Last Harvest from the Garden, Sprouting Time

[dado potato]

Today I harvested the last from the backyard garden, after two-or-three frost nights: kale. Good old kale.

My tradition is to begin now to grow sprouts. My favorite sprouts are daikon radish, alfalfa, and fenugreek. I grow a few other sprouts for variety, but those three will be my mainstays over the winter.

[razz]

I did some clean-up of the garden today. My climbing tomatoes have finally developed blight so I cleaned up everything and took it to recycling for disposal. I plan on doing about 2 hours a day until everything is ready for winter. We may get our first frost this weekend.

It was cloudy today with a very few glimpses of sun so the morning glories were in full bloom as you can see.

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[catherine]

razz, my morning glories are in bloom, too!!!

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I still have kale and chard in my garden. But I'll be closing shop soon. I'm going to test my soil with UVM before I leave.

Plan next year.

[frugal-one]

First frost last night.

[KayLR]

We finally took down our green bean trellises yesterday. Still got about 2 qt. of beans off them. Frosted here over the weekend too. Took the last of the pingpong-baseball sized green tomatoes in to ripen on the counter, too.

Got my garlic planted and covered with chicken wire (vs squirrels and neighbor cats). Drying herbs now.

[razz]

We finally took down our green bean trellises yesterday. Still got about 2 qt. of beans off them. Frosted here over the weekend too. Took the last of the pingpong-baseball sized green tomatoes in to ripen on the counter, too.

Got my garlic planted and covered with chicken wire (vs squirrels and neighbor cats). Drying herbs now.
Thanks for the reminder to plant my garlic. I got reminded to get my snow tires put on so have that scheduled for this Friday. Fall season has so many annual duties to remember and schedule when everyone else wants them done as well.

[Gardnr]

I just harvested the remaining kale. We've had freezing 2 mornings in a row so that's about all it can take. Looks like about 4 cups after steaming it down. When it cools, into the freezer it goes for freshies over the winter!

[Gardenarian]

Making lots of apple crisp :)

[catherine]

Anyone know how to make fried green tomatoes? I have a few green tomatoes I'd love to use.

[Alan]

Anyone know how to make fried green tomatoes? I have a few green tomatoes I'd love to use.
It's been a few years but yes, mix an egg or two with milk in a bowl, put flour on one plate and cornmeal on another. Slice the tomatoes and lightly coat the slices with flour, then dip the coated slices in the milk/egg mixture and finally coat them with the cornmeal. Put them directly into a skillet of hot oil and cook until crispy.

Mmmmm, now I want some.

[Yppej]

I dip mine in seasoned bread crumbs rather than flour and cornmeal.

[Mary B.]

I recently discovered they're really good in stir-fries without the breading and dipping process -- just chopped up.

[saguaro]

Just picked my last zucchini, due to unseasonably warm weather, it went a lot longer this year. Usually dies out in September. Got it just before the first freeze a few days ago. Also picked butternut squash and onions. Still have to pick remaining carrots and onions, which I will do this weekend. Finally stopped raining every day around here so I can get out and clear things. Normally, I am pretty much cleared out by this time but constant rain and unseasonable warm weather made the mosquitoes come back with a vengeance. I could only last 5 minutes in the garden before being eaten alive.

[CathyA]

My tomatoes died long ago. They did horribly this year. Good thing I still have a bunch in the freezer. We were getting close to the 20's at night, so I went out and cut all the butternut squash off the trellis (got about 19), picked all the peppers (made chili with the green ones). I've already dried enough rosemary, but the plants are still going strong........but they seem to do okay in really cool weather.

I have to say now that I'm getting older, I'm happy when the garden is done. Now we just need to clean it up. Oh....and I have to freeze the butternut squash pulp. It's easier, now that I've learned to do it in an easier way.........just wash, leave whole and poke with fork/knife and bake......then remove the skins and seeds. Also, instead of using a food mill, I just use a immersion blender to finish it. Then into the freezer it goes. It's sooooo good in the winter.

We did transplant a hydrangea and some hostas, and I still need to replant some iris. Then I'll need to deal with all the water plants.
I really need to control myself in the spring and remember how much work everything is......and not buy anything new to plant........except more trees, oh and maybe another bush or 2, and then there's some perennials......................

[Yppej]

I harvested some parsley today; will see if more grows.

[iris lilies]

I am harvesting lilies 253125322533

[iris lilies]

WeEat fried green tomatoes this time of year. They are good.

[Tybee]

We are harvesting green tomato, apples, and all the squashes. It was 28 degrees this morning!
We put the squashes in a cardboard box with straw between them out in the shed.

DH bought an apple peeler yesterday. ONe little tree and we get bag after bag of apples for the freezer.

Found a beautiful cantelope and ate it yesterday. We had thrown out lots and lots of seeds that we had been saving for over 7 years-- many were apparently still viable. It was fun to see what came up.

[catherine]

Thanks for the fried green tomato recipes!

Re apples. We were able to pick a few of our own apples but there are no more now. While I was walking in our neighborhood, I saw the my neighbor behind me, who practically has an orchard with probably a dozen apple trees, has lots of apples left on the trees. He is gone for the winter. I'm so tempted to pick a couple!!! Is that stealing? What if he has a surveillance system and he sees my apple-thievery? I just hate to see them go to waste.

[Tybee]

Thanks for the fried green tomato recipes!

Re apples. We were able to pick a few of our own apples but there are no more now. While I was walking in our neighborhood, I saw the my neighbor behind me, who practically has an orchard with probably a dozen apple trees, has lots of apples left on the trees. He is gone for the winter. I'm so tempted to pick a couple!!! Is that stealing? What if he has a surveillance system and he sees my apple-thievery? I just hate to see them go to waste.

I don't think it's stealing, and you can can them and make pies for him when he gets back. . .

[CathyA]

Thanks for the fried green tomato recipes!

Re apples. We were able to pick a few of our own apples but there are no more now. While I was walking in our neighborhood, I saw the my neighbor behind me, who practically has an orchard with probably a dozen apple trees, has lots of apples left on the trees. He is gone for the winter. I'm so tempted to pick a couple!!! Is that stealing? What if he has a surveillance system and he sees my apple-thievery? I just hate to see them go to waste.

Is there any way of contacting him and asking him?