weekend garden notes

my garden has been a bit neglected lately.  i was starting to think that i wouldn't even have the energy to get my garlic in (and i was trying to convince myself that i was okay with that).  this weekend we continued to have unseasonably warm weather and i forced myself to head over to my community garden to harvest my potatoes.  it was a bit disappointing (especially after i realized that i harvested fewer potatoes that i had planted in the first place!), but they will still be delicious.  i planted all blue, german butterball, and rose finn apple.  this year i tried a potato tower method, which was clearly not very successful.  i think a few of my problems were that my towers were too big around (about 3 feet in diameter) and i didn't keep them watered well enough.  if i try this again next year, i will definitely make them smaller.  what's your favorite way to plant potatoes?

i also managed to get my garlic in, which i know i will be really happy about come summer.  since i wasn't sure i was going to plant any, i hadn't purchased any new seed garlic.  i just used the garlic i grew this summer- german extra hardy and georgian fire.  i planted cloves from the largest bulbs and covered them with a pile of leaves, since i didn't have any hay or straw. 

our kale is also still going strong, and now that whatever little bugs were munching on it all summer are gone, maybe we can actually enjoy some of it.  after ignoring my garden for the last two months or so, it felt so fulfilling to get in one last garden day before winter sets in.

quiet in the garden

a quiet evening in the garden.

Pepper harvest

Last night in anticipation of autumn's first frost, we covered tomato plants, brought in the potted plants, and harvested all the peppers. There are five bags of sweet and hot peppers! So now I am on the hunt for pepper recipes. Do you know of any to add to the list?

Roasted Tomato Soup
Cream of Red Pepper Soup
Sweet Pepper and Lentil Soup and Romesco Sauce (also on that page)
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Red Pepper Vinaigrette
Fusilli with Sweet and Hot Peppers, Fava Beans, Lemon, and Olives
Bell Pepper Egg-in-a-Hole

early fall harvests

 

okay, i'll admit it.  i am guilty of neglecting my gardens.  i know i'm not alone, which is why i feel comfortable admitting this here.  clearly taking on my most ambitious gardening efforts the same summer that i was planning a wedding [mine] and that my full-time job was extremely demanding was not the best idea.  but still, i do not regret it.  i know i could have actually pulled out the peas once they dried up back in july.  and i know i could have planted some fall crops in their place, and in the place of the garlic i harvested months ago.  but i didn't.  and you know what? it's okay.

as much as i may have neglected my gardens these past two months, it is still producing.  still making me happy every time i pick a tiny little cherry tomato off those volunteer plants wedged between the chard and beans.  still surprising me when i pulled up over a dozen small onions that i thought were dead and shriveled [even if they're not much larger than the starts i planted back in the early spring, i will still eat them with pride].

so. even though my garden could have been better, more productive, more lush, more organized.  it's not.  and i am still so very grateful for what it produces.  because of my efforts, or in spite of them. 

Delicata squash

This is the first year my husband and I have planted delicata squash. Last year we bought a couple regionally grown squashes from the grocery store and really liked them. They reminded me so much of sweet potatoes which are one of my favorite autumn foods. So this spring, we planted two mounds at the back edge of the garden with about three plants (from seed) in each mound. Thankfully, the plants spread and flourished all through the hot summer. Now that some of the older leaves are dying back we have just begun to harvest them. (I believe M. said he counted about forty squash out there!) Two nights ago we ate one that he stuffed and grilled, so good. Today I picked these three, along with zinnias and gomphrena. (I'm still all about the gomphrena.)

Anyway, the little research I've done on harvesting and storing delicata squash suggest a few things: 

1. Use a serrated knife to remove the squash from the plant. Leave part of the stem attached to the squash, it is supposed to store longer that way. The stems do snap off easily so if this happens as it did on one I picked, eat that squash first. 
2. To cure or not to cure: I have read different views on this. What's your take on it? Are the squashes sweeter tasting if kept at room temperature a few days after picking? 
3. For the long term, store the squash in a cool dry place, around 50 degrees. 

Have you grown delicata squash before? What have you learned?

final garden tour

take a final walk with me around our front yard garden...

the swiss chard is ready to be harvested for our favorite meals

the snap peas are crispy & perfect for the pickin'

the radishes are bright & round

around the corner, the container garden is waiting for its big move south

the strawberries are ripening & so sweet to the taste

soon, this goodness will be transplanted to raised backyard gardens,
bigger pots & flower beds.

little red house with its edible landscaping, small garden plots, cold frame, & compost pile- you will be missed. not for too long, though. we have bigger plans in our home down south.