WINTERIZING THE GARDEN

Overview before winterizing

Tomorrow night the first hard frost is predicted... It looks like it will be 32 or colder tomorrow night and in the 20's for most of the rest of the weeknights!  BRRRRR!  Today, after a gorgeous fall colors run up canyon,  and, of course a fresh garden breakfast on the deck, we spent the day getting the garden ready for winter.  It was a bittersweet experience but we are learning to cherish all the seasons down here immersed in the garden!

Last view of zucchini volunteer 1

Last view of zucchini volunteer 1

Last view of zucchini volunteer 2

Bye, Bye zucchini plants!

Bye, Bye winter squash plants!

First I pulled all the zucchini plants and they are going to the dump rather than the compost bin. We harvested all the butternut, spaghetti and acorn squash.  Then pulled and trashed those vines as well as the pumpkin vines and dumped them in the trailer.  We are hoping those that aren't yet ripe will ripen in storage.

Squash is gone, one tomato plant to go

Then we harvested the basil plants.. well, actually we pulled them all out by the roots and wrapped them in bags to deliver to folks for pesto.  I just don't have the time or energy for pesto this year and I'm very sad about the end of fresh basil season.  We do still have the big potted herb garden which I decided to put on wheels and move into the garage for a little while.

Final chile harvest and garden breakfast on the deck!

Jim harvested all the chile peppers today.  The final harvest of peppers is spectacularly beautiful!

Took a break to puree the swiss chard and potato soup made yesterday with all garden veggies.  Had a bowl of that and cheese and wholegrain bread for lunch on the deck!  What a treat!

Last man standing - final tomato plant coming out

Then we had to figure out how to part with the tomatoes.  Since we got a late (second round) start on tomatoes due to the leaf curl virus on round one, we never got the truly abundant tomato crop for which we were hoping.  Moreover, there was a LOT of fruit on the vines still, some almost ripe, a lot very green.  We decided to try a couple of experiments.  We took about a half dozen plants and wrapped the rootball in plastic grocery bags and hung them in the garage.

Tomato plants hanging in garage...ripen tomatoes!!

I've done this once before hanging them from the rafters in a tiny studio apartment in which I lived and was happily harvesting sweet ripe tomatoes for weeks afterwards as they continued to ripen quite well.  The rest we are trying Chuck's method of putting in boxes in a cool dark place to ripen.  And we have a bowl full of ripe fruit to eat.

Squash and onions in the "root cellar"

Tomato Harvest to ripen in the root cellar

Then Jim decided to pull the chile plants - good thing as he found a few more chiles which eluded him on the earlier harvest.   We were advised NOT to compost anything in the nightshade family so this all went into the trailer for the dump as well.  A shame not to compost all of this and the squash but with viruses and squash beetles, it seems the wise way to go.

Another GIANT beet!!  Crazy big and crazy tasty!  Looked a little like a heart!

Next, we tackled the beds which we want to continue through the winter.  Bed numbers 1 and 2 are now wrapped in plastic sheeting.  And I planted the bok choi in bed number 1... so it has carrots, green onions, beets and bok choi.  Bed number 2 has chard, Tuscan kale, arugula, mesclun mix and some head lettuce.  Bed 3 will have sugar snap peas and chard once these sprout and .....?

Jim and the chard in bed number 2

Hoops in place on beds 1, 2, and 3

We also planted garlic and shallots in bed number 5.   We are a little late getting those in but hopefully they will survive this next week of cold weather.

Planting garlic and shallots

Finally, I started sugar snap peas and red and green chard in six-packs and have them in the south facing window in the garage to germinate.  I will put them in either bed number 1 or 2 when they are ready.

Oooh and we ate some fresh strawberries and harvest raspberries and blackberries.

No trees planted today but we did clear some of the debris out of the creek from the tree trimming of a couple of weeks ago.

Bed Numbers 1 and 2 ready for winter!

I think all of this gardening is good for learning about mortality and accepting the changing seasons more readily.   Instead of being depressed by the radically shorter days (magnified by today's time change), I am learning to be excited about planting fall crops, watching the leaves change colors, adding to compost, giving the beds breathing room, turning over beds and amending them for next year.  And also already excited for spring!

Summer squash harvest

There was a shocking amount of whiteflies swarming today.  We definitely disrupted them by pulling all the squash plants.  I wish I could believe they would die off over the winter but I think lots of these bugs will still be around in the spring.  We will try the recommended technique for getting rid of squash bugs (laying planks in the garden and looking for squash bugs under them to squish in the morning).  Not sure what to do about the grubs.  Will also try the newspaper trick for the earwigs.  but now, it's time for dinner and relaxing after a long day in the garden.

BEFORE

AFTER

Winter crop protected

Beet?  Heart? Mutant?