First Hard Frost

   Our first hard frost came almost a week ago (September 11th).  It got down to -3 degrees C.   I picked a bunch of tomatoes on the 10th to ripen indoors in boxes and we covered the remaining plants with sheets that night and last night.  This week, overnight temps have been cool (all forecast to remain above zero), so covering plants likely won't be necessary.

   The two small "volunteer compost squash" (Galeux D'Eysines) were also harvested on the 10th.  Their stems had mostly turned brown and they were ready to come off the vines.  The frost completely zapped the North Georgia Candy Roaster plants, so those squash had to come off the vines September 12th.  The NGCRs are a good size.  Their stems had just begun to turn brown (dry down).  They will be put in a sunny location to cure for the next week or two.

 

 

Frost on the carrot greens

   The two Burpee's Butterbush plants were slow to get going this summer and both plants remained on the small side.  Usually, Burpee's Butterbush gives us four squash per plant, but this year, we have two squash total.  This is the larger of the two (the other is tiny):

 

   The last 5 zucchini (which are sitting on the living room floor until I can either decide what to do with them or with whom I'll share them) were harvested on the 10th.  The plants were zapped by frost that night.

   Also taken out by frost on the 11th and 12th:  the tomatillo plants, some of the Anaheim pepper plants (they weren't covered), parts of the pole beans, the bush beans (filet and romas that were planted in the south garden), cucumber plants, some of the nasturtium plants, the Morning Glories, begonias, and dahlias. 

  

 

   The leeks, onions, cabbage, carrots, Anaheim pepper plants that were covered, cosmos, calendula, marigolds, pansies, and (surprisingly) the mints, parsley, oregano, and some of the potato plants survived the frost.  The sunflowers survived the frost, but they have been nibbled nightly by visiting deer.

 

A nibbled sunflower

   It rained in the day leading up to the forecast hard frost, so I pulled most of the remaining dry bush bean plants that were growing in the raised beds.  I bundled them and hung them in the shed to finish drying down.  I haven't had to hang bean plants to finish drying down for years!  The window boxes containing dry bush bean varieties were moved into the sheds for those two nights as well. 

   The kitchen, living room, and dining nook are dotted with small plates covered with coffee filters of tomato seeds.  A shelf in the plant room has been filled with small jars of fermenting tomato seeds on rotation for the last two weeks.  When all is said and done, there should be plenty to keep, to share with friends, and to donate to the local seed library. 

 

   Several weeks ago,  I cut the flowers off the skirret plants so more energy would be directed to the developing tubers.  The flowers attracted lots of beneficial insects/pollinators (and the flowers were pretty, looking similar to Queen Anne's Lace), so I had mixed feelings about removing them.  The tubers will be left in the ground through the winter and next year's growing season.  We’ll harvest them in the Fall 2027, remove some tubers to eat, and replant the crowns next Fall.

R. harvested the first small batch of potatoes the morning of September 13th.  

 

 

   There are still plenty of ladybugs and bees frequenting the garden, which makes me happy.  Even the occasional dragonfly zooms through.

  

   On September 6th, I trimmed and bagged a few varieties of garlic (Mother-of-Pearl, Northern Quebec, Pyong Vang, and Fish Lake.  I found that they, along with the rest of the garlic still hanging, was still too damp, despite having been hanging to cure for almost 5 weeks.  On the 7th, I trimmed the leaves on the garlic bundles and brought them into the house where it's dryer (the laundry room) to hang.  Another harvesting tactic I haven't had to implement for several years!  On the 17th, I trimmed the garlic, cleaned it up, and bagged it to store.

   Tomatoes:  the sauce making and canning hasn't begun yet, but the seed-saving, boxing-to-ripen, and prepping-to-freeze has.  I have been taking pictures and making notes, in between everything else, for an upcoming 2026 Tomato Round-Up post.  In the meantime, here is are some of the Romeo tomatoes.  This variety has made it onto my "grow again" list.

 

 

...and some of the Minuit à Montréal tomatoes, taken early September.

