Is the Garden Done for the Year Yet?

Not quite.  

 

Potatoes are patiently waiting under the soil to be harvested.

 

Horseradish and mint will be cut down after a couple of hard freezes.

 

Scarlet Runner Bean pods are on the vines and when they're dry, beans will be harvested for future plantings.

 

The vines of the colored gourds are still green so I'm waiting for the gourds to naturally dry a bit more.

 

Strawberries will receive their winter blankets of mulch after two or three hard frosts.

 

We have had frost warnings several times in the last week or so.  But we've yet to experience more than one night when we saw an early morning coating of light frost on one roof.  No damage to any plants or perennials yet although it's evident all are reaching the end of their growing season.

 

This past Wednesday we planted out eight new blueberry bushes we had nurtured in big pots over the past year.  They've grown really well and we've high hopes for them to give us lots of berries in another year or so.

 

Considering we were close to getting a frost last Thursday night, I picked the last of the green peppers late that day.  Our good neighbor came over the next morning and took a big bowlful of them to use in making their tomato juice and spaghetti sauce.  As you can see, I wasn't any too careful in picking the last of them knowing the plants were destined for composting. 

 

I've also harvested the last of the slicing cucumbers.  Seven were of picking size which we'll eat and enjoy.  There were many half-sized ones still on the vines but I knew they wouldn't do much growing now that the temps are so low.  I pulled the vines day before yesterday and relegated them to the compost heap.

 

I have the raised beds (all 26 of them) planned out (no, no not planted but just planned for next season.  Most often I find myself making some last minute changes as spring planting progresses.  One bed is marked for garlic which will get planted most likely this coming week.  Planting garlic in the fall definitely works best for us up here in the north part of the country.

 

My onions . . .

 

. . . and garlic have about one more week of curing and then I'll clean and store them for the coming winter months.  As mentioned above, some of the biggest cloves of garlic from the biggest bulbs will be planted for next year's harvest. 

 

We've been out and about a couple of times to enjoy the gorgeous fall colors in our neck o' the woods which have now just about reached their peak and won't be with us for much longer now.  The end of the very short couple of months of perfectly lovely weather has come and will be gone too soon.  But that signals the start of another great season up here in the north . . . beautiful winter!