October 11, 2012 - The October Garden, Inching Up Toward 1000 Pounds

I've spent this week doing some fall garden cleanup, and harvesting a little bit as I go.  I'd like to reach my 1000 pound goal, and I'm beginning to think that will be achieved, with only 14 pounds to go.

 On Tuesday I brought in the two smallest butternut squash that were left in the garden.  They aren't super ripe for storage, but definitely at an edible stage.  There are several more large ones still in the garden, not as ripe as these.   

The celery is from two plants that went to seed during the summer.  I pulled all the others, but cut these two back to the ground to see if they would grow again, and they did.  I never did get large stalks of celery from any of them, even the ones I put out for fall harvest.  The small stalks are fine for soups and salads, but I doubt I'll plant celery in my 2013 garden.  

The Fortex beans are still producing enough for fresh eating, but this could probably be the last picking of the year.  

I'm finding an occasional ripe/ripening tomato on the remaining plants.  Those by the house, fence and shed didn't die from the recent freeze, but the Cherokee Purple in the main garden is gone.  

The peppers have all been pulled, these two had been missed in the final picking.  

Last but not least, I'm getting a few leaves of Little Gem romaine lettuce from the half dozen plants that germinated from the late summer planting.  More diligence on my part would have resulted in some nice salads, but I neglected to replant when the seedlings didn't emerge.  

The total for the day came to nearly 5 1/2 pounds.


 On Wednesday I found a few more ripening tomatoes (one came from the box of green tomatoes in the closet), and enough strawberries for two shortcakes for dinner.  That was a real treat!  The day's total was 1 1/2 pounds.

As I was raking up some foliage in the garden, Annie became very excited about movement in the flower bed.  Thinking it could possibly be another baby bird, like the one she found and killed a couple of weeks ago, I took her out of the garden and shut the gate.  I went back in and checked where she had been nosing through the flowers, and found a giant slug.  I took it in the house and scared Mr. Granny with it before killing it.  Of course, I ended up with slug slime all over my garden gloves....icky!   Back in the garden, I noticed some movement in the strawberry bed.  Hoping it might be the toad I had released there last summer (and never saw again), I watched as "it" moved through the heavy foliage, then finally appeared at the edge of the bed.  A mouse!  I have never had mice in the garden before, but I had noticed one running across the lawn in front of the shed a week or so ago.  I thought about letting Annie back in to chase the mice away, but then worried about diseases they might carry.  I'd hate to expose my little girl-dog to something that might harm her.


Today I pulled a few more carrots, and cut a teeny tiny cabbage.  This one was planted at the same time as the others that were recently harvested, weighing 2 or more pounds each.  It was about the size of a tennis ball and weighed a measly 3 ounces!  Added to the weight of the carrots, today's harvest total was just under four pounds.  A running total of the harvest weights has been added to the side bar.

 The tips of the morning glories were nipped by frost, but they are still blooming.  The cold weather hasn't bothered the cosmos at all, but the zinnias were looking bad and got pulled out.  The area behind the flowers has been cleared of its zucchini plant, and is being prepped for garlic planting.


 Most of the main garden has been cleared.  The strawberries, raspberries, a few butternut squash (in the barrel) and two celery plants are all that remain.


 I don't feed Annie and Otto enough (can't you tell?) so they munch on Bermuda grass.  I really need to get it dug out before winter weather sets in.


 The kennel garden is still a jungle of flowers, quickly fading pole beans and Brussels sprouts.



 There might be hope for some Brussels sprouts yet!  Once I cut out the growing tips, the sprouts began to put on some size.


 The fall peas are blooming, I hope they have time to mature.


 A double row of young carrots.


 And a single row of young carrots.  I'm not holding out any hope that the row of cabbage on the left will ever mature.  The row on the right has already been harvested, I need to pull out the roots.


 I've pulled most of the tomato plants, but left a few that had lots of tomatoes that could possibly still ripen a bit.  These two are next to the west fence.  Our early frost has already happened, and we could get a little bit of warm weather yet.  It was 77F yesterday, but only in the mid 60s today.  


Two tomato plants remain next to the patio.  Victor and Bloody Butcher are still yielding occasional ripe tomatoes.


 Three cherry tomato plants remain next to the shed, but only the healthy looking Black Cherry on the left is still producing.  I'm getting occasional ripening tomatoes from it every few days.  I'll probably go ahead and pull the plant on the right, but the one in between is so tangled up with the Black Cherry that it will have to stay, even though it's not producing any good tomatoes now.


The last rose of summer.


30 comments:

  1. That one cabbage made me smile. I'm still hoping that my cabbages will size up. I'm letting the brussels sprouts stay in the garden, but I don't have any hope for them. They are the size of a pea right now. A small pea.

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    1. Daphne, that tiny cabbage is hard as a rock! The larger late cabbages haven't formed solid heads at all. Most of my sprouts are large pea sized, but the ones in the first picture look like they could possibly reach a harvest size.

