This is the first year that I have still had a garden in October. Honestly, I've never had a garden survive past August due to early frosts in the mountains, but living in a warmer climate has changed things for me. While the plants are still alive, things are pretty much finished. I harvested all the tomatoes that were attempting to turn red this morning and this is what I got.
The North box looks pretty sad since the buttercup squash attacked the tomato trellis and then fell down, pulling most of the tomatoes with it. There are still many green tomatoes on the plants and I have plans for them, but they will have to wait until I have all my equipment, or until I'm planning a trip back to the ranch.
I found one more lemon cucumber on the vine, almost ready and a final one ball squash, also nearly ready to be picked. From three sweet pepper plants I will get a total of three peppers. One nearly made it to red before my little garden helper proudly picked it for me. (sigh) Another is a deep purple color, trying to make it to red and the last is a stubborn green. I probably won't plant peppers again. It was an impulse buy at the farmer's market anyway. We just don't use them much and I don't care for the after-taste of green peppers especially.
As soon as I get all those green tomatoes taken care of and the last of the other plants are finished, I'm looking forward to pulling everything out and finally seeing some order in the garden, even if it's just plain dirt. I may even find another onion under there. The jungle of tomato and squash plants is looking old and tired and I think it's almost time to put everything to bed. I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to try to get some spinach out of there before winter hits.
I've been missing you! Looks like your gardens were good, with the exception of the peppers. We haven't had our first frost yet either, soon, I imagine. Those tomatoes look good!
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, you are really gonna miss the little helpers, later on.