Darn did done it again!

Well I did it again.... waited too long to harvest.

Last night we had an unexpected snow. It was only supposed to be rain according to the forecast but after supper I looked out and realized there was a good inch of sloppy wet white stuff out there. We ended up getting a couple inches but today the sun is out and it's melting fast!

I've decided to let it melt a day and then go see what I can salvage of the carrots, beets, kale and leek. I'm sure the carrots, beets and leek are fine, but I'm not sure I'll get any beet greens or kale. We'll see tomorrow.

One of these days I'll learn. LOL!

Halloween and still gardening

So far the fall has been kind and even though there have been some chillier nights lately the garden is still going strong. I harvested the eggplant and the parsley this week because the temps were supposed to get down to freezing and I didn't want to lose them. There's still kale, beets, carrots, leeks and some of the hardier herbs in the garden to keep us going for awhile yet though.

Now I play the gambling game of when to harvest the last of the garden. The 10 day forecast is all over the place. I think I'll be ok though without finishing the garden off yet. Last year when I played this game I lost. The temps dropped for several days during a time when I was extremely busy and couldn't get out to the garden so the ground froze with the veggies in it. I'm not doing that again this November.

My goal is to harvest the last of the garden over the next two weeks. That way I should be able to prep the soil some before winter. We'll see how well I manage my time though....

What? I can't harvest the Sage?

I planted Sage in the herb garden this year because we LOVE Pesto and I thought I'd try Sage Pesto. I'd found a great deal on end of summer clearance and since Sage is Perennial I thought I'd take advantage of the cheap price (something like $2) and give it a whirl. Considering that it was planted in August it's grown really well, I think I've made a good choice.

Having never grown Sage before and with it getting close to the end of the garden season, I thought I'd research to see how much of the plant I can harvest without killing it. Good thing I did! Apparently you're not supposed to harvest much of the plant in the first year. Great! No Sage Pesto this year.

So from my research, what I need to do is mulch the plant really well with something like leaves. In the spring when I uncover it I need to prune it to shape the plant. Then midsummer is when I can have my harvest I'm wishing for. Given it's hardy nature, and if it grows well in our climate, I may push my luck and try for two harvests.

For now I'm going to enjoy a few leaves here and there and look forward to a yummy harvest next year.

Leeks, Leeks and more leeks

I love leeks, they are a delicious accompaniment to many dishes so last year I tried to grow them from seed that I planted directly into my garden bed, no luck! So this year I bought a few packs of the starter plants and whalla! Leeks, Leeks and more leeks!

One thing I did not do is pile the soil up around the leek as it grew, but somehow even through my neglect, I still have a mess of lovely leeks. I've pulled a few this year to use in various dishes but I still have many left. From what I've read, the leeks are good through frost so I'm planning to leave the full harvest until well into November and deal with them just before the ground starts to freeze. Of course I'll be harvesting what I need as I need it, and we'll see how much is left in November.

For now I've been making spinach and leek fritatta's  and I plan to make a large pot of potato and leek soup to freeze. I'm going to have to find some more recipes though or some way to keep them for later use after I harvest them. Sounds like they'll keep for a couple weeks in the fridge... maybe I'll just have to make a lot of meals with leek this fall/early winter.

Fruit Fly trap

Anyone who enjoys having fresh produce around has most likely been pestered by the annoyance of fruit flies. Several years ago a friend of mine told me how to make a fruit fly trap and I couldn't live without it now during late summer/fall.

All you need is some sort of jar, here I'm using a pint jar, and in the bottom add a bit of some produce that you no longer need. I recommend using whatever it is that the fruit flies in your house love. In my house it's banana's, tomatoes and red wine. Then take a piece of paper and shape it into a funnel that will go almost to the bottom of the jar, not touching, and will fill the mouth of the jar. Make sure the point of the funnel is not a big hole but not too tiny either. The goal is to let the fruit flies in but not make it easy to get out. Tape the funnel enough to keep together. Then using a good strong tape, either packing or duct tape, tape the funnel to the jar so that you have a really good seal from which nothing can escape. If you have too much paper sticking above the jar you can cut this off. Then use some tape to make sure that there are no escape routes from your funnel, usually where the side of the paper meet together, don't forget to check the top too.

Whalla! You have one very nasty looking but highly effective fruit fly trap. Keep on the counter for about a week and then dispose.... or in my case take outside, clean out and then reuse the jelly jar.

Time for the tomato plants to go

I finally did it, I tore out the tomato plants today including the volunteer roma that was growing in the compost bin. I now have a large bucket of green tomatoes to decide what to do something with. I'm sure I'll make some fried green tomatoes (the healthier kind of frying) but what else? I'm trying to decide between chow-chow and dutch relish.

The fun surprise of tearing out the volunteer tomato plant on the side of the compost bin was that I discovered not one but two avocado trees growing there also.... volunteers of course! I have pulled them out and replanted them in pots, hopefully they continue to grow.

