Fall Garden Update

(First: Two comments on yesterday's post? TWO? Now my parents really will have a complex that they're not exciting enough for this blog.)

I haven't done a garden update in awhile. And based on my recent posts involving garden produce (basically tomatotomatotomato, AIEEEEEE!!!), you might think there isn't a whole lot going on there anymore. That would be wrong. I will now school you on what a fall garden includes at Blackrock. And I was going to post photos, but the batteries in my crappy camera just died (AGAIN), so there will be no photos. Instead, you will have to use your imaginations, like children did before there was Wii (stupidest product name EVER, by the way), television, and Hannah Montana.

Onward with the garden . . .

The green beans are still producing, with the addition of some pretty purple bush beans that have started producing as well. We only have about eight bean plants, but that's enough to have green beans (and purple beans that turn green when you cook them, which is kind of a screw in my opinion) every couple of days. Also, we have lima beans that are coming along. A. absolutely HATES lima beans, so he isn't looking forward to that harvest.

(Insert mental photo of green beans mixed with purple bush beans here.)

The bell pepper plants have a ton of peppers on them, but they're all green and I seriously doubt any will turn red before the frost. I do not think bell peppers appreciate nights in the forties. Oh well. Green peppers are good, too. (But red is better . . .)

(Insert mental photo of laden green pepper plants here.)

The hot pepper plants have tiny peppers on them. They have been useless to me in salsa making. But that's our fault for killing the first seedlings and having to start all over again. I'll probably end up with 20 jalapeno peppers in about two weeks, with no idea what to do with them because all I ever do with jalapenos is make salsa and I have enough salsa to feed half of Mexico already. But that's a problem for another day.

The red cabbages are all splendidly large and purple, so why do they call them red cabbages? Stupid. Anyway, I actually used half of one while my parents were here. That half made enough to feed five as a side dish, and I have six more large purple cabbages in the garden, which means I have . . . a lot of purple cabbage. Bring on the kielbasa!

(Insert mental photo of cabbage row here.)

The carrots got to be a pretty good size, despite a couple of initial failed planting attempts. The collards are in a regenerating cycle, after my ruthless harvesting of them this weekend. The chard and turnips are coming along.

The MiL started some cauliflower seeds just a few weeks ago, but they're still pretty small and they appear to be infested with slugs (GROSS), so I don't think we'll be getting any cauliflowers. Since A. hates cauliflower even more than lima beans, he's not shedding any tears over that.

Oh yeah, and then there are the tomatoes. Still. Forever. I'm sure you will have no trouble inserting a mental photo of The Dish Pan overflowing with tomatoes. Still. Forever.

In addition to the garden, there's the orchard. Which makes it sound like we have nice rows of fruit trees all laid out somewhere, when in fact we have random fruit trees scattered all over the place. But from those trees we have begun harvesting apples and pears. The apples are being eaten raw at the moment, until I have enough to make applesauce, and I canned pears yesterday. I also canned peaches from the MiL's mother's trees.

(Insert mental photo of pretty canned peaches and pears here.)

And I would just like to state for the record that peeling pears totally blows and makes my hand cramp and I hate messing about with sugar syrup to can fruit. It always gets all over the place and makes the floor sticky, making it very difficult for me to continue my practice of not mopping the floor ever.

BUT ANYWAY.

There you have it. Still a bounty of produce coming out of the garden. At least until the killing frost. And if I may share a secret with you, I think the killing frost may be a bit of a relief this year. Because then I can quit with the canning and just start eating. I much prefer eating.

(Insert mental photo of Kristin weighing 300 pounds here.)

The End.

Update: I forgot the potatoes! How could I have forgotten the HUGE, OUT OF CONTROL, WILL NOT DIE DOWN Potato Forest? Yeah, our potatoes usually die down around the end of July (when the foliage gets yellow and withers, the potatoes are done growing and can be harvested). This year, we have Everlasting Potatoes. Which means they're still growing. I've harvested some already (they can be eaten anytime after they flower, though they'll keep growing until the foliage dies), but I fear the potato harvest this year. It will be ridiculous.