Home Grown Part 9: Fall Picks

We experienced our first real chilly weekend on Long Island. I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it was COLD. The chill killed the rest of my basil plants, as well as my squash and watermelon vines, so I harvested the last of them this morning. The eggplant and pepper plants have started to wilt also, so I harvested most of them, too. I have a lot of cooking to do this week!

Sad, wilted eggplant

A few last peppers

Almost the last of it

I'm letting the rest of the beans dry up to save the seeds.

The squash bed is done, too.

I'm stilling getting a taste of summer from the watermelons.

Though the garden is definitely past it's prime, I'm still growing and harvesting a few things.. beets, lettuce, swiss chard, kale, leeks..

I'm really surprised at how long the growing season is for beets.

The leeks that I propagated a couple weeks ago are doing well. 

The lettuce, kale and swiss chard.. with a stick in the middle to keep
the chickens from getting too comfortable there.

Parsley has overtaken the herb garden.
I have some hanging in the closet to dry right now.

I was shocked to see that organic garlic was $18 a pound at a local farm. It was all the more reason to plant my own. Garlic can be planted just about any time, but fall is the prime planting time. I bought 3 heads of garlic.. once each of german red, french white, and italian white.. and peeled off the large outer cloves for planting. The cloves were planted pointy side up, about 6 inches apart. I planted them Monday, and they're already starting to sprout above the soil. I plan on having a lot of garlic in the spring!

The three cloves

If you're planting your own, make sure you press the cloves
firmly into the ground, and cover with about an inch of soil.

And of course I had my little helper along for the ride. He loves playing in the garden, especially the squash bed since I let him play with the dried up squash that never grew properly. He also never passes up an opportunity to get absolutely filthy.. so it goes with little boys!

Checking out the catch of the day.

When I wasn't looking he took bites out of each pepper!