Good Night, Vegetable Garden, Good night

[goldensmom]

All gone. All done. Put to bed.

Harvest is done. Plants and vines fed to the goats and chickens. Mowed, raked, tilled and seeded. Looks nice and neat and ready for a long winters nap. This year’s garden and I need a break from each other. Feels so good.

[iris lily]

Oh, that's nice! Nighty night!

I've got weeks worth of digging and planting (lilies) before they all go to bed.

[jania]

You got a lot of work in to make everything tidy and cozy for the winter. It is so worth all that effort because come spring everything will be waiting for you, all ready to go. Enjoy the peace and quiet of the garden for now, and the garden daydreams that await.

[CathyA]

My garden is going to stay up a little later, but its sure on its way out. Its so sad to lose the ability to have fresh stuff.
I have to remove all the tomato cages, stakes, and compost alot of the vines, etc. We didn't get to it last Fall, and I sure want to get it done this Fall. Its such a good feeling to look out there in winter, knowing you put it to bed, so its all ready for Spring.
Good job!

[Mrs-M]

Goldensmom. I always find this time of the year to be sort of bitter-sweet. On one hand it's nice to be able to wash ones hands clean of all things yard and garden for another season, but on the other hand saying good night or bye-bye means winter is on it's way, and somehow the older I'm getting, the less enthused I am over the prospect of our long and tiring winters.

You sound like such a hard worker, so I'm happy for you that you'll now be able to enjoy a rest. Everyone needs a rest from time to time. A chance to get caught up inside again and relax.

[goldensmom]

I'm still working with the flower gardens, rock garden and pond but those tasks (besides the pond net) are not so labor intensive as the vegetable garden. I pretty much still use by hand, turn-o-the-century methods in gardening as one piece of farm equipment is almost bigger than the whole garden area. Anyhow, yes I'm looking forward to a rest, to pay attention to neglected housework, baking again and planning for next year. NOT looking forward to shorter daylight hours and the dark but that's another thread. I keep thinking that I will adjust to early darkness but after 50+ years I'm finally beginning to believe that I will never adjust but will merely have to tolerate it. Ho Hum to that Tally Ho for next year.

[kally]

What am I supposed to do now. My chard is still growing as our some beets and leeks. But the beans, broc. are all a mess and gone. Do I take it all out and rake it all clean, (except the fall veg)? Am never sure what it means to really clean up the veggie bed.

[iris lily]

What am I supposed to do now. My chard is still growing as our some beets and leeks. But the beans, broc. are all a mess and gone. Do I take it all out and rake it all clean, (except the fall veg)? Am never sure what it means to really clean up the veggie bed.

For all crops that are annuals, pull up the dead or dying or non-productive plants by the roots and get rid of them (do you compost?) I suppose you can rake if you are a neatnik but I wouldn't bother, but mother nature's winter will level the ground and make it ready for planting next year.

[kally]

is brocolli annual?

[Gina]

is brocolli annual?
Yes. :)

[goldensmom]

What am I supposed to do now. My chard is still growing as our some beets and leeks. But the beans, broc. are all a mess and gone. Do I take it all out and rake it all clean, (except the fall veg)? Am never sure what it means to really clean up the veggie bed.

The when of clean up is whenever you want. Clean up is whatever you want it to be. My clean up is pull everything except for asparagus and parsnips which winters over, feed to the animals and chickens, till and seed rye as green manure for next year. Iris Lilly's method is clean up too so it is really whatever you want it to be.

[Mrs-M]

Originally posted by Goldensmom.
The when of clean up is whenever you want. Clean up is whatever you want it to be.Yes, that is the adage we live by, too.

[puglogic]

Fall is often a lot of work for me, as I till in some semi-composted manure in the fall and then throw some mulch over all the beds, so when spring comes the soil's already ready and I can get my plants in earlier. (I plant a lot of cold-hardy seedlings several weeks early, then cap them with milk jugs with the bottoms cut out)

I also plant garlic in October, which is a bit of work but oh so worth it :)

But come November I'm able to enjoy the sense of having tucked everything in for a long, tough Rocky Mountain winter, and settle in to read :D

[treehugger]

Wow, I am still waiting to harvest my first tomato (there are lots of green ones). *sigh*

Kara

[kevinw1]

Regular broccoli is annual. Where Kally and I live, you can plant sprouting broccoli which will winter over and give you small broccoli chunks in the spring. But you had to have started it back in July.

[puglogic]

I got a sweet reminder tonight of just how NOT ready my garden is to go to sleep -- went out and dug about five pounds of brilliant little Austrian Crescent fingerling potatoes for dinner. A little butter, salt, and pepper. Goodness they're tasty! There are easily 60-70 pounds of various types of spuds still out there, patiently waiting to be dug and put into the root cellar. The sleep will have to wait, I guess!

[razz]

Well, this thread has given me the motivation to get my act in gear and tidy up the remaining tomatoes, leeks, and onions, plant the grass seed under the trees as we reduce the size of our veg garden.

We should plant rye in the rest of the garden so need some rye seed.

Thanks for the push to get going!

[Gingerella72]

I still have lots of green tomatoes on the vine, from full grown ones that just aren't red yet, to little ping pong ball sized ones. When it gets closer to frost time I'm going to pull all the big green ones and make fried green tomatoes and green tomato salsa, but can anything be done with the little ones? Can those still be used in green tomato recipes, or will they be horribly bitter?

[flowerseverywhere]

gingerella, I don't know the answer but you could always pull the little ones at the last minute, then see if they remain bitter.

My question is has anyone covered their raised beds with black plastic after cleaning the beds out so come spring they will be warmer and weed free? I'm thinking of doing that to my annual beds.

[puglogic]

flowers, I actually till in soil amendments in the fall then cover my spring beds with some kind of mulch (black plastic would work just great, I imagine). That way I don't have to wait until everything dries out to till/amend/plant in the spring. It's already ready. This year on one bed I used black weed block, which breathes better than plastic, and it warmed things up nicely.

[goldensmom]

I still have lots of green tomatoes on the vine, from full grown ones that just aren't red yet, to little ping pong ball sized ones. When it gets closer to frost time I'm going to pull all the big green ones and make fried green tomatoes and green tomato salsa, but can anything be done with the little ones? Can those still be used in green tomato recipes, or will they be horribly bitter?

I looovvvveeee fried green tomatoes. They are especially good when someone else makes them. On my leisurely 7 mile drive to town this morning I noticed a lot of ping pong sized green tomatoes still struggling to ripen. It was not a good season for tomatoes here which is one reason I put the vegetable garden to bed early this year.

[TMC]

I envy those of you putting your gardens to bed, however I am having a great time now with the garden. I picked such a crazy assortment of things today, even strawberries thanks to the new Tribute ones I planted. Tomatoes, zukes, chard lettuce, pumpkins, watermelon, sweet potatoes, eggplants....my garden is just throwing stuff at the back door, and I am having such fun.

I tried some perenial onions so that hopefully I will have green onions over the winter. I also stuck some broccoli and cabbage seeds in the ground a while back so I'm hoping to have some of those. The fall peas I planted are ready and the kids and I stood outside snacking on them today. Such a feeling of abundance and happiness in my garden today. We pulled up some chairs and just had some fun out there today too.

[puglogic]

Oooh, TMC, I looked up those Tribute strawberries and they look terrific. Thanks for the tip.

[TMC]

Oooh, TMC, I looked up those Tribute strawberries and they look terrific. Thanks for the tip.

Oh sure, I stumbled on them and LOVE them.