__
From faithful correspondent Marvel:
We’ve given up any pretense in the summer garden: I finally dismantled the plastic-covered cabana I had foolishly constructed around the last of the vigorous tomato plants…seems I do this every year, thinking I can squeeze out a few more vine-ripened beauties before our first Oregon frost. Never happens — the greenies’ll red-up under a layer of newspaper, as is their wont.
The fall & winter raised beds are wrapped up snug under 6-mil plastic — there’s plenty of kale & beets & spinach & lettuce waiting for us there. The summer garden’s spending quieter times in jars, crispers, freezers and tucked-away cold pantries. All’s well.
***********
Here in New England, I have to say that our cool, rainy spring and sullen overcast summer made for great flowerbeds but crummy provisioning. The tomato plants that survived an attack of early blight never really flourished, and the half-dozen pots of basil went directly from spindly transplants to seed. Even the professional farmers weren’t having much luck this year (not that I ever managed to get to the new Sunday-morning farmers’ market… ) So despite the unseasonable warmth — it was almost 80 degrees this Saturday — the killing frost during the first weekend of October reduced my final harvest to a dozen or so undersized green Cherokee Purples and Steak Sandwich Hybrids lined up on the kitchen windowsill to ripen.
How are things looking in your gardens? Anybody want to brag on their own homemade preserves, or got tips to share for canning and keeping? Any of our warm-climate Juicers putting in winter crops?
ulee
I mowed my lawn in July. I’ll revisit the issue next spring.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m getting one ad for GM corn and another for heirloom garlic. Gotta love the algorithm.
raven
I’m going to run the mower until it runs out of gas, drain the oil, pull the plug and put it up. We had a big plastic garden pond thingy and Lowes has these http://penningtonaquagarden.com/index.php?id=17 pump setups for better than half-price so I rigged it up and now we have a lighted pond in the back yard. Collard and kale starting to come up.
Linda
I just pulled up the last tomato plants, and made a little more frozen sauce. The Arkansas Travelers were a good variety for our hot summer this year. The basil did ok, and is now made into frozen pesto. This morning, I’ll put in daffodil and scilla bulbs.
bob h
I have a small peach tree that has not done well in a shady area. I have a better spot picked out for it, but am wondering: should I move it now, or wait till Spring? Here in NJ it is 60-70 during the day, 30’s to 40’s at night. When to do it?
raven
@bob h: No peach tree but good info.
TheMightyTrowel
I finally got to he garden centre this weekend. planted a few pots of sage, thyme, lemon thyme, and chilies and found an English lavender for good measure. all of them are occupying the really extra sunny spot by the front walk. still on the list: a barrel of peppermint and a lemon verbena.
Gindy51
We have a square foot garden on our farm (mostly wildlife habitat now) and while the cayenne peppers were not great, the bells, jalapenos, and the tomatoes went nuts. I watered almost every day (directly from the frog shit pond, so plenty of nutrition) and added soil during the summer.
I don’t can, I dehydrate, and have enough dried tomatoes for salads, pizza, and pasta dishes to last until next year’s start of the harvest. Even the greenies dry up well and are sharper tasting than the fully ripened tomatoes. I made green salsa last year but decided to go for dried this year. Lots less mess and waste.
Cucumbers were good too, lots of flowers late but the frost nailed them. Next year we switch things up with sweet peas and change positions of the plants. Peppers to the east, tomatoes to the west. I might even opt to put in a drip watering system.
We also had a lot less caterpillars on our tomato plants, I put in sunflowers and it seems the birds hungry for seeds like those bugs too. We will be putting in those flowers as well as marigolds.
WereBear
While my gardening was restricted to some ill-fated pansies and a couple of miniature roses I need to bury for the winter, a friend and I did explore the Farmers Markets, three days a week in different nearby towns.
Homemade jam, local honey, and wine from Mooers, NY.
HeWHoShallRemainNameless
Just finished expanding my raised beds and sowed my last seeds for this year’s winter garden down here in Lafayette, LA (yep…I’m one of the few remaining liberals in this vast sea of conservative fail). I’ve got 10 kinds of lettuce, collards, two kinds of kale, two kinds of leeks, three kinds of onions, turnips, two kinds of cauliflower, two kinds of cabbage, rutabagas, beets, carrots, spinach, cilantro, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and salsify (a new one for me this year…I try to find at least one new crop to test each season). The best thing about living in a humid, sub-tropical greenhouse…winter gardens!!
