Garden thread

Well, the garden and produce is put to bed for the year. The only exception is that I still have watermelon radishes growing in the raised bed on the patio.

I pulled the tomato plants a couple of weeks ago and put the green tomatoes in a brown paper bag to get some of them to ripen. A few did so I took the green ones and the ones just starting to pink and made a batch of green tomato chutney. I was able to can 6 half pint jars.

Time to put up my feet in front of the fireplace and enjoy the fruits (and veggies) of my labor and start planning next year's garden.

New things I planted this year that I will do again:

• eggplant
• cucumbers
• pole beans

Been there, done that:

• potatoes

Changes:

• Add pickling cucumbers in addition to slicers
• Change the variety of basil
• Move the chives

Next year I should be getting even more fruit. The raspberries, blueberries, and grapes fruited for the first time this year.

Anyway, happy gardening for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere and happy winter planning for those in the Northern.

My chutney: (BTW, the Crock Pot is 40 years old and well used. I cannot get it perfectly clean anymore)

I will always grow beets. The ones I planted in July are almost big enough to start harvesting. My goal is to allow myself to eat a few every week or two at a pace that I pull the very last one about time to plant more. I expect I will harvest garlic in July, and it will just barely still be early enough to plant next winter's beets.

I will always plant peas. I'm not sure where I'll put them next spring unless I build more space. I'm full now. I also need to figure out where I'll stick a couple tomatoes. The bed next to the raspberries won't grow much of anything very well; it stays wet, and it's shaded by the grapes on one side, the raspberries on one side, and partially by the blueberries on the other side. I can grow spring greens if the soil there dries out. Maybe it will be a good place for a tomato. I wish I had more room for chilies. I never have much room for squash or cucumbers. The artichokes take up SO MUCH room, but I am not getting rid of them. I might dig up one or two if anyone needs to add one to their garden.

MsCzar wrote: »

Thinning the narcissus this week and will foist the bulbs on the unsuspecting.
BWAAHAHAHA!

LOL. I pruned my brugmansia in August and rooted the cuttings. It can be huge so I wouldn't foist one on an unsuspecting friend but I did some really good promotion. Found homes for both.

I sure do miss fresh vegetables. Buying tomatoes and cucumbers in the store now isn't the same and not worth the money.

MsCzar wrote: »

ReenieHJ wrote: »

I sure do miss fresh vegetables. Buying tomatoes and cucumbers in the store now isn't the same and not worth the money.

I don't mind the store-bought cukes so much, but those red rubber balls labeled as tomatoes get a hard NO.

I have an ongoing disagreement with a friend. My thesis is that those cardboard things that are sold as tomatoes in the off season should never be eaten. His thesis is that a store-bought tomato out of season is better than no tomato out of season. Tomatoes, to me, are seasonal. Same with artichoke, although I never buy those. Holy cranberries, no I don't ever buy those. I give them away! Asparagus -- in season only.

I've kind of been enjoying the Persian cucumbers. They don't hold long, but they have a nice mild flavor.

There's also really only a few weeks a year I will buy fresh corn. Or watermelons. One nice thing is that tomato season, at least here, is fairly long.

Some things are OK off season if frozen.

For me right now it's chanterelle season. Yum.

mtaratoot wrote: »

(snipsies)

Of course there's not many pollinators out now, so who knows if I will get a harvest. I'm cheering for the hummingbirds to help me out or maybe a nice sunny day when local beekeepers' little girls will come visti.

I thought peas were self-pollinating?

AnnPT77 wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

(snipsies)

Of course there's not many pollinators out now, so who knows if I will get a harvest. I'm cheering for the hummingbirds to help me out or maybe a nice sunny day when local beekeepers' little girls will come visti.

I thought peas were self-pollinating?

Then I'm in luck! Peas soon!

mtaratoot wrote: »

SuzanneC1l9zz wrote: »

Welp... I got super busy and didn't get my carrots or potatoes out of the ground before it froze. Will they be edible in the spring when it thaws? I'm guessing not, but wouldn't mind being pleasantly surprised.

How deep is the ground frozen? If its just an inch or two, I bet they'll be fine. The carrots might actually be sweeter.

I leave beets in the ground all winter, and of course garlic. To be sure, our soil typically doesn't freeze more than a foot, and not for all that long, but the roots are fine. Aren't carrots biennial? They have to survive underground to flower the second year. I understood that one thing that made potatoes such a popular sustenance in Ireland is that they could stay safely underground even when marauders came to burn and pillage. They couldn't steal all the food because it was safe underground.

Sounds like you are in a place where the soil will stay frozen for months without thawing. In that case... I don't know. It couldn't hurt to go check to see if the carrots are good to go.

Adding to this: People here who overwinter root crops in the ground usually do a thick straw mulch, then maybe some kind of cover to the mulch (landscape fabric or plastic). That has two effects: It limits the deep freezing right around the roots, and - maybe - allows some to be dug, with effort, during the Winter.

I'm not sure where you are, @SuzanneC1l9zz. I'm in mid-Michigan USA. It will get to -20F/-29C sometimes, and it is below freezing for many weeks to months, with many Winters having some several-day stretches below 0F (-18C) or thereabouts.

mtaratoot wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

(snipsies)

Of course there's not many pollinators out now, so who knows if I will get a harvest. I'm cheering for the hummingbirds to help me out or maybe a nice sunny day when local beekeepers' little girls will come visti.

I thought peas were self-pollinating?

Then I'm in luck! Peas soon!

I must have been having a brain fart last week. You too @AnnPT77. I'm a recovering scientist with an undergraduate in a biological field. Plant biology even. So I don't know why I forgot. I guess I was just being optimistic.

Peas are indeed self-pollinating. That doesn't mean they don't need help from a pollinator. It just means that flowers can be pollinated by themselves or other flowers on the same plant. They still need a visit from a bee, bird, or other insect.

Some plants that are less evolved (gymnosperms like pine trees, fir trees, cypress, and the like) don't require a pollinator to visit. They disperse their pollen on the wind. They make a lot of pollen. That's all the yellow stuff that covers everything in the spring. "Flowering plants," A.K.A. angiosperms need something to come say hi.

Pears are not self-pollinating, so you have to have at least two trees nearby each other.

I ain't gonna get no peas this fall. Go ahead. Correct my grammar. I care not. I will get beets though....