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... 

A Tad Early...

First Frost

    The first frost was forecast to hit last night, so we covered as much as we could, focusing on the tomatoes, summer squash, and some of the bush beans.  There wasn't much we could do to protect the winter squash in the "jungle" (East garden).  The plants are too sprawling and frankly, we don't have that many old sheets! 

These pictures were taken around 8:00pm last night:

   The first thing I did this morning was look out of the window.  There were thick, white sparkles on the sheets covering my plants.  Arhg!   I took a quick look around the yard.  Not too closely, mind you, as I still want to maintain a certain degree of denial.  I have a feeling the winter squash (North Georgia Candy Roasters) plants and my beautiful dahlias all got zapped.  Time will tell; the sun will be fully up in an hour or two.

These were taken around 7:30am this morning:

Carrot tops

"Illumination" Zinnia

Frost-tinged winter squash leaves.  Uh-oh.   :(

One of the dahlia plants, still in a bit of shade.

12:00pm - I spent the last hour pulling out and composting the zapped North Georgia Candy Roaster vines.  Two small squash had sections on them that were frozen, so those were composted as well.  Here is what I ended up with.  The vast majority are much smaller than this squash's potential.  These could have used another solid 3 weeks of warmth and sunshine.  All are still pale yellow and their skin is extremely soft - softer than than skin of the zucchini when we harvested it.  I have them set out on the step in the sun and hope that they will cure.

    The zucchini plants were zapped, as were the tips of almost all the tomato plants even though they had been covered with sheets.  Strangely enough, the Early Prolific squash plants at the back of the house made it through the night unscathed.  It looks like several days of rain are headed our way at the end of the week, which means I will have to bring the dry bean pods indoors even though it is pretty early to be harvesting those, too.  (If they get wet for a prolonged period of time at this stage, the beans sprout in the pod and/or develop mold). 


No leisurely entry into September this year!

Carrot Cake Jam

A few jars of the Carrot Cake Jam I made yesterday.   The house smelled heavenly!  Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, pears...this is such a nice recipe for the Fall.  :-)

Cherry Jam

   Yesterday, I made a small batch of cherry jam using a recipe from the Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving (which is now spiral-bound!  My paperback copy gets held open with a pot lid).  The closest recipe I could find online is from the Bernardin Home Canning site.  It differs slightly from the one in my book, which mentions the option to add 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (which I did), 1/2 tsp ground cloves (which I didn't), and/or 1/4 cup of amaretto liqueur (which I should have).

   I am always happier with how my relishes, pickled garlic, dilly beans, and fruit butters turn out than my jams.  Granted, I have only made jam twice.  This year's turned out better than last year's, but there is room for improvement.  Last year's batch tasted lovely, but it was so full of tiny bubbles that it looked more like pink cherry mousse than cherry jam.  I read several articles online, watched a few videos, and reread the recipe 5 times to make sure I was doing things correctly.  The result was a darker, less mousse-like jam, but I can still see some bubbles in it.  I read some more articles and posted on a forum asking more experienced canners their advice.  I discovered that the trick is to add 1/2 tsp of butter to the pot of ingredients before the mixture is brought to a boil!  I hadn't planned to make more jam - I eat very little of it - but I am tempted to make another batch just so I can use this trick.  If I do, it will be this one for Carrot Cake Jam.

 

Curled Up With The Squash

Bea snoozing in the plant room.

End of August

   
   While my fingers are crossed for an Indian Summer, in practical terms, I am starting to wrap up what I can in the garden in case an early-September killer frost is on the horizon.  Relishes are being canned,  produce frozen and dehydrated.  The apples on our tree are ready to be picked (they fall to the ground if you look at the tree sideways), so apple maple crisp is in our near future.  

   The garden performers of the year seem to be the cabbage, and if things continue to go well, the tomatoes, potatoes, Early Prolific Squash, and North Georgia Candy Roasters.   And sunflowers!  Underwhelming producers were the peas (we ended up with a total of 23 lbs 4 oz, shelled), and string beans (they never do well in the South garden).  The cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, beets, and snap pole beans fell somewhere in the middle.  Best described as, "As expected".  Time will tell how the dry beans do.  R. picked a total of 30 lbs 13 oz of raspberries before he finally had enough for the season and stopped!

    Every summer brings us a different insect that makes working outdoors a little challenging (e.g., wasps, gnats, cabbage moths - even grasshoppers, one year).  The Pest of the Year this summer was the mosquito.  They were thick and thirsty.  

   Dozens of robins have appeared in the last 48 hours.  They are delightful to watch and listen to.  They sound happy!  Their time is being spent poking around the garden (especially the North garden, which we have already pulled up) and flying between the trees.

   R. managed to connect with a woman on Facebook who lives in the area and who had straw to trade.  Finally!  This is the third year we have tried to find someone with square bales who could - and would - deliver.  She dropped by this morning with 4 bales and we traded 8 lbs of frozen raspberries for them.  Some of the straw will be used in our little cat shelter this winter, and the rest will be used to mulch the garden next Spring.

Pink Dahlias

Early Annie tomato

Damascus Steel tomato

Dwarf Roza Vetrov tomato

Black Krim tomato

Work Release Paste tomato

Amana Orange tomato

Malachite Box tomato

Russian Rose tomato

Heirloom carrots

L - R....Rosemary and English Thyme

Lou having a nice stretch

South side of the house

South side of the house

South side of the house, outside plant room

Dahlias - these ones are prolific!

South garden

South garden

Dwarf Sunspot sunflower and bee

Assorted dahlias & Mammoth sunflower

Illumination zinnias - smaller than expected, but pretty.

Swedish Brown and Purple Amish Gnuttle beans drying

A wonky Lunar White carrot

A few Small Wonder spaghetti squash by the flower bed

Loulou likes hiding in the dry beans!

"The Jungle" (East garden) - lots of sunflowers!

"The Jungle" - sunflowers, winter squash...

...and rogue potatoes, borage, tomatoes, kale, marigolds, and pole beans

North Georgia Candy Roaster Squash

Fingerling potatoes gone wild. Hope they're as productive as they look!