 

   The Rossa Lunga di Firena onions have looked good all summer and are a good size.  Certainly, these are far larger and healthier than the onions we grew from sets.  I don’t think we’ll plant sets again, after seeing how nicely the onions grown from seeds have done.  They, as well as the Giant Musselburgh leeks, are still in the raised beds.  I am grateful and relieved that some of the crops are cold hardy.  It buys me time, while I'm busy running around trying to process and/or store the less hardy vegetables.

 

 

   R. has been putting the 3D printer at his gaming club to good.  He has been printing components for shelving frames to hold boxes of dry beans and (light) boxes of tomatoes, as well as stacking trays to hold coffee filters of tomato seeds. 

 

   One of our garden supervisors, resting but nonplussed after an encounter with our neighbour's kitty.

 

   A deer came to visit during the daylight hours on the 13th.  Rested for a while outside the plant room, then she and a friend munched their way through the remaining small sunflowers in the south garden.

 

 

   The dill has dried down and will soon be harvested for seed.  The ladybugs have loved the dill this year.  It was covered with aphids, so the dear little ladybugs feasted!

 

 

They also enjoy spending time on the bean leaves. 

 

 

Lemon Queen sunflowers

 

 

 

 Our other little garden supervisor...

 

 

'Pacific Beauty' calendula

 

 

   'Unwin's Mix' dahlias (or "dahliettas").  Most of the ones I've grown over the years turned out to be yellow.  The red is so pretty, a real pop of colour in the garden.

 

 

Swiss Giant pansies

 

The leek, onion, pepper, and bean bed, mid-September:

 

   Some of the dry pole beans (I think these ones are Flagg) were very slow to get going at the start of the summer.  As a result, they won't be mature enough to harvest by the end of September.  This picture was taken September 8th.  Notice the flowers still on the vines!

 

 

Volunteer sunflower growing with the Plourde tomatoes and cucumbers...

 

 

Kitties enjoying the warm garden soil and sunshine near the pots of Pendulina tomatoes.

 

 

   As of September 17th, what's left in the ground are the carrots, some tomato plants, bulb onions, leeks, one pepper plant, a few beets, parsley, marigolds, calendula (well-nibbled by the deer), skirret, two ragged-looking Burpee's Butterbush plants, a few dry bush beans (in window boxes) sunflowers (deer-nibbled), mint, oregano, rosemary, a few cosmos, a bit of lettuce, and green onions.

   The house is an obstacle course of boxed tomatoes, garlic, and dry beans, hanging herbs, several squash, nasturtium seeds, and mint clippings.  It will be so nice to finally have everything processed, organized, and stored away for the season.

 

 

Peaceful Amidst The Seed-Saving Chaos

 

 

Shorter Days, Harvest Coming In

 Where did August go?

   The days are getting noticeably shorter; no longer is the sun shining or the birds singing a chorus at 5:00AM.  Nights have been cooler, around 10 degrees or below.  Most tomato varieties have begin to ripen on the plants (especially Scotia, Dwarf Roza Vetrov, Katja, Garnet, and Javelin).  The Amber tomatoes have been almost completely harvested, having lived up to their reputation of being early.  The Swedish Red peas have been picked and brought inside to finish drying, as have the Weiner Treib beans.  The calendula, zinnias, dahlias, and pansies are still going strong and small sunflowers, defying the odds, are blooming on stalks that were chewed off by deer earlier in the season.  The tomatillos are covered in whimsical-looking "paper lanterns" and, though later to mature than expected, have produced enough to allow me to make a batch of salsa verde.  Three batches of roma and filet beans have been picked; some blanched and frozen and some given away.  As garden plants begin to die and decompose, gnats are filling the air.  It's the one thing that makes me look forward to the first few hard frosts, the only thing that seems to get rid of them.

   I would be lying if I said this hasn't been a challenging summer.  Ongoing health problems have left me exhausted, unfocused, and overwhelmed.  Growing an abundance of food, especially varieties that are rare or new to me, is usually a source of pleasure and fuel for my curiosity and enthusiasm.  Feeling more drained and rudderless than accomplished or happy seems a clear signal that I will have to cut back next year or take a break entirely (something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago).  

   What follows is my best attempt at playing catch-up with garden notes from the past month.  Click on pictures you wish to enlarge.

