I’m not sure what I like more, the anticipation of gardening season during the late winter months {starting seedlings indoors, planning out what I’ll be growing} doing the actual planting, or the gardening and harvesting itself. But what I do know is, there’s also satisfaction in cleaning up the garden in the fall as well.
Yesterday as I picked peppers in the garden for our dinner quesadillas, I took a moment to look around at what was still growing in the vegetable in the garden… and really, it’s not much. 2 Sun Gold tomato plants, a few pepper plants, winter squash, some lettuce and radish seedlings and well, that’s about it. The cooler temps have arrived, and I am sooo ready for them to settle in and stay awhile.
Last night I picked the last sunflower bouquet of 2020.
And then cut down the remaining sunflower heads to toss onto the compost heap for the squirrels.
I even emptied the hanging baskets of their spent flowers…
I think the baskets have another year or two left in them though, so I’ll hang on to them and refill them next summer.
I also pulled up the cabbage… it didn’t do so well.
Slugs in Maine! Who knew? We had them all the time in the PNW but this was the first time I’ve seen slugs since we’ve moved to New England. When we lived in Washington I kept the slugs at bay with Sluggo, I guess this means I’ll have to add it to my supply list for next year if I want to grow cabbage again.
The butternut squash though… they’re on fire! I harvested the first one last night. And with over a dozen more left to harvest, I don’t think we’ll have to buy any squash this winter. 😉
And Cindy, the biggest of my Cinderella pumpkins… Ain’t she a beauty? I’m tempted to pick her now and see if she’ll ripen on the porch but I think we’ve still got another week or two before we’ll see any sort of frost, so I’ll just leave her be for now.
Is your vegetable garden on it’s last leg too or are you still harvesting like mad? Do you plan to grow veggies this winter under a cold frame or a tunnel? Curious minds want to know.
Fall, it’s here, and I am THRILLED. 🙂
Have a wonderful day everyone,
~Mavis
Peggy says
I’m making tomato and tomato products from the Ball Blue Book so I can have the taste of summer tomatoes in January and February. It’s a mood lifter to open a jar and smell summer.. Today is ‘Brushetta in a Jar’ and cooking tomates down for puree and firgure out what else I’d like to make.
Amy says
Thanks for the inspiration for Brushetta in a Jar – I have just enough romas to make it and I’m tired of processing tomato sauce!
Jimmi says
I’m still holding out on a little warm weather here in very upstate Ny. My tomatoes and peppers need more time. I still have radishes, beets and carrots in the garden and I’m still picking small shoots from my broccoli plants on the regular! I still have a couple hanging baskets on the porch, but brought my houseplants in last week. Oh, and I’m trying a cover crop in the garden for the first time where the zucchini and cucumbers were.
Amy says
I’m in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Zone 5b), close to Lake Superior.
Finishing up putting up my tomatoes for winter (I also made your green tomato curry sauce!) and harvested a large amount of spinach last night – it was delicious with garlic and lemon.
I still have pak choi, frisee, beets, watermelon radishes and kohlrabi growing. I still need to plant my garlic. The trees are changing color at least 2 weeks early and the general feeling is that snow will be sooner too. Can’t wait for snowshoeing and sauna-ing!
Margo says
Zone 10 here . I’ve got radish, lettuce , scallion, parsley, and celery coming up or almost ready to eat. Will be planting broccoli, chard, garlic, collards, carrots, and more this coming week and hoping for cooler temps. 85 today, upper 90’s next week. Hope it’s the last of the furnace blasts for a while.
Brenda says
Can you just peel a few layers of the cabbage leaves off to get to a slug-free layer? The outer leaves always look like yucky on my cabbages from the CSA.
Who type of sunflower is that in your bouquet? It looks like the perfect size!
Mavis Butterfield says
Normally yes, but these little buggers dug in all the way to the core. 🙁
Joely says
My fall garden is growing and will hopefully continue for a while before the frost comes. after that I will plant some mache and spinach to overwinter in a coldframe and do some indoor hydroponic gardening as well as sprouting in the cooler months. I am enjoying lots of salads, carrots, beets, a few side shoots of broccoli and mustard greens along with a few snap peas. the slugs are my nemesis this time of year!
wil verbaas( a woman) says
We live in the netherlands so autum has also started here,we still have tomatoes in the polytunnel,just like various of herbs,in the vegtable garden there are brussel srouts,kale,palm cabbage,and red and white cabbage,chard,summer and winter carrots,some new zealand spinach.the last zucchini and pumpkins,various of pappers and sweet peppers,the last of the cuccumbers,bleacher celery,various of lettuce and endive,appel and pears,also stewed pears,figs and pineapple cherries,4 type of grapes.chicory and parsnips and more of what i forgot.
I will soon be sowing in the polytunnel,spinach,lamb’s lettuce,radishes,porcelain,the freezers ar full(2) of summer vegtables and fruit.
pots wiht sweet and sour pickles,beetroot,stewd pears,chutney’s enz.
The stock of the freezers i will not write down that would ben a longgggggggggg list
joely says
Wow!
wil verbaas says
brussel sprouts it was
Mel says
We’re still picking tomatoes (mostly White Currant–that one plant has cranked out close to 1000 tomatoes this year, and it will not quit), but I need to pull them soon. It’s gotten too cool in Zone 7B to ripen the larger green varieties left on the vines, and I’m late getting my fall veggies in. I pulled our green beans this weekend and planted sprouting broccoli and some kale, but I still have more kale and broccoli, chard, mustard, and collards that need to go in ASAP. We also planted our garlic this weekend.
I picked my first ever butternut squash today! I think it is okay, but it does have some sort of gray spots underneath, so I hope those aren’t the beginning of mold. It will be a race to frost for the others. They still have green streaks and stems, but the vine is completely overrun with squash bugs, and we just cannot get rid of them.
Lori says
I hate that gardening season is coming to an end. Left to harvest are; Brussel sprouts, winter kale and butternut squash. The rest of the vegetable garden has been cleaned up and the chickens are happily turning the soil for me. The flower gardens I don’t trim up, the birds like picking the seeds and my bees are finding the last bit of pollen and nectar. I live in New England and to keep slugs away I use crushed egg shells. Just crush them up and put them around your plant that you don’t want the slugs to get. Slugs will not crawl over the egg shells because they are sharp and it cuts them. Just make sure no leaves are touching the ground so they can’t get in your plant that way. Works great with no pesticides. You gotta love fall in New England!
Granny B says
I have green beans getting close to picking and some radishes. Other than that I AM DONE. The garden wasn’t quite done but I was out of steam. I picked 7 tomatoes that were ripening and maybe 40 that were green, so I chunked those up and put 2 gallon bags full in the freezer so we can have fried green tomatoes all winter long!! Yummy!!
Shirley says
Let me tell you about a little secret to.get rid of slugs….they love beer. Set it out in something they can crawl into when they smell it and they will drown. Also, I wanted to tell you about my findings today
I went to recycle some things today and lo and behold someone had set a glass bowl and some drinking glasses and of course I grabbed them right up.
Dianne says
Hi Mavis,
How do you store your squash for the winter months?
Pam says
I’m in Michigan. I have been keeping my jalapenos and Corno del Toro peppers under a plastic row cover and they are still doing well. My jalapenos are flowering like crazy right now! It will be interesting to see how long I can keep them going. Other than that my garden is done for the year.
Noslo says
Here in your old stomping grounds of the PNW it’s been a difficult year for gardens. That butternut looks awesome. I have squash envy.