We are well past our average first frost date, and have not had one yet. But last night and this one there were frost warnings issued; this coupled with the fact that the fenced garden is getting very little direct sunlight now prompted me to go out and take all the rest of our solanums.
The 60 or so "Sugar Plum" grape tomatoes you see here are but a fraction of the hundreds we have harvested from a single plant this season. I sure have enjoyed them, and am going to miss having 4 or 5 in my morning cottage cheese. If I'm feeling frisky I add a dash or two of Frank's Red Hot sauce.
So what's left in the garden? Watermelon radishes are still going strong. This has been such a fun crop to grow.
Also chard, kale, and still-teeny carrots. As mentioned, the fenced garden is exposed to only a few hours of sunlight this time of year, which prevents me from doing a lot of fall crops.
The fall raspberries are still giving us a cup or so a day; not much, but it is adding up nicely in the freezer as you can see.
Speaking of kale, this week The Kitchen Goddess served a delightful Irish dish of kale and our own mashed potatoes called "colcannon." If you haven't heard of it or tried it before (I hadn't) here's a good recipe from the always-informative Mother Earth News. The following day TKG had coffee with a Scottish friend, and the two of them got into a heated discussion of the relative merits of colcannon vs. something called "Bubble and Squeak." I'm not making this up.
There was a "Soloist" Chinese Cabbage left from the group I planted in summer. This one was always runty and took many more weeks to mature than its siblings, but it finally sized up enough to harvest.
I also took the rest of the "Floriani" Red Flint corn. Here you see our entire haul of 156 ears now husked and drying in the sun room.
Some of them are beauties (I've got big hands).
Of course, others are just cobs with few kernels. But we should have a good amount to store for later grinding. I can't wait.
I also took the last of the Waltham butternut squash. It turned out to be the largest, too.
It wasn't entirely ripe, but I figured it would do better in the sun room than being left outside. So it joins the corn, and a bunch of sunflower heads, in soaking up the passive solar energy, when available. We also are drying a few of the nicest corn husks for tamale wrappers.
That's is for this week. Thanks for reading, and happy harvests to all! Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to Canadian readers!
The Red Flint corn is so pretty, I am curious as to how you use them. You mentioned grinding, is this for corn meal? Can you use them fresh as well?
ReplyDeleteNope, not fresh (not sweet). We intend to mostly use for corn meal (corn bread, muffins, pancakes - yum!), and possibly some treated with an alkali to make grits, masa, etc.
DeleteI love those watermelon radishes. And I know what you mean about the raspberries coming in. The harvests do add up, and it is so easy to freeze them and blueberries. It is wonderful you are able to grow your own flint corn. They sometimes grow it at our local MG demo garden so folks can see what it was like when almost everyone grew their own for grinding.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave. The corn has been fun to watch growing. Many of the stalks reached 9 or more feet, and so big around ordinary pruning shears can't cut them off. Makes sweet corn look wimpy.
DeleteWonderful harvests - that is a lot of variety for this late in the season, especially with your shade challenge. We just got our first light frost a couple of nights ago too, which was about one week later than the expected first frost date.
ReplyDeleteIt was variety, but it's all over now! Thanks for your compliments.
DeleteOh, I love colcannon! So delicious! We are also just passed our average last frost date in SW Idaho and seem to be far from a frost.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jennifer. Let's hope the inevitable frost is still a ways away.
DeleteFloriani Red is absolutely gorgeous, photos just don't do it justice. I just harvested my little crops of it last week also. I used to make a potato/kale dish that I call Smashers. Neither my husband nor I are fans of creamy mashed potatoes so I made it by lightly smashing potatoes with sauteed onions, usually in olive oil and then mixed in kale or broccoli or some such green veggie. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle. "Smashers" sounds good too. Keep us posted on how you use your flint corn--I'm especially interested in any alkali treatment you do.
DeleteThat's an impressive harvest of flint corn. Will be interesting to see how that turns out when ground. We make a dish somewhat like colcannon with escarole. Sauteed/poached in butter/olive oil with garlic, then a couple of boiled potatoes are smashed in the pan and mixed with the escarole.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. I will post something when we finally do our first grinding. But first--shelling! That will be challenging. I like the sound of your escarole dish too.
DeleteI still love the corn the best. It is just so pretty. And something you can eat all winter long. I've got five very small butternuts out in the garden, but they just aren't even close to ripe. I wish they would start to turn color at least a little so I could pick them and clean up the beds. I might give up and just rip them out. I've got plenty of squash anyway.
ReplyDeleteMy garden is like yours. It gets shade in the fall. Right now it gets a bit here and a bit there as the sun is between a neighboring house and a tree. I always plant my fall crops earlier than other people so they can size up early. Though I wait to pick them until I need them in the fall.
Thanks, Daphne. I try to plant things early for fall, too. This year the spinach bolted though. What can you do?
DeleteFabulous corn, what a beautiful colour! I'm envious of your raspberries - I've only planted mine last year and probably have a few more years for regular production. As for the butternut, it should be fine though not quite ripe - I purchased some Waltham seeds to try out next year, hope mine get as big as yours.
ReplyDeleteThe raspberries are a mixed blessing, truth be told. They want to take over everything. And some of the vines have brutal thorns. At least the fall variety is better behaved--and mostly seedless too!
ReplyDelete