Friday, October 15, 2010

Last Harvest of 2010

My Last Harvest
My last harvest this year.  Our nights are getting chillier and days getting shorter.  So long summertime, I'll see you again next year.  With a heavy heart I pulled up all of my tomato, zucchini and cucumber plants.  It was hard picking the tomatoes before they have a chance to ripen, but I wanted to experiment with a winter crop this year.  Most of my plants were getting moldy as well, it's just time for a clean up.  Now I just have to figure out what to do with all this tomato!  I pickled some of the green ones and gave some away.  I still have 2 full bags in the fridge.
The summer has been wonderful, besides for a few supplemental veggies we haven't had to buy produce since late June.  We're not huge salad eater mind you, we still have to buy fruit.  I wish I had enough land for an orchard (and some llamas, goats & chickens)!  LOL

All Done! Garden in Oct
I cleared the beds, tilled the soil and added some some bone meal and fertilizer to the mix.  Not too much just enough to replenish the soil after a summer's worth of growth.  I've never overwintered plants before and I'm not sure if I'm starting too late in the year.  We still have a few warm days left, I hope this is enough to germinate the seeds I've planted.  I'll need to make some kind of frost protection, maybe plastic sheets over the hoops?

Sad Chard and OnionI spaced out my chard and onion in the small bed, they were being crowded by my tomatoes during the summer. Hopefully they'll survive the transplant and last me a few more months.  I've heard that chard is a hardy plant and do well in cool/cold weather.

One More Round
All of the local nurseries and garden centers have cleared out their stock of edibles.  Besides for herbs like rosemary and sage I couldn't find much so I had to resort to seeds.  I think next year I'll start some seedlings in September for my winter crop.  I chose broccoli and cabbage, they're hardy plants. 

Something to look forward to.
While I was at it I bought some tulip and allium bulbs too.  They give me something to look forward to come springtime.

1 comment:

KT said...

try making tomato butter, it is AMAZING.