A Touch of Frost

   It is a chilly, misty morning, tinged with the smell of smoke in the air from wildfires in the province.  It got down to zero overnight for the second night in a row.  I harvested most of the tomatoes on September 11th, the day before the first frost of the season (Indigo Pear Drops are the only tomato plants still in-ground). 

   Sunflowers in the East garden/potato patch.  The tall ones are Lemon Queen, the short ones are Sunspot.

 

 A little volunteer sunflower grew in the compost bin.  :)

 

   These are the Galeux D'Eysines plants earlier in the month.  We covered the squash, but most of the plants were zapped by frost overnight on the 12th.  We harvested them that morning.

 

 

   Usually, the Galeux D'Eysines give us 6-8 squash, but this year we got four.  Happy to have them!  They'll stay in the plant room until their skins toughen up and then they'll be placed somewhere cool for storage.

 

   The Burpee's Butterbush plants earlier this month (with Taiyo sunflowers in the back).  I completely forgot to cover things in the garden last night before going to bed.  Seeing the frost this morning, my heart sank.  Presumably, the plants got zapped.  Fingers crossed that the squash themselves made it through the frost unscathed. 

  

   I made a beeline for the cabbage bed this morning upon realizing I'd forgotten to cover things in the garden last night.  I breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the cabbage intact, and thought, "The deer must not have come by last night".  The next moment, turning to walk back to the house, I saw a little face with large ears peeking at me from behind the house!  The deer was either behind the house, or in the alley behind the house.  By the time I got to the back of the property, it was gone.

   The cabbage didn't get very large this year and several were chewed by deer.  This red cabbage (along with a huge, gorgeous red cabbage given to me by friends) ended up in a Spiced Red Cabbage canning recipe.  That was a lengthier and more tedious project than anticipated.  It smelled wonderful, though, like mulled red wine at Christmas. 

   

   Ah, the Late Flat Dutch cabbage.  What was I thinking, with the word "late" right there in it's name?  The heads are still very small.  The plants will remain in the raised bed as long as possible.  It would have been better to grow Brunswick or any of the early varieties (Golden Acre, Copenhagen, Cuor di Bue).

A few of the sunflowers that were munched on by The Midnight Snacker.

   R. dug up a few potatoes last night to have mashed with supper.  Delicious!   Most of the potatoes will remain in the ground until the plants are killed by heavy frosts.  The carrots will be harvested in the next week or two.

   Making up for being away last summer, I went on a bit of a preserving spree this year. Blueberry Lime jam, crabapple and raspberry jellies, mint jelly, Dilled relish, Zesty Zucchini relish, Cucumber Relish (I usually substitute zucchini), Spiced Red Cabbage, and a few jars of tomato sauce.  Some of the jellies and relishes have made their way to Nova Scotia this month.  If a zucchini and pepper fairly left a basketful of each, it would be tempting to keep making relishes.  They're so tasty!