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!

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.

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.