   The garlic was harvested over a period of days, from late July to early August.  The different varieties were bundled in groups of 5-8 and hung in the shed to cure.  What is pictured is about a third of the garlic harvested.  As the days have generally been mild (not hot), overcast, and drizzly this month, the garlic is still not cured. 

 

   The 'Saffron' summer squash and zucchini started to produce in earnest early this month.  Here are a few of the first ones picked, on August 9th.  Several have been turned into relish and muffins, and several have been given away since then!

 

 Small pots of lettuce and the (nicely recovered) begonia:

 

 

   Volunteer compost squash.  Some small sugar warts are developing on the skin, so we think these might be Galeux D'Eysines.  This picture was taken on August 12th; the squash are now a orange/salmon colour.

 

 

It was a pretty and uncharacteristically misty morning on August 14th.

 

 

 

 North Georgia Candy Roaster squash, mid-August.  

 

 

 

Bea watching the sun come up. 

 

   Rossa Lunga di Firenze onions.  This is my first time growing these, and they have done well, thanks to plenty of rain this summer.  I'm looking forward to tasting these later in the season.  They certainly are a beautiful colour.

 

 

   The cucumber bed, mid-August.  There are pickling cucumbers, snacker cucumbers, and one Dragon's Egg cucumber plant in the bed.

 

 

 

 

The first pickling cuke  :-)

 

 

   Tomatoes on the south side of the house (one of several areas, alas, covered up by netting as protection against visiting deer).  Taken August 14th.

 

 

 

 

   In the North garden: calendula, zucchini, tomatillos, sunflower, and garlic to the right.  (August 12th)

 

 

   In the driveway: carrots, borage, zinnia, feverfew, tomatoes, potatoes.  (August 12th)

 

 

Borage - it isn't especially robust or impressive-looking this year, but the bees enjoy it.

 

   Close-up of the feverfew.  This picture was taken mid-August.  Now, many of the flowers are dry enough to allow for collecting seeds.

 

 

   Raised bed with dry bush beans on each end, "Pink Blush" lavatera, and summer savoury.  (August 12th)

 

 

   Raised bed with Giant Musselburgh leeks, Rossa Lunga di Firenze onions, summer savoury, volunteer bachelor buttons, Anaheim peppers, dry bush beans, and a volunteer tomato plant.  This is one packed bed.  (August 12th)

 

 

   Two shallow raised beds with onions, summer savoury, carrots, and a heritage dry bean mix (with runners).  (August 12th)

 

 

   The East garden.  Weeds got away from me this year (the patch is basically carpeted with them), several volunteer tomato plants came up, and the sunflowers were bitten off early in the season.  There is plenty growing there and I try to focus on that rather than allowing my nerves to become frazzled seeing the chaotic mess this garden is this summer.  In the East garden:  tomatillos, watermelon (a lost cause!), zucchini, 'Saffron' summer squash, skirret, calendula, kale, and three types of tomatoes: Fisher's Earliest Paste (doing well), Dwarf Emerald Giant (a very compact and late variety), and Kim's Civil War Oxheart (which seems to be suffering from BER).

 

 

   Dry pole beans, mid-August, after a visiting deer snacked at midnight.  (Note the conspicuous absence of leaves and flowers on the left side!)

 

  

 Lou snoozing beneath the tomatoes.

 

 

Second picking of Roma beans...

 

...and a snack-sized picking of "Early Riser" pole beans.

 

 

The "Early Riser" pole bean set-up we have.  There are four plants growing in a large pot.

 

"Sensation Mix" cosmos, all volunteers from last year's plants.

 

Some even popped up among the tomatoes.

 

A bundle of summer savoury.

 

 

   "Bishop's Children" dahlias.  This is my first time growing them.  The picture doesn't do them justice; the colour is a deep, velvety, burgundy.  The bees seem to love them.

 

 

 "Unwin's Mix" dahlia

 

 

The only tall sunflower we have this summer, thanks to the deer!

 

 

 

On the other end of the spectrum, a tiny sunflower in the bed of spent poppies.

 

 

Begonia

 

 

Alyssum 

 

 

The first Morning Glories bloomed today.

 

 

 Lilliput Zinnias