What Did You Do In The Garden?

[digitS']

I know of a Colorado gardener who cuts her tomato plants off at the ground level and hangs them indoors, in her garage. She puts some kind of cushions on the floor beneath them in case any fruit falls off.

She does this each year and grows them deliberately for this process, choosing varieties that really need longer growing seasons than what her area has to offer.

In time, I imagine that it freezes in her garage but maybe it is late enough that she rescues her crop. Also, I am sure that some varieties that have fruit that readily comes off the stems would not be suitable for handling like this.

Steve

 

[Jane23]

I have harvested about half the tomatoes from the plants. I will look further into it as I do not yet have the spay to hang tomato plants. I remember reading something about picking them and putting them on a plate that goes in and out of the house. Either way, the temperatures are getting too low at night for most of this to keep going.

 

[flowerbug]

it was cool today but good enough weather to get out and clean up part of a garden to get it ready for winter. felt nice to be doing something different and my body likes doing some digging to get the garden debris buried. was happy to see worms.

bean plant roots did their normal good job on the garden soil, could easily tell where the rows were planted.

 

[digitS']

Hands nearly froze during the 45 minute harvest scramble before turning the water on the garden at 8am. It was 40°f (4°C) with no wind but it is forecast to be breezy over the next few days and that was a good enough reason to run the sprinklers this morning.

Lots of things are on their way out. I don’t remember having ever thought that it is too cool for the broccoli but it is probably just the variety, unsuitable for conditions.

Saw the first coyote of the year about 1 mile from the garden. I successfully flooded out the mice in the tomatoes so he shouldn’t have a purpose there. Something, probably a marmot, tried digging under the stakes stacked in the garden but neither marmot nor rabbits have been a big problem this year. Maybe getting along okay without Wiley in 2022.

Steve

 

[Jane23]

Hands nearly froze during the 45 minute harvest scramble before turning the water on the garden at 8am. It was 40°f (4°C) with no wind but it is forecast to be breezy over the next few days and that was a good enough reason to run the sprinklers this morning.

Lots of things are on their way out. I don’t remember having ever thought that it is too cool for the broccoli but it is probably just the variety, unsuitable for conditions.

Saw the first coyote of the year about 1 mile from the garden. I successfully flooded out the mice in the tomatoes so he shouldn’t have a purpose there. Something, probably a marmot, tried digging under the stakes stacked in the garden but neither marmot nor rabbits have been a big problem this year. Maybe getting along okay without Wiley in 2022.

Steve

My husband and I did a concrete pour for a new pole barn/garage. We did it all ourselves, with a few neighbors helping. In preparation, I took the week off of work and helped my husband cut and assemble the wood for the concrete forms, snapping together rebar and ensuring we have a pit for oil changes and other vehicle work.

Our temperatures dropped in the middle of that activity, so I was scrambling around my garden, "rescuing" my ripe tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini. We will have a bit more warm weather, but I am glad I was able to prepare before my concrete work as I think I would have lost quite a bit of what I grew.

I am glad you got to your garden before those temperatures or the various critters did. Will you be planting anything for winter?

 

[digitS']

It has been a remarkable growing season, @Jane23 . Not so much good, as different and ... it continues.

At a not so distant airport, the WS says that we have had the warmest 5 weeks for this time of year on record - averages, not so much daily highs. This is like the reverse of our May-June. We are running very late for a first frost and some areas are forecast to have one this week but it doesn't look like for here! As usual, however, it is the daily high/low bounces that make things difficult for the garden plants.

Whether the tractor guy shows up this Fall has entirely to do with property owner at the distant garden. He has had both our gardens tilled about 1 November in each of the last 2 years. I can usually beat the tractor guy to the garden in the Spring and handle the tilling, myself. I don't dare leave any crops in the ground to overwinter.

If I was more of a spinach fan, I would have some of that seed on hand for the 3 beds here at home. As it is, I overwinter kale and, of course, the garlic has been planted. These are actually fairly new processes since my favorite kale (Portuguese) can't seem to make it through our winters and I'm not much oriented to growing garlic because we don't use very much in cooking. Amaranth will volunteer ...

