Friday, October 2, 2009

Garden Update: Ain't Dead Yet

Despite the necessity of the woodstove and the fact that it never got above 50 degrees yesterday (Hello, rainy and unpleasant fall weather! Perhaps you could go away and come back later? Thanks so much), the garden is still providing all our vegetal sustenance. I was surprised yesterday how much was still out there, in fact, when I took stock.

I feel a list coming on.

Last night for dinner we had some roasted beets, stewed leeks, and collard greens, all freshly picked. In addition to those, there are:

1) The Green Beans That Won't Die (planted in May and grimly soldiering on)

2) The immortal Ronde de Nice zucchini

3) Bell peppers that were supposed to turn red but are protesting all the cool weather we've had by stubbornly staying green

4) Basil bushes that I've been studiously ignoring because I really have all the frozen pesto I need

5) Jalapenos

6) Some very cute little cabbage babies that formed on a cabbage plant I had cut the main head off of some time ago but left in to see if it would do anything interesting

7) Chard

8) Yet more beets that have been sitting in the ground all summer and yet are still sweet and not at all woody (beets appreciate cool weather)

9) Parsnips, which will be covered with leaves or straw and wintered over

10) Radishes, which are the only fall planting that seem likely to amount to anything--you'd think we would know by now not to bother trying fall lettuce and carrots

11) Parsley, which I loathe and detest but which I planted for the MiL anyway because I am JUST THAT NICE

12) Three very large pumpkins that are supposed to be pie pumpkins but look awfully big for pie pumpkins, which makes me doubt their edibility

13) A volunteer pumpkin near the compost that looks a lot more like a pie pumpkin, but could be ANYTHING, i.e., the question of its edibility is also in doubt

14) A volunteer squash plant in the compost (squash like to volunteer) that has one squash on it that greatly resembles an acorn squash, but, once again, could be anything

As you can see, we are not lacking produce. I'm hoping to have parsnips and collards through most of the winter, though I might need to cover the collard plants to keep them alive. Last year, we ate the last collards in December, but those were totally unprotected and unloved. Maybe with just a wee bit of coddling, I can coax them through to have fresh collards from the garden for the traditional New Year's Day dinner.

And, uh, that's it, I guess. A recital of vegetables, yes. I am the consummate entertainer.

8 comments:

Anke said...

I'm just green with envy. All we have left is some peppers (ours are staying green, too), some tomatoes and a ton of basil. I've tried to get some radishes and lettuce going, but with all the rain we had, I think they drowned.

mil said...

The beets were sublime. Totally sublime.

Anonymous said...

and a partridge in a pear treeee.
I am freezing some basil this year just cut up and put in a couple layers of sandwich bags (jars may be better for freshness) I may do jars too as I still have basil to process. Hoping to use it in recipes in the winter . For making pies and bread I have to recommend 'neck pumpkins' , check out the catalogs , they are in lots of them. A lot of usable sweet meat, the neck is solid meat and the seed cavity is very small...you can even use less sugar in your recipes it is so sweet. Man, gotta love the beets...this has definitely been a very different growing season than usual for us.

SaintTigerlily said...

Volunteers, ha. You make me giggle.

Amy said...

I have 6 scraggly serrano pepers hanging on for dear life. I think that's more my fault than theirs but eh...

FinnyKnits said...

Wow. With the weather you've had, I'm amazed so much is going on out there. And you still have green beans? Mine finally quit and started to turn brown.

Or maybe they haven't - I just stopped looking because I couldn't handle it anymore.

You reminded me, I must go make another batch of pesto to freeze. I never get through winter with enough. Always there is a sad moment. Sometimes there are tears.

I'm very dramatic today.

Daisy said...

#1-4 are present in my garden, too. The volunteer white pumpkins had to be harvested early; the vine was dying. Peppers are small, but delicious. I picked two zucchini today; left two on the vine in case the weather lets them grow a wee bit more.

Pat said...

Sure glad you guys like vegetables, because it sure seems like you have an abundance of them! Good golly!