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.

 

 

Volunteer Squash and Effective Microorganisms

Though it’s a beautiful, sunny, mild morning, June, overall, has been cool and drizzly.  The cabbage, beets, peas, onions, leeks, and carrots have loved it.  The tomatillos, squash, and peppers, not so much.  The tomatoes are keeping a stiff upper lip but are hoping for consistently warmer and sunnier weather soon.

On the upside, we haven’t had to do much watering in recent weeks.

Our kitties enjoy sunbathing in the garlic patch, where they think nobody can see them.  Here is Little Lou at the edge of the garlic patch (North garden).  Cabbage is under floating row cover, more to protect it from deer than cabbage moths.

 

 

 'Green Beauty' snow peas at the edge of the South garden.

 

An Anaheim pepper, trying its best!

 

 

 Kale seedlings (I believe this is 'Frilly' kale, probably from Annapolis Seeds).

 

Batch of EM-1's ('Effective Microorganisms') mixed in April and allowed to ferment.  The garden will be watered with a diluted version of it in the next week or so.  

 

The recipe I used for the EM-1 mixture (written version at the end of this blog post) is from this video:

 

 

 

Early this week, R. discovered one of the tomato plants ('Kim’s Civil War Oxheart') in the East garden – the garden closest to the street – had the top bitten off.  That is a new one for us.  It must have been one of the young deer passing through with its mother.  It was one of three varieties I’d agreed to grow out for a tomato seed bank, so I will do what I can to nurture those plants through the summer.  We covered those tomatoes with floating row cover and trellised the other tomatoes in that garden (a shorter, determinate variety) with enough twine to hopefully discourage any further midnight snacking.

 

 

The winter squash transplants ('North Georgia Candy Roaster' and 'Burpee’s Butterbush') have been planted in raised beds.  Watermelon ('Blacktail Mountain') were planted in the middle of the East garden.  We’ll see how the watermelon fares; it will need more heat than we’ve been getting, and the transplants have remained quite small.

North Georgia Candy Roaster, with a few sunflowers coming up along the edge: 

 

Bachelor Buttons have begun to bloom, as have the few purple irises in the bathtub flowerbed.  

 

 

Bachelor Button

 

Two of the green zucchini ('Fordhook') have FINALLY germinated and shown themselves.  Still waiting on three others.  Older seed + cool temperatures = zucchini seeds giving me the plant kingdom’s version of the middle finger. The yellow zucchini ('Saffron', from Le Potager Ornementale de Catherine) germinated within days of being sown and the plants are going strong.

Most of the dry bush beans, the romano pole beans ('Early Riser' – also called, 'Nor’Easter' or 'Northeaster'), and snap beans have begun to sprout.  On a whim, I decided to plant a variety of bush bean I’d never grown before called 'Woods Mountain Crazy'.  It was older seed I’d received in a trade in 2016 or 2017.  I planted the beans in a window box.  I wasn't sure they would germinate but knew it would allow me to grow out the variety if even one plant matured.  To my surprise, all of them germinated.  A nice surprise.

The dry pole bean variety I planted ('Good Mother Stallard') was also older seed.  Unfortunately, none of that germinated, so I replanted with 'Dolloff', an heirloom variety descending from the classic Horticultural Lima bean.  I last grew it in 2019 and hope it is still viable enough to grow out this summer.  Originally purchased through Heritage Harvest Seed.

I planted beets on a whim and sowed them thickly, thinking the seed was too old to germinate.  Wrong!  The beets, kale, and other greens have had to be covered with netting to keep the sparrows from picking the leaves to pieces.  I don’t know if they actually eat the bits of leaves and petals they clip off, or if they’re just doing this for their own amusement.

 

 

The skirret is coming along nicely.  I am surprised the deer and sparrows have left it alone (*touch wood*…).

 

The potatoes are all up and looking good.

 

 

Three volunteer squash plants are going strong in one of the compost bins.  We are just going to let them grow.  Frankly, they look healthier and stronger than the ones I started from seed and planted in a raised bed.   Chances are, they are either Lower Salmon River or Galeux D’Eysines.

 

 

Several of the tomato plants have already started to grow little tomatoes:  Scotia, Amber, Favourie de Bretagne, Japanese Black Trifele, Javelin, and Katja.

 

Favorie de Bretagne

 

Katja

 

Japanese Black Trifele

 

Javelin

 

The summer savoury germinated really well this year (woohoo!) and bits have been transplanted into several raised beds.  I love the scent of it, and love the clouds of tiny pink flowers it produces towards the end of the season.   The marjoram did not germinate well this year, so I only have a few sprigs growing in a yogurt container for now.  It’s a fragile herb, so I’ve never put much effort into preserving it.  I do love the scent, though, and pinching off bits to add to salads.

 

Summer Savoury

 

Chives

 

Pineapple Sage

 

Sage in the corner, Jacob's Cattle beans coming up to the right.

Marjoram

Helpers

 

 

 

 

North garden (garlic patch, Katja tomatoes, Copenhagen cabbage, Fordhook zucchini, Queen of Malinalco tomatillos). 

 

 

 

Bags and pots: EM-Champion tomatoes, Scotia tomato, feverfew, carrots, potatoes. 

 

 

 

More pots, window boxes, and containers: dry bush beans (assorted varieties), romano pole bean ('Early Riser'), potatoes, and tomatoes ('Amber').

 

 

 

Pots along the north fence - tomatoes, Faux tomatoes, a few Anaheim peppers, Swedish Red cooking peas, and a zinnia or two.

 

 

 

 

EM-1 (Effective Microorganisms) Recipe

 

INGREDIENTS

 

A

 

·       1 L unsulphured/blackstrap molasses

·       1 L purified water (no chlorine – can be bottled water, rain water, etc.)

·       1 L Greek yogurt (live cultures, no additives)

·       3 egg whites

·       2 Tbsp dry yeast (mixed in some warm water to dissolve/activate)

 

B

 

·       1 gallon (4 L) purified water

·       2 cups fertile soil from your area/garden

 

EQUIPMENT

 

·       2 large glass or heavy plastic bottles/jars with lids (e.g., ~ 3L capacity each)

·       Fine sieve

·       Round coffee filters

·       Large, clean plastic bucket

·       Several plastic water jugs (4L capacity) and/or pop bottles (2L capacity)

·       2 or 3 large brown paper bags

 

PROCEDURE

 

1.     Combine base inoculant ingredients “A”.

2.     In a separate container, combine ingredients “B”.  Mix thoroughly and let settle for 2-3 hours.  Strain liquid and then add this liquid to the containers that are already holding the “A” mixture.

3.     Let combined mixture sit in a dark place for 1 month.  (Can cover jars with heavy grade brown paper bags to help keep out light.)

4.     Burp containers daily to prevent gas build-up.

5.     At the 1 month mark, mixture should smell sweet/sour.

6.     Pour mixture into several plastic water jugs or pop bottles, filling to ~1-2 inches from the top.  Store in a cool, dark place.  Burp every day or two to prevent gas build-up.

 

This mixture can be diluted and applied to the garden or houseplants.  (Different dilution rates for different purposes.  Check online for recommendations.