End of the tomatoes

They were still getting ripe, but more slowly. Still, I thought it was time to put them out of their misery, because I'm going to have to clean up the garden sometime. There are also still green beans. And I even picked a few raspberries. This is surprising because everything has usually come to an end by mid-October, but I guess the weather has been warmer this year.

But it's really time to leave the garden. The garlic is sprouting well, and I anticipate lots next year. Critters don't like it. The herbs will reach an end with colder weather which is bound to come soon. So, like the Nationals, I have to say "wait till next year."

Still harvesting

For the past few weeks, I've been getting about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of raspberries every couple of days, some tomatoes every few days, and quite a few green beans. I think maybe the last zucchini has finally given up...but maybe not? This is surprising, and will also push off my final garden clean-up for a while.

And I planted lots of garlic---a double row. It's coming up and getting ready for the winter.

Garlic planted...and lots of green beans

I planted the garlic last weekend. It was time for it to go into a shortened row (I try to rotate), so I am trying a trick from the Internet---two rows eight inches apart. If it works, I'll have an awful lot of garlic next year. I got such great garlic this year (every head was large and fat) that I find it hard to believe it wasn't just luck.

And then I went to pick the beans after having left them for a few days. Got about 1 3/4 pounds! Not that we needed any, so I used a few in a salmon salad and blanched and froze the rest.

What happened to the evil squirrels (or racoons)?

A couple of weeks ago something odd happened. Whatever was eating the tomatoes as they ripened, and stripping the bean plants, suddenly went away. Now I have a few end of summer tomatoes turning red with no harm done, and handfuls of green beans.

Good...but strange.

Grapes, figs, and more racoons

Monday: Picked some edamame. Had them for dinner. Very nice. Determined to pick the rest on Thursday, blanch them, and freeze them.
Tuesday, Wednesday: kept checking the edamame. Looked good.
Thursday evening. Went out to pick the edamame. And they were all gone. Stripped from the plants. Finis. I have to assume it is racoons.

Plus, I've been forced to do some experiments with peas. I planted pea seeds on Saturday. Sunday morning, here' what I found:

Yep. Something dug into the ground and got all but one of the 90-some peas I planted. Since then, I've tried replanting (gone the next morning) and bird netting (gone again). Tonight I put down half-inch hardware cloth held down with staples. Anything that wants those peas is going to have to move that hardware cloth.

Good news: the fig tree is going to give me a dozen figs in its second year! And I picked some grapes:

These are Seyval Blanc grapes. They are supposed to be good for eating as well as wine. I tried some--not bad. Some are brown in the picture above, I think because I waited too long before picking them (but I wanted to be sure they were ripe). There are a couple more small bunches as well. Not bad for the second year.

Bad Racoon!

Well, I think it is a racoon. There are some under the deck. And somethings been taking bites of very single tomato, green or starting to ripen. The entire initial tomato set is ruined.

I took the munched tomatoes off and am hoping that another crop will form---and that, in the meantime, the racoons will get bored and find something else to do. But this is frustrating.

Oddly enough, nothing else has been touched. Why?

On the good side of things, there are lots of edamame. This is a productive bean, but I hope I haven't waited too long to pick them.

Garlic!

Yes, it was time. And this, at least, is something the birds couldn't get.

That's 35 heads of garlic.

 And these were uniformly large. I've never had such a good crop.

Birds and raspberries

I haven't been getting many raspberries for a few days, and I began to think I was facing the birds once again. But today was much better, so I don't think the birds are taking that many. The blackberries seem to be well protected by the netting. And I put netting over some of the grapes (I have about 4 small bunches this year, not bad since I just planted the vince last year).

Three kohlrabies went for a salad for the work potluck. Others will be ready soon. As will some kale. I am now trying to figure out if I should harvest garlic today or wait until I come back from a short trip.

Kholrabis and kale

The kholrabis in training are getting to the point where I might harvest a few. Looks like more than enough this year! And the kale is starting to pick up as well. More consolation for the lost blueberries (and apparently dying asparagus, although new asparagus shoots are coming up from some of the plants. Maybe a few will survive?)

I have some nice lettuce, but no reason to pick it since we are getting so much from the CSA. I thought that with only a half share we would want some of our own. Guess not.

Blueberries for the birds

Because they aren't for us. We got a cup and a half, and some of them were still early. And then, as usual, the bird(s) found how to get in under the netting. No more blueberries. Consolation: raspberry season has started. The birds take a few of these, as well. But I don't mind because they leave plenty. See---I can share. How about the birds?

And also on the berry front, there are a significant number of blackberries (well, enough for a cup or two) that have started ripening. I covered them with netting, and that seems to be working so far.

Little figs

Only the second year, but it looks like I have a few little figs! Raspberries are starting up now, too. Blueberries are ripening as well, and I've protected some--but not all, yet--from the birds. Although I haven't had good luck with the netting.

A mystery: why didn't many of the lettuce seeds germinate, and why is the lettuce growing so slowly. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, but very small heads so far.

And what's up with the asparagus? They sprouted, finally, from the roots I planted. But now some of the plants seem to be dying. They've had plenty of water, since we had lots of rain.

The spring in a few posts

Last year I finally planted strawberries after many suggestions from the non-weeders. This year, sure enought---lots of strawberrries. I think we would have had more, but I didn't put clean straw on in the spring (at least I'm guessing that's why so many rotted). Despite the losses, we had two cups of strawberries very day for a week and are still getting about one cut every other day. And that's only after one year!

Of course, I had to put netting over the raised bed. That was after the first 6-8 berries that ripened were hit by birds (I know because I saw them.) Fortunately, this is much easier than for blueberries.

Strawberries! Notice the netting.

I had tried seeing if my (incompletely grown) kale and kholrabi would overwinter. However, all of the plants bolted once the weather got nicer. So that experiment didn't work too well.

This year: I put in a 3'x3' raised bed for asparagus. Followed the directions---and, for the longest time, nothing. However, I just today saw the ninth and final plant starting to grow, so it looks like we will have asparagus in the future. Although we may have to wait another year or two.

A New Season (But Blogged Late)

Actually, I began gardening back in January when I tried planting some onion seeds. And I resolved to post to the blog...and didn't.

The onion seeds did not work nearly was well as I hoped. I got plants in only about 1/3 of the pots, and since I put several seeds in each pot, the germination rate was a lot lower than that. I'll have to reconsider this for next year.

The result: I have about 20 onions from seed and the rest---30-40---from sets, like I've done before.

On the other hand, the garlic looks great. I've planted both garlic and onions much closer than before, and this seem to be just fine (we'll see come June and July, of course).

And the kholrabi and kale I left to overwinter? They bolted before producing anything worthwhile. That's another failed experiment.

On the positive side, I put in three currant bushes and they seem to have been established. And the fig and grape survived the winter, too.

I think those are going to be bunches of grapes!