Beans, beets and tomatoes

Most of this week was spent managing the harvest and beginning to put the garden to rest. Since there is no frost expected for at least another two weeks, I've decided to leave lots of stuff to continue growing.

I did pull the last of the bush beans and harvested the first of the pole beans and froze them for a winter meal.

The tomatoes are just starting but there aren't enough to do anything with them except eat them fresh. So I took the ripest of the excess, cubed them and froze them. When we get enough to process, I'll thaw and put them through the mill.

There is a half decent grape crop this year but it needs a bit more time to ripen.

I did yank the rest of the beets and made some sweet pickles. I forget how much work and mess there is when pickling beets!

Apples and pesto

We're reaching the point where planting decisions are now starting to come back and haunt me.

The grape vine is looking like it will produce enough grapes this year to make a very small batch of jelly.

Jess helped me pick the last of the early apple tree last week.

We had about a third of the tree's production left. I made crisps and such but also cooked a bunch down to make apple sauce.

The extra sauce that wouldn't fit in the canner got turned into apple butter and canned later. I'll probably repeat this with the later tree once we harvest it (probably the last half of September).

Some of the peppers are ready enough to be incorporated in dinners.

The squash are in a race against the front. We might get this hubbard squash off.

The cucumbers were a wash out this year and I'll need to make better planting decisions with them next summer.

A friend gifted me a head of celery. We ate a few stalks and then I dehydrated the rest. It shrinks down to about half of a cup once the water is out.

I also harvested enough of the basil to make some garlic scape pesto to freeze for the winter months.

We've been trying to enjoy the garden as fall sets in and had out first autumn fire the other night. The huge squash patch in the background continues to grow.

There are a couple of pumpkins I'm feeling good about. Maybe also some butternut squash. The vines are sprawling and hiding little pumpkins everywhere, including two that are growing at chest height on raspberry canes.

Today's task is to deal with the first of the tomatoes. We're getting too many to eat but not enough to can (kind of a busy year for tomatoes in my garden) so I'm thinking of freezing them whole or chopped for later processing.

Plums, squash, tomatoes and melons

As we head into fall, the garden is hitting its stride. The sunflower patch is blooming, much to the delight of the bees. I'm hoping the cosmos will also put on a show out by the back gate.

I harvested the last of our plum crop, which was tasty but is mostly encouraging for the future.

We have a couple of squash on the go, including this on giant pumpkin that is presently beachball sized.

We are starting to see signs of a modest tomato harvest (not really hot enough, early enough for a good harvest).

Last week, I had written off the melon crop due to lack of heat. This week, I find seven small cantaloupes  on the vines. I dunno. Fingers cross the frost stays away until October.

I did some carrot thinning and froze a few bags of chopped carrots for use in the winter along with a few more green beans.

The apples are demanding attention and we have been making crisps and such.

I had to call out the reinforcements on the weekend when I made and canned five litres of apple pie filling.

I've also begun digging rough potatoes to eat. Most of the crop can stay in the ground for now.

Now back to apple picking.

Apples and potatoes

We've moved into apple season, with the early tree ready to harvest. We've been making crisps while I gird myself to make sauce and apple pie filling (it is too hot to can this week).

I've also pulled some herbs to dry in the garage.

For the first tie our plum trees have fruit. There are only four of the small yellow plums and one of the red one (which was delicious). But bigger harvests await.

I also dug the first two potato plants up this week to get some for dinner. Wow, fresh potatoes are amazing!

I don't think I have much time to do much this week beyond water as we have a short trip planned.

Sunflowers, tomatoes, beans

We're in a slow patch in the garden season. The sunflowers are out, finally, however, which is cheery.

Also some of the carrots we missed last year are flowering as we harvest the first of this year's crop.

Jenn and I took a trip to the Devonian Botanical garden and saw some amazing southern globe thistles.

Although we've been eating the beans, we did have enough for me to blanch and freeze some, maybe for Xmas dinner since we didn't have enough of a pea crop to do that this year.

The cherry tomatoes are also starting to ripen.

I picked a few to eat and they were amazingly sweet and tart.

I am coming to terms with the fact that we'll probably only get one lone squash this year (I think this is a giant pumpkin) and maybe no melons. Just not enough heat in July to get the plants flowering fast enough. Oh well!

This week I'm mostly doings one dead heading and watching the apples get bigger and redder. We may need to deal with some of them next week. I also have some dried fruit soaking in hooch to make Christmas cake.

Water, carrots, and beans

We spent much of this past week out of town paddling so this post will be brief. And the headline is all of the rain we've had. The picture below is of what came down overnight one evening!

The rain, coupled with the lack of heat, has meant a lot of growth in greenery but not much in terms of fruit. So no tomatoes yet and I fear the squash will not have enough time to mature even though the vines are really doing well.

There are a lot of flowers, though, including this wild onion.

And I have dill plants as tall as I am, which the bees are loving.

I did get a decent first harvest off the green beans and I need to plant more of these next year.

I also pulled some early carrots and we had a lovely meal with some potatoes and the last of the peas.

The garlic is mostly done curing, I trimmed it up and set aside next year's seed for planting this fall. The rest has gone into storage in the basement.

This week will entail getting back on top of the weeds, maybe thinning the carrots one last time, and giving some thoughts to reworking the raised beds in the back come autumn.