Lori Watts
It was definitely a crap summer for tomatoes in Maine. We had 70 plants and in addition to sandwiches and salads, had enough for ONE batch of salsa
auntie beak
@bob h: I have a small peach tree that has not done well in a shady area. I have a better spot picked out for it, but am wondering: should I move it now, or wait till Spring? Here in NJ it is 60-70 during the day, 30’s to 40’s at night. When to do it?
i’m thinking best time to move it would be after it goes dormant but before the ground freezes hard. and when it does break dormancy in the spring, WATER WATER WATER. at least, that’s what i do with perennials and shrubs, and they never even realize they’ve been moved. never tried it with a tree, though. ymmv.
i do know that the latest research says NOT to super-enrich a hole into which you’re planting a tree (as in, plant a $50 tree in a $200 hole). researchers looked at trees that had been planted into a hole with lots of yummy nutrients, and found that after 5 years, the tree’s roots had “containerized,” i.e., had never left the vicinity of the planting hole, thus making them so top-heavy they fell over.
this tree-planting fact sheet from colorado state is very good. highly recommend.
HeartlandLiberal
South Central Indiana gardening was hard. Early warmth made my fruit trees bloom way to early, so two successive hard frosts wiped out all fruit production. Over the years I have planted a dozen dwarf, semi-dwarf, and a couple full size fruit trees.
I got the garden in early, and we had a lot of greens and lettuces and peas, and later green beans and beets. But then the drought set hold, and just keeping what remained through summer alive was a challenge. The drought reached the point that toward end of summer a water emergency was declared in Bloomington.
Then blight smacked the tomatoes, so the early good production just ground to a halt.
I did get probably three full brown grocery bags of bell peppers over the season. All have been washed, chopped, and frozen for use over next few months.
Finally, the deer. The only way to keep them out of the garden is to turn on the four water scarecrows every night. Into mid August, things were such a poor state, I quit doing it. So they rewarded themselves by reappearing and cropping the remaining Swiss chard and beet greens to a nub.
The deer have become so overpopulated in the middle south part of Bloomington especially that there is a special commission trying to decide how to thin the herd. I emailed my suggestion that I be allowed to sit on my deck at night, and invite Bambi to dinner with my hunting bow, even though I am just inside the city limits. I am more than willing to do my share. They are undernourished from over population, and in poor health. They have no natural predators. We killed them all.
And last, but not least, last week I pulled my 20 years old Craftsman front tine tiller into the garden, and started tilling it up to have it ready for early spring planting.
And the metal fatigue and age finally won. The rightmost tine on the axle sheered off. The handle has been ready to fall over for several years, held on by an extra bolt I drilled through, and some duct tape.
So off to Sears, where they still had a rear tine heavy duty tiller, which I got for about 20% off original price, already assembled. It is in the garage now, ready for when the ground gets dry enough to start working after the few days of rain we have had, which, believe me, I do NOT begrudge. We need every drop to replenish ground water and streams and Lake Monroe, our drinking water reservoir.
Munira
Here in southern Quebec, it’s been a fantastic garden year. I’ve never had so many tomatoes, eggplants or blueberries – not so good for the fruit trees – very few apples, for example. But the root cellar and the freezer are now both full of veggies. Everything’s out of the garden except kale, collards, parsnips and a little lettuce and cilantro – and, of course, the asparagus and the garlic for next year. I’ve rototilled and I’ve started turning my attention to cutting firewood.
Mustang Bobby
Here in South Florida I’ve left the gardening to nature, letting the hibiscus go nuts, which attracts a lot of birds and bees. I did trim back the bushes next to the house, mainly to prevent varmints like squirrels climbing up them and shinnying through the attic vents and building nests in there.
