With a low of 33, it was close. I picked the last two zucchinis, a dozen and a half little yellow squash and the last cucumber. I decided to leave the cherry tomatoes to their fate... and this morning they're still blooming.
In a way, I'm glad the summer is over because I love the fall season. But my frugal nature just hates to let go of the source of such wonderful, free (or at least dirt cheap!) food.
Yes, I've canned and dehydrated and frozen... but it isn't quite the same as going out to pick a salad for dinner or a few squash to sautee for breakfast. Maybe I'll go look at my shelves of canned food again and remember that this winter I'll be eating some really good food for a really good price.
Oh, Pat , my garden has bit the dust! It is a thing of memory. I miss it already. I have lots of tomatoes, but this year they just don't seem to want to ripen. I have lots of green tomatoes, I've only put up a couple pints of tomatoe sauce. We've eaten fresh tomatoes daily for at least 6 or 7 weeks now. But I only seem to get 2 or 3 ripe tomatoes at a time. Some start ripening and then rot. I'm not sure what is going on. The plants all looked healthy enough, they got so big they would knock over my tomatoe cages, even stichs put down the sides wouldn't keep my cages upright. I don't want to eat anymore fried green tomatoes, and I don't want to make green tomatoe relish as we don't eat much of it and I still have enough left from last year. So ideas needed for 60 to 80 lbs of them. I don't have a room that stays cool either, my back room is about the coolest, but it's not cold, some where in the 60's F. I would guess. Ideas welcomed.
ReplyDeleteI have a very small garden growing in a large window seal that I have in my kitchen. The window is probably 6ft across and the seal is 2ft deep. I mainly only grow peppers and tomatoes but it's great and I'm able to grow well into the fall.
ReplyDeleteWrap the green tomatoes in newspaper and put them in a box in a cool, dark place. They will ripen and taste just like vine ripened tomatoes. The newspaper has the same kind of gas that ripening tomatoes produce, which encourages the rest to ripen.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great set up, Lawrence! Can you grow things year 'round there?
ReplyDeleteThanks Pat, I will wrap up the tomatoes (I will have to go to the mail boxes and pick oup the advertiser, they always have a lot that people don't take. They come out here Friday and Monday). We stopped getting a newpaper a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteKootenay Annie
Well....as you guys are trying to get the last of your garden goodies (has the time really gone by this fast?) I am just starting to plant mine! YUP Phoenix has finally cooled down and temps are in the 80's during the day and 60's at night! I just redid my front yard and have planted some more plants and made it look like a country cottage (frugally of course) I am on the lookout for lavender to place in my pots (if the price is reasonable) and this weekend I will put my veggie garden in! I will plant my tomatoes and other crops! this weather will last until May and then lookout!! Triple temps again! But I will enjoy the next 8 months of gardening and outdoor living!!!! AHH-Bragging Rights-LOL:)
ReplyDeleteAnd as you're bragging about your garden in December, we'll be building snowmen and sledding! LOL
ReplyDeleteKootenay Annie, I don't take the paper, either. When I get freebies or flyers on newsprint, I save them for things like that. Good luck with your tomatoes.
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