Speedy Wrap-Up

It has been a busy month. 

Before recapping the month below, I updated my garlic bulbil post HERE.  Scroll to the "August 2018" section to see recent pictures of the bulbils I started in 2016.  Baba Franchuk's and Kiev are already full-sized bulbs.  The rest will need another year or two before they develop into large bulbs.

Heavy frosts started early this year, around September 3rd.  Temperatures between -6 and -8, along with freezing rain and snow,  were forecast for September 10th -14th.  The push was on, thanks to Mother Nature, and we were forced to harvest most of the garden on the weekend of the 8th/9th.

September 5th, we dug up the volunteer potato plants that had grown in the East garden ("The Jungle").  Most turned out to be purple potatoes.   We ended up with half a bucketful - a very nice gift from the garden!  I cubed and roasted some of them with carrots, onions, rosemary, thyme, and olive oil.  

We picked all the tomatoes (still mostly green) and brought them inside on the 9th.  I spent the next two days putting them in boxes lined with newspaper.  As they ripen, most will be cooked down for plain tomato sauce and either frozen or canned. 

Most of the dry bean pods were still green on the plants.  During the same weekend as the tomato harvest, I brought as many beans as I could inside to finish drying, hung from the plant room ceiling.  Some of the beans were so immature (especially Black Coco) that they wouldn't have been fit to eat even if I had dried the pods/plants indoors.  Almost all of the Black Coco plants and about half the Coco Jaune de Chine plants had to be composted, pods and all.  

Some of the bean plants (dry bush beans w/runners - Purple Amish Gnuttle and Swedish Brown) waiting to be liberated of their leaves before being brought indoors to dry.

The following week, I harvested the remaining carrots and processed/dehydrated most of them for storage. It is time consuming, but worth it.  We don't have a root cellar or cold room, so this is easiest way to preserve the amount of carrots we grow.

Left outside until the weekend of September 22nd: potatoes in the raised bed, few leeks, a few of the remaining cabbage (small ones), a few beets.

Bea and Loulou resting after a strenuous weekend of overseeing the speedy harvest... 

Romeow (actually named, "Freddy") is a neighbourhood kitty who is a frequent visitor to our yard.  He likes our house and cat food, too...