Friday, October 29, 2010

Fall Garden Clean-up

I finally finished clearing away the old asparagus stalks. I also worked today on clearing other parts of the garden. There were still some pepper plants in the side-yard beds, and I picked the last of the peppers before pulling up those plants.

Here they are, the last of the summer peppers:



That last Casper White eggplant is also in the box. The peppers were mostly fairly large; the Spanish Spice peppers were all seven to eight inches long. I had been hoping they would turn red, but that didn't happen. The weather has turned seasonably cool, so it was definitely time to bring those in, but I will have to chop them up to freeze as green peppers.

There were still some okra plants, some stumps of corn stalks, aging marigolds, and other flowers that were going to look very bad very soon. I filled the wheelbarrow with stuff, chopped up, for the compost pile.



One wheelbarrow load isn't going to be enough, though, for me to able to say those two beds are clear and ready for winter. There are still some flowers, the last of the basil, and all that Malabar spinach, in addition to a few cool-weather plants (winter radishes, cilantro, and a couple of turnips).



Really, clearing the garden in fall is almost as big a job as getting it all planted in spring.

This, though, is part of what motivates me:



This is the garlic that I planted just last weekend. It is already coming up! It looks like the "one big clove" that I thought I had planted here was actually one big clove with a little hitch-hiker. Two are coming up! However, even when what happens in the garden isn't quite what I had planned, seeing the food plants emerge and grow reminds me that the work is worthwhile.

3 comments:

  1. What are the lighter looking chili peppers? They are beautiful! I still need to plant my garlic, it's been raining for a week!

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  2. I didn't think to check the garlic today - first time I've been in the garden in days since we've had rain and then muggy, steamy weather. But I picked several tomatoes and the cherry tomatoes are still going strong - I must have gotten a dozen today. We're still getting bell peppers, jalepenos, and banana peppers (hot and mild).

    I see that the potatoes I finally got around to planting in mid-Sept are doing well. These are a complete leap of faith - regular supermarket potatoes that were wizened and sprouting. Uneven growing (germination?) of the plants, but I'm hoping we'll get something.

    Finally, I'm hoping that all that rain isn't rotting my sweet potatoes. Should I go ahead and harvest them?

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  3. Erin,

    The long, green peppers are Spanish Spice, the pale yellow ones are feherezon, the shorter, wider green ones are poblanos. They are all good to eat! We had a decent "pepper year," so I have enough in the freezer for a few months of cooking.

    Owlfan, I'm glad to hear that your garden is doing so well! I hope you get potatoes before a big freeze hits. The good news is that there is a pretty big climate difference between the north end of Atlanta (where I live) and the south end (where you are), so you still have at least a couple more good weeks of growing.

    The sweet potatoes should come out soon, though. The nights are getting too cool for them, even where you are.

    I haven't heard yet where in GA Sharon is going to speak, but if it's possible for me to get there, I hope to see you there, too!

    -Amy

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