From this Fall

Whoa! It's November?

So, it has been over two months since the last entry.  I was working a lot more than at the beginning of the summer and the garden was let go in many ways, much more so my posting regularity.  

There are at this point very drastic changes in the landscape.  The tomatoes have come and gone.  We put up many quarts worth of the harvest to be used this winter.  The blight eventually slowed production and they have now been removed from the bed.  The peppers lasted quite a bit longer and, while not prolific offered some very tasty and colorful specimens.

Eggplants were even less productive, and it was very late in the game that we eventually harvested the little fruits.  We pickled two pints worth, and had some delicious baba ganoush (sp?).

The brussel sprouts never really stayed in bud form.  They unfurled their leaves prematurely and they are now gone (but not forgotten).  

The corn was a treat for the few weeks of harvest and now the stalks are mulch on top of the bed.  Underneath, the pumpkins really suffered first from the squash borers, and then from a serious powdery mildew problem.  Even so, the vines ran about 20 feet all the way into the raspberry bushes (whose fall harvest has produced huge dark berries that melt in your mouth), where I harvested our two pumpkins last week.

Our first row of bok choi didn't do well.  But we sowed a variety of different greens (spinach, bok choi, swiss chard, arugula, salad mix, kale) to cover through the winter and they are doing very well now that the weather is cooled down.  We built a sort of lean-to cold frame to sit on top.

The cucumbers were more than we could handle.  We pickled a whole lot of them.  The trellis really worked well for them.  The beans which grew next door employed the trellis too.  They never made it to the fruiting stage, though.  They were an asian variety and probably needed a much hotter summer than we had.

The herb garden really took off after its slow start and we had too much of everything.  I potted up the rosemary for the winter along with a few pots of parsley and the lemon verbena, which I pruned and hung the branches to dry the leaves out.  

Last week, I harvested the remainder of the beets, but left the carrots and parsnips in the ground.  I mulched them with a hay/straw mix.  If all goes according to plan, we should be digging up good roots as long as the ground isn't frozen solid.  

What else?  We've had a lot of beautiful cut flowers between the wildflowers I sowed and the zinnias, and the dahlias.  The dahlias are a new event since the last posting.  We have had a three different varieties that are absolutely stunning and keep for a long time inside.

I am away for the next two weeks, but when I get back, I will be mulching all of the beds, pruning back the raspberries and peach tree and some other season finishing tasks.  I will also put up pictures of some stages of the last two months for you few but faithful die-hard subscribers.

September 6

Sunny Sunflower

It's a blustery sun-filled morning and there is a lot to do.  Our soy beans are pretty much ready and the plants have taken on a brownish tinge.  We will uproot the plants in their entirety and have room for a few last minute crops.   We still have a decent amount of greens that we can plant, so we'll keep the arugula coming, lettuce, bok choi, spinach and our "sassy salad" mix.  We had planned early on to make a bed shaped cold frame or cloche in which case we might plant some more swiss chard, kale or some root crops.  

Bed of beets carrots parsnips and leeks.

The late blight finally arrived and the change in our tomatoes was fast and dramatic; the black splotches on the  stems and dead swathes of leaves.  We will harvest a lot of the older tomatoes, even the green ones and let them ripen up off the vine.  The plants are of the indeterminate variety which means they continue to grow and flower through out the season.  Therefore the newer growth and fruit is still viable and we'll let it continue for as long as it can.

The squash borer and powdery mildew has all but destroyed our pumpkin crop beneath the corn.  Today, we finally dug out the little grubs.  The far reaches of the vines are still green, but I doubt we'll have our group pumpkin carving like I'd planned.  We have a viable vine of another winter squash (thelma sanders sweet potato squash) that for the moment is fine and putting out fruit.  

The corn is still coming in and really towers over the yard along with the sunflowers.

Soybean Harvest

Trellis with cukes and beans, and newly planted greens.

Zinnia

Row of basil, arugula, and beets.

                                 Blighty Tomato Harvest

Newness

So, I am two weeks into a new position at Stearns' Farm in Framingham doing many new and exciting things, as well as some old, but still exciting things.  This has left a lot of tasks left up to Charlotte in our Ocean Street Garden.  

