Hello again from Eight Gate Farm. What an amazing week of weather! For four days the temperature was well above 70, almost touching 80 (~26 C.) on Saturday. It was so pleasant to sit outside in shorts and watch the cascade of autumn leaves. All this is about to change, however.
There were no "new" or "first" harvests this week. I don't find myself going out to the gardens all that much this time of year, so I was surprised to find this beautiful head of orange cauliflower waiting for me.
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| Flame Star (hyb) cauliflower |
I pulled the last of the beets (beetroot).
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| Golden and red beets |
I also pulled a few carrots. There are still many more out there, as I tend to overplant them for some reason.
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| Newhall (hyb) carrots |
I did a picking of the ripest hot peppers. The "Helios" hybrid habaneros, on the left, are just continually pumping out fruit, to the point where I'm not sure what to do with them. I don't think I need three plants for next year.
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| Habanero, Hot Lemon, Cayenne peppers |
I made a decision to cut all the collard plants. Cold won't really bother them, but they were looking so huge and ragged it was offending my zen. The Kitchen Goddess did a nice job of picking through them and keeping the leaves that weren't too hole-y. If you don't have the Cross-Striped Cabbageworm in your area (yet), consider yourself lucky.
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| 'Top Bunch 2.0' collard greens |
TKG did a picking of raspberries. She says that no new fruit are forming at this time.
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| Autumn raspberries |
One day she met her mother over at the community garden plot they share, and they got a really nice harvest, with leeks, parsnips, carrots, beets, sweet peppers, and tomatoes.
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| Community garden harvest |
As I said, the weather is changing. Sunday was damp and raw. Our first frost should come maybe Tuesday night, or Wednesday night for sure. All I really have to do to prepare for this is take the last of the hot peppers. All the remaining vegetables should withstand the cold for awhile.
That is a lovely head of cauliflower! I am in awe since it never does well for me. Your Hot Lemon peppers have outdone my Lemon Drop variety for sure. And that is a big mess of collards! I am cutting a few leaves here today since temps are forecast to get down to 25°F tomorrow night. The plants should be ok though, since they usually can takes temps down in the teens.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Dave! I'm of the belief that Hot Lemon, Lemon Drop, and Aji Limon are one and the same, but I have no proof!
A nice finish to the summer season. Enjoy the winter rest and gradual harvest of those cold tolerant veggies. What a treat to have raspberries for so long. "See you" in February. I'll continue to post my harvests on Monday so stop by.
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