Fall Garden Chores

As much as I hate to see summer go, it’s going to. I can’t stop it. And so it’s definitely time to be thinking of clearing up the garden. I’ve been pulling all the dead and dying vegetation. That mostly consists of flowers past their prime, plus the dill and cilantro that’s gone to seed.

I’ve pinched off dead marigold blossoms and scattered them around my “volunteer flower” section. This is the area that is almost constantly shaded by the big tree on the southeast corner of the garden. There are many flowers I didn’t plant. Most of them liberally reseed themselves every year. They include marigolds, bachelor buttons, Queen Ann’s lace, baby’s breath (not the noxious perennial kind), flax, larkspur, cockscomb, plus a few others I can’t name. The moon flowers and sunflowers pop up all over the place. I enjoy all of them.

I have saved seed from zinnias, as well as hollyhocks (can’t seem to get those to grow where I want them and can’t eradicate them where I don’t), and the moon flowers. The zinnias are thriving where I seeded them. Moon flower seed pods are quite large and very prickly. They’ll definitely stab you if you pass too closely. There’s another plant, with blue flowers, the seeds of which are small burrs that cling to your clothing when you brush against them. I’ve spent some time pulling those stickers from my leggings. I dropped them in another flowerbed, hoping they’ll sprout there next spring. I also save seed from the scarlet runner beans every year. The vines grow along the fencing and produce very red flowers (hence the name, duh). The bean pods are large, as are the bean seeds.

The vining plants are really going nuts with this heat. I’ve stared pinching the ends as they show up to encourage the plants to put their growth into their fruits. I want more squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins. I’ve set the forming pumpkins onto their blossom ends hoping for nicely shaped pumpkins.

During the wheat harvest (finished on Thursday last week - yay!), I mentioned to the gal running the grain cart (a job I didn’t have to do this year, also yay!) that I used the tomatoes I’d frozen last summer in one of the dishes I served the crew. She didn’t know you could freeze them. So it’s time to repeat that advice: wash the tomatoes, let dry, cut out the stem end, score an “x” on the blossom end with a sharp knife, then freeze on a rimmed sheet or in a 9”x13” pan. Once frozen, store in freezer-safe bags. To use, take out as many as you want/need, and run them under hot water. The skins should easily peel off. (Sometimes I skip that part, especially if I’m going to purée them. The skins get pulverized that way.) I’ve kept them for a full year and they’re just fine.

Other gardening chores I’ve done this past week include pulling almost all my onions. There is one row, the sweet white onions, that still look green and vibrant, so I left them to continue growing. All the ones I pulled are laid out atop some netting, mostly in a single layer, to finish drying. If left in the ground too long, especially when still being watered, they’ll rot. Soon I’ll twist off the dried tops, knocking off any dirt clumps, and store them, hanging, in old potato sacks. I’ll sort for size so I can use the smaller ones first.

The remainder of my purple spuds have been dug. They were left in the shade for a few hours so the dirt clinging to them dried enough to be dusted off. These purple ones are purple all the way through and remain purple after cooking. I’ve had other purple skinned ones, but they cooked up not purple. So these make a colorful potato salad - maybe not so pleasing to the eye, but they taste fine. I still have several hills of red potatoes to dig, but those vines are still green, so there’s no rush to get them out of the ground.

The broccoli is showing new growth, so perhaps the shorter days/ cooler nights will get more florets for me. One of my cabbages split open - oops. I knew it needed to be harvested but procrastinated too long. I do have to pluck my tomatoes as soon as they start to show color or the birds peck at and damage them. They ripen nicely on the kitchen counter and taste just like they ripened in the sun.

I had a bunch of tomatoes gifted to me late last summer by my Hutterite friend, Margareta. They wrap each tomato individually, even the cherry ones, airtight in plastic wrap. Then they store them in boxes, each layer separated by layers of newsprint. This delays the ripening. She said they ate their last “garden fresh” tomatoes in January. Mine only lasted me until early December. We meet occasionally in Billings. She used to be at Martensdale, but the colony split and she’s now at Roundup. I’ll give her small items, and she gives me wine (theirs is pretty stout) and other goodies. Her favorites to get are crocheted frog coin purses and my painted rocks. We met by chance outside one of the medical facilities. It pays to be friendly.