Our corn is due next week I think.

And pumpkins are covering the ground below.  They are inundated with powdery mildew, but hopefully the pumpkins themselves will not be affected.

The tomatoes are coming in.

Cukes are flooding our refrigerator and we will be pickling as soon as possible.

Soybeans are nearly ready.

Eggplants are painfully slow and straggly, but finally putting out fruit.

Peppers getting larger and sturdier with the recent heat wave.

Brussel Sprouts are getting bigger.

Sunflowers are blooming.

New rows of arugula, beets, carrots, bok choi, and spinach.

The corn is higher by the hour (you wouldn't be able to see Charlotte today), and the sunflowers are now budding along the border.  The pumpkins are creeping through the undergrowth.

The tomatoes have so far withstood the late blight epidemic that is devastating all the local farmer's crops.  I never removed any of the suckers and, while they are certainly sprawling, they will be prolific in the coming weeks.  We have canning plans for the surplus we're bound to have.

The eggplants and peppers are blooming and beginning to form their fruit as well.

We've begun the cucumber harvest.  There are three varieties in the garden and they are both delicious.  A long, thin, Asian cuke, and the common "marketmore," and another I can't remember for the moment.  They are fighting with the pole beans for space, but there are still a few feet of trellis to cover.

The soybeans pods are taking shape in the two dense rows we planted.

We've cleared most of the bolted lettuce and harvested cauliflower/broccoli plants.  There is one more cauliflower head on the way, and the brussel sprouts won't be far behind.  I am only growing a few more col crops in pots and plan on using the new space for greens and root crops.  

The kale and swiss chard are finally being harvested back to a manageable size.  Next time we will know that only a few plants are needed to satisfy.  

The beets and carrots have been thinned and the first crop of beets harvested to completion.  I have plans for both borsch and pickling later this week.  In the same bed I harvested parsnips that were competing for space.

The herb garden has more than filled in.  It looks like we will have some basil to go with our tomato crop next week.  I will be transplanting more basil through out the garden from the cold frame.  The nasturtium are growing sizable and are thankfully attractive since we aren't eating them except in the occasional salad.

It is almost time for another pea sowing which will be due in October.

This is the bird house now a few weeks old, still without birdseed. 

Here is a harvest that we are taking with us to Vermont this weekend.  We had a few inches of rain last night and so hopefully the garden won't dry out while we are away.

Some of the corn got blown over by the wind in the night.  Too busy again to write much.  Cukes are budding everywhere and the pumpkin is growing nicely within the corn patch.  The wildflower beds are beginning to bloom, as are the soy beans (little pink buds) and the eggplant.  The tomatoes will be prolific at the rate at which they're progressing.  

July 13 already

To finally update, the sun is out after a ridiculously wet June.  This means the peppers and eggplants are finally starting to grow instead of just sitting there getting eaten by flea beetles.

The tomatoes are growing well and have maintained a disease-free state despite all the rain.  Our first sungold cherry tomatoes are visible.  

The herb garden is filling in, and hopefully the new batch of basil I transplanted in will be ready when we start harvesting the tomatoes.  

The corn grew a lot this weekend, so I was glad I finally got around to weeding and mulching it on Friday.  The pumpkins in the back are indeed starting to weave their way into the corn, hopefully dissuading any raccoons that might be interested in it.  Supposedly the prickly pumpkin vine is more than they can handle.

The cucumbers, too, are enjoying the sun and are starting to send out their tendrils which I will guide to the trellis when they are long enough.

I harvested the peas this morning and took out the row.  I plan on freezing most of the harvest for later on.  We will plant a new row late this month I think for a fall crop.  The timing is a little trickier than in the spring when you just plant them when the ground thaws.

I have a tray of a different variety of corn that I started 2 weeks ago.  I plan on expanding the pea bed in the next few days to make room for a different corn stand that will be harvested later in the fall.  

We will make room for a new sowing of beets and carrots, too, which will be harvested throughout the fall and winter.

swiss chard + kale = no room

wildflower bed

a mighty parsnip

li'l onion

1st wonky carrot

Jonathan salad-hands