OT: Rest in peace, George McGovern. Forty years ago, I cast my first vote in a presidential election for George McGovern. I’ve never regretted it, and based on the behavior of the other party since then — from Watergate to Romnesia — it was the right thing to do.
aimai
I am not much of a gardener–tiny shade city backyard–but I did grow like three hot peppers. I mean: three total. And some herbs. Next year I’m going to try an all container vegetable garden in the only sunny spot and see what happens. I did make apple butter which was fantastic and we are already almost finished with it.
Recipe: Apples with skins on, small amount of sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon stick. Turn into applesauce. Then put in crockpot with the LID OFF for two days. Freak your germ anxious husband the hell out. Then use your immersion blender to puree the skins. Put in jars. Eat.
It makes a fabulous apple tart with a piece of puff pastry. Layer on the apple butter then slice an apple thinly toss with a little butter and spices, and layer it on top. Bake.
aimai
Uncle Cosmo
O/t, sad though not unexpected note: George McGovern dead at 90. Godspeed & happy landings, Senator.
Emma
The good thing about South Florida is that, with a little care and planning, you can start a garden at any time. I have decided that I want to try to imitate the feel of an English-style cottage garden using tropical plants. I will be documenting the process in the blog of my flower photography site, http://www.tropicalblooming.com.
So, having said all about forethought and planning, I went mad ordering bulbs and seeds and bareroot plants this past week. A wonderful discovery is that Welsh poppies will survive Florida, especially in the winter, which is expected to be slightly colder than usual. I ordered seeds. Then there was night-blooming jasmine, which I remember from my Cuban childhood. Two bareroots of that. And greek windflowers and some flowering ground creepers, and I already have roses and walking iris and some gardenias.
And since cottage gardens usually include a vegetable plot, I ordered some heirloom tomato seeds and I’m planning on lettuce (a winter crop here) and bell peppers and cherry tomatoes and zucchini. So far.
I am really not good at the planning thing. ::sigh::
Triassic Sands
A little while ago I heard the news that George McGovern has died. McGovern was the first, and one of the few, presidential candidates I’ve voted for that I felt would make a huge difference in the world. Lot’s of names on the wall in DC wouldn’t be there if he’d been elected.
The one consolation we got from Nixon’s election was that it ended in his public humiliation and removal from office, when his inner crook was exposed for all the world to see. (Yeah, he resigned, but he was going to be the first president in history who was going to be convicted in the Senate — quitting was the easy way out.)
RIP George McGovern. Failure to elect him was just one of many huge mistakes Americans have made at the polls. Here’s hoping they don’t make yet another one in a couple of weeks.
max
@bob h: I have a small peach tree that has not done well in a shady area. I have a better spot picked out for it, but am wondering: should I move it now, or wait till Spring? Here in NJ it is 60-70 during the day, 30’s to 40’s at night. When to do it?
Well, you’re in zone 6b-7a (same here) so if it has given up its leaves you should be good in a week or two from the temp. The big thing is that it needs to be dormant. That said, if it’s weak to begin with, moving it pre-winter might finish it off. You could wait until March (ground still cold, plant not pushing out leaves, sap not rising), and that’d do it. Either way works, but it’s going to be touch and go. (But you’re right that it needs to be moved.)
Any of our warm-climate Juicers putting in winter crops?
I have one big fat heirloom tomato ready to come in. Basil is hanging on (including the Thai basil). The mints and the chives are about ready to pack in but they’re still green. Peppers are hanging in (they’re coming inside for the winter). Sage, oregano and thyme are cruising.
Put in my savoy cabbage about three weeks ago. It got eaten on pretty good to start with but a light freeze seems to have discouraged the critters, and now it’s moving along. Should be good in about 3-4 weeks. It stayed frosty late this year, and it’s getting frosty early (God, DC weather is annoying) but we did OK this year. Better next year.
max
[‘Didn’t manage to get my collards down, but I’m ready to go for the next round.’]
Josie
Since I started working at a birding center, I have gotten interested in gardening for hummingbirds. I have moved all my vegie gardening (formerly near the patio) to pots in a different location and have start planting stuff for the birdies – turk’s cap, blue sage, firecracker plant, shrimp plant and cape honeysuckle. I will keep adding plants as I earn more money. I even planted a native brasil tree for them to rest in – super thorny so the cats cannot climb it. The hummers have already discovered my yard and I am having great fun watching the migrating birds come through as well as our local ones. It is the perfect antidote to this painful campaign season.
