In the Garden, Weeks 16 & 17

I can hardly believe that tomorrow is the first day of autumn. But look what I harvested from my side yard this past week…Yep, Japanese lanterns. It’s a sure sign that fall is here. Another tell-tale sign? The condition of my community garden plot. Sheesh. I’m embarrassed about the state of my tomato plants, and have been for weeks, but they’re still limping along. I’ve gradually been pulling plants as they die off, just to keep things tidy.

I have to admit that at this time of year, I’m always a bit relieved that we’re nearly to the end of gardening season. I feel kind of sheepish about it, but it’s the truth. After the profusion of harvest at the tail end of summer and all the hectic putting up of fruit and vegetables that comes with it, I’m ready to begin thinking about tucking the garden in for the growing season. It’s bittersweet. When I went to the garden before going out of town this past weekend, I expected to be overwhelmed with another couple of quarts of raspberries. But I only ended up picking about two cups, and the plants looked like they were starting to fade. I have plenty in the freezer, of course, and I can certainly make jam from those….but you know what I mean.

Last week I did make another batch of salsa, more pepperoncini, and some more pickled jalapenos. I also pulled the basil plants from my back flower boxes and made a batch of pesto, which I mixed with pasta, zucchini from the garden, onions, red, peppers, and a few garden tomatoes. Yum. And I decided to try something new with the raspberries…I’m using a couple of cups to infuse some white wine vinegar to use for salad dressing. Isn’t it pretty?

I’m continuing to enjoy the morning glories that have climbed up this old gate we use for a trellis. With the cooler temperatures lately these beauties have been blooming through most of the day.

On deck for the coming week…harvesting carrots and brussels sprouts, planting a row or two of lettuce, cooking up some of those beets in the fridge, and weeding the strawberry beds. Until then, keep yourself busy with a project from The Nitty Gritty Gardening Book. It’s the perfect time to force bulbs for holiday blooms!

In the Garden, Week 15

Here is my sunshine…some of it anyway. For the second week in a row I convinced Will to join me at the garden. He’s such a great helper, and much more particular than I am, which can be a good thing in the garden. Thanks to his careful, methodical seed sowing, we have a bumper crop of beets, which he harvested this week.

I’ve been trying to come up with some original ways to use beets. I’ve already roasted them and sliced them up for salads and pickled a couple of jars. A friend sent some great beet recipes in response to my post last week, so I plan to try a beet chocolate cake, a beet hummus, and these beet, black bean and brown rice burgers. YUM! Nice thing about the burgers is that they can be frozen, so we could be enjoying beets long into our cold northern winter.

The tomatoes continue to ripen and we come home with a healthy bagful each time we go to the garden. (This is one of the reasons I’ve driven the few blocks to the garden the last couple of trips! Nothing like trying to lug home a bag filled with tomatoes, beets, eggplants, swiss chard, and raspberries. I guess I could buck up and call it strength training, right?) With two big bowls of tomatoes sitting on the counter and a much cooler week ahead of us, I think I will be making some more salsa. The boys seem to really love it.

We’ve also been enjoying our homegrown Honeycrisp apples this week. I ended up picking them all on Thursday when I went to pull one from a tall branch and they all came tumbling down. Oops. But aren’t they lovely? They taste even better than they look. This is only our second full growing season, so we expect many more next year. I can’t wait! Here are “before and after” photos of the tree shortly after planting and a few of the apples we’ve been eating this week.

Before leaving the garden on Wednesday, I set this bouquet of sunflowers, asters, cosmos, and phlox into our watering can, more of a means of transporting them home than anything else. But I kind of liked how they looked so here they sit on our dining room table in the improvised vase.

Until next week, check out a few of the fall projects in The Nitty Gritty Gardening Book! This is a great time to plant an herb window box to set on your windowsill over the winter.

In the Garden, Week 14

Here it is…the first carrot of the season! My oldest planted the carrots, so harvesting a couple was especially rewarding. We also picked a few more beets (anyone have any great beet recipes?), many more tomatoes, two green peppers, swiss chard, a lovely eggplant, more jalapenos and yellow Hungarian wax peppers. We are nearly through the three jars of pepperoncini I made a few weeks ago, so I’ll likely do the same with this new batch…it is so easy and they are delish!

I also came home with about 12 cups of raspberries this week, so I made another batch of jam and I’ll probably make more raspberry ice cream to cool us off this week.

And, I made my first batch of roasted tomato sauce, from The Fresh Girl’s Guide to Easy Canning and Preserving by Ana Micka. Directions are for processing in a pressure cooker, but I freeze in containers for later use. The recipe includes beets for a little sweetness, but I love the pop of brilliant red that they add to the sauce as well.

In other exciting news, we picked and ate the first Honeycrisp apple of the season from the espalier apple tree in our yard. We bought the tree in May 2014 through Minneapolis Tree Trust, for a mere $25. It’s such a great program! I’m always amazed by how crisp and tasty apples are when eaten right off the tree. (In fact, just writing this makes me want to go out and grab one right now!) I doubt I’ll be doing any baking with these apples, because they are so good as is. There are 8 more ripening on the tree, and I’m looking forward to including a few in the boys’ lunch boxes.

I leave you with this photo I snapped of a monarch butterfly in our yard. I am seeing them everywhere this summer, and it makes me giddy! On the way home from the bus stop yesterday we counted three on one plant alone. Do your part to make your yard a haven for butterflies and other pollinators. Check out the Birds and Bees Garden project in The Nitty Gritty Gardening Book, available at Mother Earth Gardens, Millbrook Press, and through Amazon.