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!

Home Grown Part 8: Still Harvesting

Summer might be over, but don't tell my garden that! I've still got a plentiful supply of eggplants, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, watermelon, beets, carrots, basil, parsley and some winter squash. Oh and beans. So many beans! I've been neglecting them for weeks, but the plants are still producing. I've decided to continue to let them go, so I can harvest them for their seeds.

I've started saving the seeds from some of my produce so far. That really makes me feel that summer is over. If anyone would like some organic seeds for their garden next year, let me know! I will have plenty.

Young asparagus has taken over this bed, which is still
producing cherry tomatoes and beans.

The squash bed has a few butternuts, and some other squash
which will probably just end up as fall decorations.

The last cantaloupe was picked this week,
but there are still a few watermelons in there.

Peppers and eggplants are dominating here.

Some eggplants that the chickens haven't found yet.

Ready for picking.

My freezer is ridiculously full with bags of frozen basil. And drying the herb in the dehydrator takes way too long and is too time consuming, so I'm experimenting with drying them indoors. I picked the plants, separated them into 3 groups depending on their size, and hung them upside down in a closet. It's only day 3, but they look great so far! This method is much less time consuming and way more energy efficient than using a dehydrator.

Picked basil.

Bunched with rubber bands.

I hung them by stretching the rubber bands
over a coat hanger. 

Thanks to Andrew for the rubber band/hanger hanging idea.

They supposedly take anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks to dry.

Logan and I spent the day with my friend Cami bouncing from farm to farm on the North Fork today, a trip complete with cider donuts, apple cider, farm animals and good times. Our first stop was the Garden of Eve, one of the handful of organic farms out east. Since space in my garden has opened up, I bought a few new plants, including kale, lettuce and swiss chard. I also went home with a couple varieties of garlic, the cloves of which I plan on planting soon.

So many choices! I eventually settled on Italian White,
German White, and French Red.

There were several varieties of organic plants to choose from also!

Home Grown Part 7: Wouldn't it Be Nice to Be a Bee?

I wouldn't mind being a bee. You spend all spring and summer buzzing from flower to flower, and the rest of the year is spent subsisting off of the honey that you yourself created. Just a thought.

The bees are all abuzz in my garden right now. They've made a home for themselves under one of the garden beds. It's fun to watch them come and go all day long. Imagine how much honey must be under there!

Bees under the garden bed.

Here's what's happening in the garden this week..

I've found a few of these tomato hornworms with parasitic
braconid wasp eggs on my plants. I feel bad for the caterpillars,
even though they had it out for my plants!

I have more tomatoes than I know what to do with.
These guys in particular will become a delicious sauce.

As you can see in the foreground and the background, I
have plenty of basil, too. I've been freezing the leaves in zip locks
full of water, and dehydrating some so that I have dried basil through the winter.

I've pretty much picked through the lettuce.  This plant has gone to seed
with some pretty yellow flowers. It's almost time to start collecting seeds!

I planted this summer squash only about a month ago.

The squash are doing well, too.
I have about 6 butternut squash growing.

These tiny squash have been making an appearance.
Delicata? Maybe?

This spaghetti squash seems to be ripening off the vine still.
I ripped it off when the rest of the plant was infested with squash bugs.
I'm not sure if it's any good..

Cantaloupes!

There are about 5 watermelons growing in the melon bed.

Check out these monsters! I cut into one, but it didn't seem to be ready.
The inside was all pink and white, but it was still sweet and tasty!

A few of the peas I planted late in the season are actually
producing pea pods. They're not as sweet or tender as the ones
from the spring.

These eggplants are just about ready to harvest!

White peppers? I wonder what color they will turn into.

Tasty looking bell peppers.

Purple peppers.

Home Grown Part 6: The Takeover

My garden is WILD. As a newbie, I didn't bother staking anything. I didn't think my plants would get that big. WRONG. The melon bed is overflowing. I've stopped trying to contain it. The tomatoes are out of control as well. I'm not complaining though. Everything is flourishing! Even the peppers and eggplants are coming along.

My overflowing melons..
Ha.. I'm so mature.

Two of the five watermelons starting to grow.

The tomato takeover. They're impeding on the asparagus
(to the left) and the beans (to the right).

The beans are still growing though!

Another view of the tomato bed.
The lettuce and basil are doing well up front.

Plum tomatoes, almost ready.

So many cherry tomatoes.
Logan and I eat these right off the plant everyday.
It's our evening ritual!

Various stages of ripeness.

Eggplants, peppers, beets, carrots and basil
are coexisting here.

I'm excited to have some yummy eggplants to work with soon!

Finally some peppers!

An upside down growing pepper.

The lovely pallet garden.
I'm predicting some basil pesto in my future.