WereBear
@Josie: Congrats! I set up my old yard for butterflies with the proper plants and water sources. So many of their habitats have gone missing!
A “computing while poverty stricken” tip: the new Chromebooks will be out this coming week, from both Samsung and Acer. Yes, one becomes a Zombie for Google. (Which I prefer to being a slave for Microsoft.)
But for $249, you get gmail, word processing, spreadsheet, and most of the stuff in the webstore is free. How many people need more than a browser? I couldn’t afford this much lightness (2.5 pounds) and battery life (six hours) in a laptop otherwise.
I still have a desktop because I run Photoshop and iMovie and such for the cat blog… but the Google OS is getting better all the time. I can have two browser screens side by side. I can watch stuff on Hulu and Youtube and it runs Netflix. Of course it’s great for blogging, but there are more offline apps all the time. Soon the Docs will work offline and I’ll be able to use it for my new book.
It’s not just the low initial cost; Google updates the operating system free, and you don’t need an anti-virus program, either. Running costs are ZERO. And I can get my password protected wifi on my front porch, from my apartment three stories up.
Cheaper than a laptop, keyboard better than a tablet, no maintenance costs unlike a Windows netbook. I do believe that for the old, the young, the clueless, and the cash challenged; this is The Future.
Scout211
I am still harvesting the most delicious cantaloupes. I am so amazed how good they taste right out of the garden.
One tomato plant left and it seems a little sad. .
Bell peppers are still producing. I chop them and freeze them in ziplock bags.
I just harvested probably my last big bunch of rhubarb on Friday and baked a yummy crunch.
The winter squash are growing and my broccoli is doing well and producing well after I picked off about 100 or so little ugly worms or caterpillars off all the leaves last month.
Maude
@auntie beak:
I would transplant it before the ground freezes. It gives it time to settle in before the heat of summer.
Use a root helper to prevent transplant shock. Get a fruit tree fertilizer and just read the directions.
You’ll have to spray in the spring.
NJ grows wonderful peaches.
OzarkHillbilly
@auntie beak:
Thanx for that. I wish I had it 3 yrs ago when I planted my apples and peaches. I didn’t screw up too bad, but it could have been better.
@aimai:
Sounds delicious. Now saved.
We got hit with a light frost a week ago and I forgot to cover my basil… Gone. The rest of the herbs survived and I will bring them in this week.
The squash all got bit by the frost but amazingly enuf not my tomatoes. Nothing but greenies but I will bring them in too and try drying them as per Gindy51. Also, more salsa verde. My peppers did well this year, both hot and sweet. A buddy of mine in AR who has an organic farm told me the secret to bell peppers is bone meal. Sure enuf, it worked. My squash was disappointing. Only the summer squash did really well. All my winter squash succumbed to a combination of heat stress and squash bugs. Beans did ok as did my eggplant. By mistake I tried to grow cauliflower again… for the last time. Just too humid here I think. Inevitably it turns yellow, than purple.
Critters: Furry tailed rats… Got all but 6 ears of my corn, I don’t know how many of my maters during the drought, and now they are after my bird seed. I am down to 4 and hope to make it zero by the end of the week.
The drought: We have a nice deep well so I was able to keep the garden well watered thru the worst, but I have lost some trees. A couple of dogwood, a spruce and one of my apples and that is only around the house. I have 12 and 1/2 acres of forest and I guess come spring I will find out what I lost out there.
Maude
@OzarkHillbilly:
Here in NJ, I think some of the trees are going to die in the spring. Last time we had a drought, Arborvitae died in scores. The fall foliage is so so.
There were no eastern peaches in the store this year.
MomSense
My perennial beds and flower beds have been spectacular this year. I am in Northern New England and still have roses, sedum, daisies, plenty of beautiful blooms!