That reminds me. Despite a very long growing season, my ONE volunteer tomato left to grow is loaded with large cherry size tomatoes but a volunteer tomato is once again likely to fail to ripen in the garden. The fruit size reminds me of Sweet Chelsea but I have not grown that variety for several years out there. Usually, volunteers are likely to be from the Sweet 100's but this is waaay bigger and I will usually have a few ripe tomatoes from what I suspect are those volunteer offspring - (usually very few). Coyote has been my very best volunteer, IN FACT, Coyote seems to prefer to volunteer than be started indoors. Be that as it may, I didn't have any last year so coyote has gone missing in more ways than one .

Steve

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Today was the day for fall garden planting! We planted carrots, radish, arugula, mezuna, lettuce, beets, cabbage, broccoli, bok Choi, tatsoi and chard. Kids and husband helped and it was such a beautiful day! We also harvested all the peppers and even dug up and potted up some pepper plants to overwinter. I'm tired. Making pizza now for dinner.

 

[Jane23]

It has been a remarkable growing season, @Jane23 . Not so much good, as different and ... it continues.

At a not so distant airport, the WS says that we have had the warmest 5 weeks for this time of year on record - averages, not so much daily highs. This is like the reverse of our May-June. We are running very late for a first frost and some areas are forecast to have one this week but it doesn't look like for here! As usual, however, it is the daily high/low bounces that make things difficult for the garden plants.

Whether the tractor guy shows up this Fall has entirely to do with property owner at the distant garden. He has had both our gardens tilled about 1 November in each of the last 2 years. I can usually beat the tractor guy to the garden in the Spring and handle the tilling, myself. I don't dare leave any crops in the ground to overwinter.

If I was more of a spinach fan, I would have some of that seed on hand for the 3 beds here at home. As it is, I overwinter kale and, of course, the garlic has been planted. These are actually fairly new processes since my favorite kale (Portuguese) can't seem to make it through our winters and I'm not much oriented to growing garlic because we don't use very much in cooking. Amaranth will volunteer ...

That reminds me. Despite a very long growing season, my ONE volunteer tomato left to grow is loaded with large cherry size tomatoes but a volunteer tomato is once again likely to fail to ripen in the garden. The fruit size reminds me of Sweet Chelsea but I have not grown that variety for several years out there. Usually, volunteers are likely to be from the Sweet 100's but this is waaay bigger and I will usually have a few ripe tomatoes from what I suspect are those volunteer offspring - (usually very few). Coyote has been my very best volunteer, IN FACT, Coyote seems to prefer to volunteer than be started indoors. Be that as it may, I didn't have any last year, so coyote has gone missing in more ways than one .

Steve
View attachment 52534

Our growing season started late as it would not stop raining or snowing. I think the end of June saw our temperatures rise above 70. My tomatoes are still green on the vine, and we probably won't have many more good days. I have brought in what I can and will slowly work with them.

I spent much of the summer building garden beds or working. I have a couple now and hope to build one more at some point, though that might be next year. The raised beds keep the hordes of rabbits that live around me out of my garden, though it does provide a convenient platter for the deer. It also lessens the chance the wild horses will step on them, as we are still fencing them out.

I think our winter, like our summer, will sneak up and hit us. I think we will make it to November before the first snow, but there is no guarantee, as last year, our first snow was on October 12th. My kale will be happy at least either way,

 

[flowerbug]

My tomatoes are still green on the vine, and we probably won't have many more good days. I have brought in what I can and will slowly work with them.

pick what you can bring in before they get damaged by the cold and they will gradually ripen, but keep an eye on them for any that might try to spoil early. we've done this several times. we didn't even put them in bags or anything just set them out on a table where they'd have enough air around them. that is, don't pile them together just set them out.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Dug up about half of the sweet potatoes. More to go. Another light frost expected tonight. I need a place to store all these goodies. My pantry is a giant mess and I don't have time to organize it