every 3 days now. It is a fall-bearing raspberry called Polana and it is the best producing raspberry ever for me at my garden.

SQUASH
My summer squash is still kicking and my winter squash, Butternuts, are starting to change color to tan and will be ready mid-end of September.

SHALLOTS
I harvested 2 beds of shallots which are now curing and will store these like onions for the winter. i love shallots over onions as they are sweeter and cost a lot more in the grocery stores.

CHARD/KALE
And of course, the chard and kale are loving the cooler weather and will go to frost. But they like it hot or cold weather wise. I have too much kale. Anyone want some?

CARROTS
All carrots are ready for harvest in the next 2 weeks.

CORNI grew sweet corn this year and waited too long to harvest. Bummer. There is always next year…

That’s it! Busy as a bee right now!

Veggie Garden Finito!

Oct22

Three boxes of green tomatoes (now ripening inside), Butternut squash, Pink Glass Gem corn harvested Oct 9

The veggie garden is done for the season. Harvesting was intense since the first freeze came about a week earlier this year.

Onions and sweet potatoes and other crops (not pictured) harvested this past Sunday

I harvested the last of the warm season crops like corn, tomatoes, raspberries, squash before the very first hard freeze on Oct 10.

Then this past Sunday, Oct 20th, I finished harvesting the last of my cool season crops-carrots, fennel, kale, onions, kale, Swiss chard, cabbage and sweet potatoes (more on sweet potatoes later). All are inside now. I have so much produce, I brought in some tables to put everything on. I’ve been sharing much of the harvest with friends.

I will clean up the dead vegetation before the ground freezes which will be sometime in early December.

I once waited to clean up the garden in the spring but found it was too much work, what with adding amendments in the soil and planting a new garden, so now I do it in the fall.

Winter is Coming! (tomorrow nite-October 10)

Oct9

As they kept saying in Game of Thrones, “Winter is coming” and it is coming here tomorrow night. Low temperatures tomorrow (Wednesday) will be 24°F and Thursday night will be 27°F. I’ve been harvesting everything I can before the cold hits. Afterwards is too late.

Most of my garden is done but here are some crops that may still need harvesting. I will pick my winter squash now and put it in the house. While winter squash likes it cold, it does not like the temperatures below freezing and can be ruined if they freeze–they should last months in the house.

Pick any green tomatoes of decent size and put them 2 layers deep in paper bags. The bags will keep the tomatoes in the dark. Then put a slice of apple in the bag (it releases ethylene gas, a natural ripening agent) and close up the bag to speed up the ripening process. Check the bag several times a week and you can move them to your kitchen table once they turn color. They are never quite as good as sun-ripened tomatoes but still 200% better than store bought and you may have home grown tomatoes into November.

Harvest all other warm season crops like beans, peppers, eggplants, corn, cucumbers, summer squash and melons-if they are not already picked.

Harvest onions if you still have any.

Cool season crops like broccoli, kale, cabbage, arugula and other leafy greens may survive but will need winter weight row cover over them to protect them from the below freezing nights. Take off in the day and recover at night when freezing. You can get row cover (winter weight) at some of the local nurseries. Just call around.

Beets and carrots should be ok but should be harvested before the ground freezes rock hard in December.

If you have lettuce, I would pick it as it will freeze. You may be able to save it with row cover over it, but it is chancy.

Herbs can be cut and dried in your house.

Of course if you have a cold frame, your season could still be extended if you cover the plants inside with row cover.

So pick everything you can today and tomorrow and don’t forget to disconnect your drip systems so they don’t freeze either. Get busy!

Growing Season for 2016/Fall Harvest

Nov2

Fall harvest in 2016-tomatoes, beets, carrots and kale are just a few of the vegetables still being harvested here on my micro-farm

This has been a most remarkable growing season this year. In fact, I can’t remember in all my 21 years here of weather like this. After two months of unseasonably hot summer weather at the beginning (when the tomato blossoms dropped because it was too hot) and then two months of very cool summer weather (when the tomatoes didn’t want to ripen because they need heat to ripen once they are set) we now have been in an unbelievably wonderful fall. Nice and warm in the 70’s in the day and cool but not freezing nights.

But all this is going to change very quickly now that we are in November. Weather prediction is for it to change to colder weather. Like duh, it’s NOVEMBER dude! Of course it will get colder! My fruit is done-apples (we made hard cider!), apricots, grapes, strawberries and raspberries are done here. Most of my warm season crops are gone (cucumbers, squash, peppers, eggplants, pumpkins, corn, etc. except the tomatoes, my favorite crop!)

Meanwhile the fall harvest continues with tomatoes still ripening (at least this week) and all the cool season crops are kicking it and should be for quite some time if I cover them with winter weight row cover. The kale is going gangbusters, cabbage is ready, onions and potatoes are ready to harvest, carrots and beets are ready to be dug out too and chard is busting out all over. My broccoli and escarole I planted in August at my fall garden class are almost ready too. Then pantry is bursting and the refrigerators and freezers are overflowing too! Enjoy what we still have left of this season!