I don’t want to talk about my veggie garden–FAIL. The timing was off badly. The farmers who are a little inland have had a pretty good year so we have done well at the farmers’ markets.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Why do we can so much, Mommy?
mai naem
Well, I read this garden stuff and I am just jealous because of all the produce stuff. We have a nice garden but the only produce we have is an orange tree that whose oranges aren’t all that sweet or edible. I have tried growing stuff but the exposure of this house and a massive pine tree means everything dies. Anyhow, anybody who lives in the metro Phoenix area, this is the weekend with the Desert Botanical Garden Plant Sale. I have bought stuff from them and pretty much everything I’ve ever bought from them has succeeded.
quannlace
Made a batch of Bread and Butter pickles for the first time, two weeks ago. Just tasted them yesterday, and damn, they were really good.
Alas, there was nothing abundant enough in my garden to have to be ‘put up.’
The good pumpkin I got will be turned into pumpkin butter. Funny, I can’t bear to carve it, but I have no qualms cutting and cooking it up.
Monkus
Promising early summer in Charlottesville turned pretty wet–and then blossom end rot took much of our tomato harvest. Like you, though, great wildflower beds!
rdldot
Here in Houston I planted seeds a couple of weeks ago for beets, carrots and green onions. Will have to wait for cooler weather for the rest – lettuce, kale, turnips, radishes, leeks. Been a warm October – mid 80’s except for a week of cooler weather a while back. Looking forward to ‘winter’.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
I put the garden to bed for the winter last weekend. Butternut squash ran wild over everything and did well. Got some small green peppers, small broccoli heads, and a lot of green beans.
I got almost no tomatoes, except Romas. All the others got attacked, I think by stink bugs. The bugs poked a hole in the ripe tomato, the juice ran out and they rotted on the vine. I’ll have to figure out a defense next year.
Kristine
Far NE Illinois reporting. I’ll be pulling up the raised bed tomato plants today. I picked the last greenies a few weeks ago and put them in a box in the spare room to ripen, but we’ve had rain and chill since then and I didn’t feel like working in that. 60s and sun today. Good yard-cleaning weather. Planting astilbes and other shade plants that are supposed to be planted this time of year, according to the instructions.
I managed a single batch of pesto and two scalloped tomato casseroles this summer, along with the usual grazing for sandwiches and salads. The July heat wave kicked things in the slats–herbs went to seed and blossoms dropped like rain from the tomato plants. Everything revived in August, but that didn’t leave enough time for buds to develop before the cold came.
The hydrangeas, however, were incredible. But they loves heat. I just needed to keep them watered.
No winter garden for me. They’re predicting above average snow for the area, and I don’t have the set-up to deal with that.
Maude
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
Shotgun should do nicely.
R-Jud
This summer was the wettest and coolest in a century here in central England. Last year we had bushels of raspberries and apples; this year, almost none. Not much produced, other than my string beans and my faithful herbs.
Tata
Also in NJ: Last night, we jarred corn stock. Used the summer’s corn cobs and a week’s veggie scraps. Took two days to get the stock just right. The whole house smelled fantastic and felt warm while it simmered.
The herb garden exploded toward the end of the summer so I’m putting by compound butters and hopefully some infused vinegars. Love those a bunch.
BruceFromOhio
Crappiest season since we started these gardens. Basil did okay, so there’s plenty of pesto cubes, but everything else is slated for tilling under or composting.
Guest in New England
Hi Bob. Prepare your new spot now, move the young peach tree after it is fully dormant (all the leaves are off). Water it in thoroughly, and you’re done.
Jerzy Russian
@mai naem:
Do you use fertilizer? I have heard that is necessary to get a good citrus crop.
gelfling545
@Mustang Bobby: He was my first presidential vote too. I’ve been surprised to see how many people here commented that they voted in that election! There’s a better representation of Boomers here than I imagined.
gelfling545
Produce-wise it was a bad year. I got a little lettuce & enough tomatoes to eat fresh but not enough for preserving. Basil did well; sting beans & cayenne peppers did poorly. I’m thinking that I may let the vegetable garden go in the future. My daughters are gardening as well & I can always get fresh veg. from them. (I say this every year lately. We’ll see.)
Michele Quarton
Garden is done, still have some beets. Cat are digging up the rows, so we will see what comes out. In our little part of PA [South East], we had good late garden weather. Put up lots of tomato sauce, peach and apple butter. M Quarton, Schwenksville, Pa
OzarkHillbilly
@Kristine:
recipe?