Crazy Weather and Basil Pesto

Today's forecast is 85F and we'll be running the AC, which is just crazy in October. Last year this weekend we had a frost advisory for which I lovingly covered my garden in sheets, only to discover 2 inches of wet snow the next day.

To add misery to the mix, there had been wind that night that blew my sheets off some of the herbs and I lost my basil which I discovered is far too tender for cold weather. I did of course make an attempt to try and save the basil by researching the internet. Several sites suggested that a person could still dry the leaves in the dehydrator so I cleaned the dark soggy leaves as best I could and put them in the dehydrator. No luck. They did dry but into flavorless black things that were not fit for use.

Having learned that lesson, I made sure I harvested my basil last weekend when they issued a frost advisory. I clipped out all the basil stalks, washed them carefully in the sink to get rid of all the bugs and dirt, and laid them on layers of tea towels to dry. It turned out that we did not get frost that night but it was good to force me to make the pesto, lots, and get it into the freezer for the winter.

This time I made Sun-dried tomato basil pesto. It's hard to share the recipe because I'm an experimental cook but pretty much it was:
- 1/2 Costco size jar of sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
- cake mixing bowl 3/4 full of basil leaves that had the stems pinched off
- 5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
- about 2 cups of parmesan cheese
- lots and lots of olive oil, pour freely

Process until well blended. I use the blender although it's more challenging and would be a lot easier with a food processor (which is on my wish list).

When do I call the season over?

Well it's almost the end of September and I'm debating on when to call the season over and pull everything out. Timing is everything in order to maximize the results of the garden.

Two years ago was milder and I left the carrots and beets in until November because they were a second planting that I was trying to grow. These didn't develop enough for my liking but I did enjoy the beet greens. That year I ended up pulling the tomatoes in late October because I had them coming out my ears. My freezer was full of tomatoes for salsa and I had made batches also.

Last year was a completely different story. We had an early snowfall mid-October that killed a lot of my herbs so I didn't get to make as much pesto for the freezer as I'd like to have. I had covered the plants with sheets knowing there was a chance of a light frost but it turned out to be windy and a heavy wet snow. The tomatoes survived without being destroyed but I had to pull the plants because the leaves weren't going to make it. After that day the weather was milder again into November and I took a chance on the second seeding of carrots and beets again. This time I pushed my luck too much though. Mid-November we had a week of really cold weather and by the weekend when I had time to dig them up, the ground was frozen.

So the debate begins again.... When to call the garden done? I know for sure I'm going to harvest herbs and make the batches of pesto before mid-october, but when to pull everything else. For now I think I'll let time decide... or more aptly put, when I have time I'll decide.

the empty space

Now that the insects have had their way with the zucchini in my garden (and the zucchini lost), I have a large empty space and quite a bit of gardening season left. At the moment I'm researching if it's a good idea to seed something else after this insect has devasted that part of my garden. Initial readings are leading me to believe I'm ok with something simple like lettuces (always needed and never enough garden for this). I think I'll research this some more before the weekend in an attempt to not waste time... cause that would be a fun change of pace :)

In the meantime, my eggplant is really starting to thrive. I'm not sure if it's the weather change of the fact that there's more room and sunshine now that the zucchini is out of the way... I'm afraid I didn't allow enough space in my planting. Now that I've had a fill of zucchini, maybe I'll get to enjoy the rest of the season with a fill of eggplant.

Learned a new word today... frass :(

About a week ago my zucchini started losing leaves, this weekend there seemed to be some sort of disaster going on. After researching on the internet I found out that I have frass… the results of squash vine borer. So that’s the end of the zucchini. I’m not too upset though I’ve gotten more than the seed cost of harvest so far this year, I was just hoping for a few more.
Next year I’m going to look at some prevention techniques. I was reading about several methods from floating row covers to creative usage of women’s panty hose.

In the beginning...

In the beginning there was dirt, a big sunny backyard in the city and a desire to save money while enjoying fresh veggies. Ok, a bit dramatic, I know.

Over the years I’ve had several failed attempts to have a garden in the backyard, but in the last… oh about 4 years, I’ve been much more successful, well in relation to my failures it’s what I call successful.

It started with one small raised bed in the center back along the fence. Then a couple years later I talked the hubby into extending the raised bed on either side. Not long after we setup a compost bin, and then this year another raised bed. Slowly but surely I’m transforming the backyard into a vegetable garden…. albeit, not a pretty one.

This year’s tomato plants are sprawled all over. We were gone on vacation for a couple weeks during their major growth period and I wasn’t here to tie/stake them up. On top of that there were high winds. The result, sprawled tomato plants! Fortunately that hasn’t stopped them from producing and I’ve canned 6 quarts of sauce so far, and it’s still early in the season. Speaking of which, I need to go harvest them…