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  2. A mouse!! Hmmm.. could it be a vole? I don't know if a mouse could do any damage, but a vole eats veggies. So that maybe bad news for your nice garden. Do your carrots overwinter? You have so many plants in there. Cutting off the tops of brussels sprouts is genius. I need to do that ASAP!!

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    1. Random, it's definitely a field mouse. I don't think we have voles in this area. We get mice in our garage in the winter, but I'd never seen them in or around the garden. I'm wondering if they are living in the neighbor's giant weed patch by the fence. The carrots will overwinter, but tend to get an odd (unpleasant) texture. I'll probably be pulling all of them before the ground freezes.

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  3. wow you are almost at 1000! so very exciting!! Everything looks great so nice to see some green in the garden at this time of the year!

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    1. Mrs. P., my green sure looks better than your snow! Stay warm up there, and don't get all scared being by yourself!

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  4. We have an awful rodent around our tiny garden as well, and I haven't eradicated it yet! Between the rodent and the numerous horn worms we haven't had any tomatoes :-( And that tint cabbage head is cute.

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    1. Nartaya, my little field mouse isn't terribly awful. I just hope he doesn't get into the garage. We had mouse evidence in there last winter, so I need to be diligent with the traps.

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  5. Congratulations, you have a beautiful garden, your carrots are incredible

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  6. Such a pretty garden so late in the year, Granny! Mine have been put to bed for the winter.

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    1. Langela, we should have a period of temperate weather for a while, with night temps ranging from 33-51 and days from 65-71. If we didn't always get that mid October freeze, the garden would probably produce right up until Thanksgiving.

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  7. Your garden looks wonderful! What do you cut off( "I cut out the growing tips")the brussel sprouts to get them blooming? I have Red Bull( Adaptive Seeds) growing and I am hoping this year to see some soon. They are getting tall. You have buds! Robbie:-)

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    1. Robbie, I just whacked off that top swirl of growth after reading Nutmeg Gardener's blog about doing it. I don't know if I cut off enough, but it seems to be working.

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  8. For things winding down - sure is a good week! I hope you hit the 1k mark!

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    1. I hope so too, David. No way will I beat 2009's 1070 pounds though.

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  9. Yeah Granny! You can do it! You can hit 1.000 pounds. I hope there are no more giant slugs out there. Those carrots look lovely!

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    1. Rachel, I didn't see any slugs all summer, now suddenly there are slime tracks all over around the patio. They've just been hiding and getting really big and fat, I guess! I made a stew with some of those carrots tonight, and they were sweet and delicious. I wish I'd planted twice as many, but I wasn't expecting to get nice ones after the spring crop semi-failure.

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  10. I think you're going to do it Granny! By the looks of what you still have growing odds are good. So glad your brussels sprouts are sizing up. I did the same thing, cut the growing tips and mine are getting there too. I think you'd better restrict Annie and Otto's grass munching though, lol! It seems to be making them a little round :-)

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    1. I think so too, Nutmeg. I took your advise of cutting off the growing tips of the sprouts, so thank you! I wish Otto and Annie would go on a Bermuda grass diet, and eat it all! It's awful stuff, and I want it gone from my garden, but they'd better not urp it up in my bed tonight!

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  11. Granny your garden looks great for this time of the year! I found some moles at the plots last weekend. They were under a couple of boards I had lying by the barrel.

    Those poor dogs.....having to eat that grass :)

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    1. Robin, they look really starved, don't they. Annie needs a belly sling! I threatened to make her a bra, but I'd have to cinch it up around her hips, LOL!

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  12. The garden is still just pumping out the produce for you! Used to be you would be stripping it out and heading south along about now, but this year you can squeeze the last items out and I bet you will definitely get over you 1,000 lb mark. Pretty darn impressive!

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    1. Kitsap, not pumping it out too fast now, but that's fine. I found a whole bag of green beans in the fridge tonight, that I didn't even know I had! I picked about 60 pounds of green bush/pole beans this year, so the freezer is stuffed with them, and Jack is sick and tired of eating them already!

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  13. strawberries even! And those carrots look better than any I have seen this year LOL!

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    1. Erin, the strawberries are extra good this time of the year. I didn't get a very good crop this year, so they are extra special.

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  14. You had better not let your furbabys hear you calling them fat! lol I think you will make the 1000 mark. Then what do you do with your time in the winter when you can't be out in the garden? Nancy

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    1. Nancy, I'll spend the winter being bored half to death! I'll play games on the laptop, paint the bedroom and bathroom #2 woodwork, maybe bring my little garden frogs and gnomes inside and give them a paint job, as they are looking a bit faded. In other words, I'll just putter around all winter, waiting for spring planting time!

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  15. I love looking at your pictures, they are so motivating. I look forward to following your progress next year.
    Julie

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    1. Thank you, Julie. I hope next year is as productive as this year has been.

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