This is a shot of a partial row of raised beds I completed today. You can see the bed closest in the picture still has parsley on either end of it. Lush, beautiful, succulent parsley that I don't have the heart to yank out. Yet. I've never been successful at wintering over my parsley plants. Anyone have any suggestions as to how I might do it up here in da nort country?
Yesterday Papa Pea tilled up the field garden for me. At the far end of it, which you can just barely see in this picture, are the rows of potatoes that we have yet to harvest. The three long rows of strawberries are to the right, and if I can remain inspired, I could/should do a little weeding in them before a hard frost hits.
Four of the raised beds still have cabbages, red and green, carrots and beets in them. We had so much moisture this past spring, summer and into fall that the slug population was doing real damage. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try stripping off all of the bottom and side leaves of the cabbages, and I do believe it's helped. Those ugly, slimy little creatures don't have nearly as much habitat in which to live, love and lunch now.
I'm shamefully admitting I still haven't harvested and processed my beets. I've been talking about doing it for a month (or more) but they've been silently waiting in their raised bed without yelling at me . . . so they keep getting pushed to the bottom of The List. But soon. I must get at them soon.
I made our first apple pie of the season today . . . with apples from our own trees.
Ooops. I may have been a smidge bit over zealous in the amount of apples I prepared. (Although I do dislike a skimpy apple pie, don't you?)
I predict the distinct possibility of serious burbling over in the oven.
Baked and cooling on the counter. Good smells in the kitchen!
And it didn't even boil over much at all.
A rainy day predicted for tomorrow, but if by chance that doesn't happen, I'll be back out in the garden. The end is in sight now.
19 comments:
That is the tallest apple pie – BAKED – that I've ever seen! Such clean gardens.... Maybe I could call all my weeds a "cover crop"! ha!
You are way ahead of me on the garden. I worked until I couldn't stand it yesterday, and will be out there this weekend. You pie looks absolutely delicious.
Oh my gosh Mama Pea....that is SOME BIG apple pie!!! Wow...I didn't know you could put so many in, I should try that next time! I'd be afraid it would all fall out! Beautiful.
Your garden is enviable. I love the tilled area, my gosh when you post photos like that, it really demonstrates all the work you must put into it. Oh I haven't touched the beets or carrots, but I'm in experiment-mode anyway. I'm waiting for the first little snow fall to see if they actually do get sweeter with the cold weather! Beautiful job on the garden!!!
Michelle - Or plow them under as a green manure crop!
Kristina - Pie is purdy good! Except I have lots of "juice" at the bottom 'cause I didn't put enough thickener in. Didn't know the apples were that juicy!
I worked in the garden until the rain started in earnest around 2:30 p.m. Even got one of the two beds of garlic planted. Yippee!
Rain - I was so unenthusiastic about getting the garden ready for winter . . . until I got closer and closer to being done! Now I've done as much as I can (so far) on the raised beds and we harvested the potatoes today so that's a biggie out of the way.
Thanks for the nice words!
Garden and pie look great! I making a peach cobbler today, from our peaches :) Yummy!
Mama Pea,
I'm not sure how to keep parsley growing in the winter in the ground... maybe a greenhouse with a heat source? Have you tried harvesting the herb, cutting it up, and placing the cut up herb in ice trays with water and freezing the herb.
hugs and love,Sandy
That is the biggest apple pie I have ever set eyes on! I bet it was delicious with some vanilla ice cream on top. Your gardens are always so immaculate they make me ashamed of mine but I've read that leaving some old dead plant material in your gardens helps the bugs and fertilizes your garden over the winter so I'm going to say that my uncleaned out gardens are that way because of that. Yup, that's the reason and not because I'm too lazy to get rid of the dead plants.
LHinB - Oh, to have your own peaches! Be still my heart . . . :o}
Sandy - Some people say they can cover their parsley plants with mulch for the winter and they will "grow back" again in the spring . . . as chives do. That's what I was wondering about. Mine never regrow in the spring so I have to start new seeds or buy the plants. I've never done the ice cube trick you suggested, but I do dehydrate enough to use over winter and this year I've experimented freezing small sprigs of it, then storing in a hard-sided container and then using it that way which comes close to tasting fresh. It does go limp quite fast after taking out of the freezer container. But the green color and flavor remains just like fresh from the garden.
Sparkless - We had company who helped eat it yesterday. I will admit last night when everyone was gone, I had half a piece with vanilla ice cream on top. (It wasn't bad. Hee-hee.)
Hey, if the uncleaned garden idea works for you, I say all the more credit to you! :o)
Just look at that giant apple pie!! Love it!! I am rubbish at making pastry. I can make anything yeasty till the dogs come home but pastry - nope! I am working on those skills. I wish I had the capacity to have as many gardens as you. They all look lovely, even with harvest.
Wow! Your harvest just keeps coming! Can I come for pie please?
As miserable a job as cleaning the garden for winter is, it sure looks wonderful when it's done! I have had some luck over-wintering parsley by cutting it back and putting a layer of straw mulch over it. But it really depends (for me) on how hard the winter is.
MrsDM - Oh, if we only lived next door to each other! Yeasty concoctions frequently give me fits.
You do need a certain amount of land to grow as much of our food supply as we do. We talk of getting dairy goats and raising lambs and pigs and . . . and . . . and . . . but that requires even more land than we have cleared. Plus, we have to stand back and ask how much food do two people need? Dry beans in the pantry and frozen veggies in the freezer and we'd be fine. :o)
Theresa - Yes, you can come but let me know when I should bake another pie!!!
Susan - How "low" do you cut the parsley plants back? Down to about an inch or not that much? I'll give it another go and see if this winter it will work.
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