October 10 Tomatoes

Making fresh, simple tomato sauce right now, herbs, onion, garlic and tomatoes from the garden picked today, October 10 in the mist. It has been a strange year for tomatoes,glad they are ripening this late. The varieties that have done well are the beautiful Black Prince, Costoluto, Star Burst cherry and a variety of small yellow pear tomato. I will probably just plant these next year if I can resist the pull of trying yet again something new.
A little basil left from pesto to add to the sauce, I was sure that it would be black from the cold after removing most of the leaves but happy to say that the pots are holding and the little leaves of that spanish seed basil are doing fine in the mist.

Beans in a pot

These scarlet runner beans were grown in a 5 gallon pot without much care, forgot to water or was away but each time they were neglected the vines bounced right back. Planted for a vine to climb up a post I had never grown this bean before and had no real idea of what the beans might be like. They are gorgeous to look at and while I only have a cup or so of them I will cook them and see how they taste.
This Sunday October morning I turned over 2 beds with some compost and manure, I already put in green sand and most of the soil has been through a fine mesh so the soil ought to be great now. This are hasn't been planted or cared for for many..maybe 20 years, so I am happy to have the little area ready to plant. Maybe the garlic will go into those beds, garlic on one side, shallots on the other would be a good planting.
Had baked yellow fin potatoes for dinner and leftovers for breakfast. Really good.
Fall here now, cooler, high 50's and cloudy, minor rain for the last 2 days. Not much yet for fall color.

My garden is producing tomatoes that are ripe and while not as sweet as in a warm year, they are most welcome. Today I roasted the tomatoes, banana peppers and garlic then sauteed some onions and oregano added the pureed tomatoes and peppers and it was a yummy warm soup.
Garlic is still holding well, potatoes in box with paper between the layers, both are in the garage. Temperature there will be about 40-50 degrees so a bit warm but it is the best that I have for now.
My parsnips are growing and I am excited about that, beets too.
It is time to make some pesto to store since the nights cooled down as of yesterday. I think that the basil from seed did the best, but all plants were productive and mild.
My ordered garlic came and it is helpful to identify some varieties and will sort as best as possible. Preparing the beds now for planting, turning over my own compost, adding green sand, and now will get some composted manure, let it all settle in and will plant toward the end of the month and try to remember to consult the moon just for fun!

Trombocini...and then some

We left Seattle for a few days and I had checked the squash to see if it could stay on the vine till I came back...well I came back to quite the squash. About 5 pounds of it! It looks fine and while it might be a bit dry to be cooked, I think I will get a saw and give it a try. This is the best squash, zucchini type, that I have ever cooked. Fried zucchini, zucchini bread, zucchini moussaka, diced in salad and pasta, that should take care of some of it.
Off to order garlic for fall planting. This time I will make sure to keep tract of what is planted where. So far all my garlic has dried well and is doing fine in the garage. I've used half of the one that I call "Chinese" garlic, small red papered cloves with soft necks. I could braid them so they came into the kitchen and I love reaching for them when ever I am cooking and need a clove. Will have to figure out exactly what this one is, since I purchased it at a farmers market and the person selling it just called it Chinese that is all I know about this variety. Pretty too.

Basil, late but worth the wait.

Mid September and the basil is just perfect. I've been tearing off leaves to add to tomatoes for a month but this is the first pesto of the year. Usually the basil plants in a cool year just don't have enough growth for me to cut them way back for a batch of pesto and I find that pinching a few leaves helps the plants to fill out by the end of the summer. The best tasting basil is the seed my sister brought back from Spain. Late to sprout but has caught up with the other seed starts as well as the plant from the nursery. My Thai basil just keeps on growing, started from a sprig from a restaurant it is prolific and tasty. Late but a good basil year.

September dinner and waiting

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This is a first for 2011, a dinner where nothing comes from the grocery store, well everything from the garden but the olive oil. Fresh beans, yum! From a bush bean that was started by someone else, will have to find out what it is, because it is firm and flavorful. Sripey tomato was fine, could use some more heat in the garden but it is ripe so no complaints. Trombocini sauted with herbs and garlic from the garden. I didn't harvest my own salt so there are 2 things from my all garden dinner that I did not grow or harvest.
For September I have purple potatoes growing, new lettuce, peas have not sprouted yet, but I am hopeful. The parsnips are up and a few carrots. I seeded heavily so now I have to thin the rows, very hard for me to pull out the little starts! I think the russet potatoes have finished flowering and when the leaves wilt I will dig them up and store them or have a french fry party.
A disappointment is my hubbard squash. I have 3 and they are only about 6 inches and I will be surprised if they grow more this year. I'll leave them in the ground until it is cold so maybe they will be big enough for a bowl of soup. Fall gardening will be interesting....

End of summer

This is my first attempt to have a fall garden. Usually I wait too late to plant anything much for fall but this last week I pulled out zucchini and yellow squash and onions and made room for quite a bit for fall.
Planted peas, snow peas, we shall see if this works out.
Collards from seed transplanted to the beds.
Carrots and parsnips, parsnips take 120 days to make so maybe they will get a little cold weather and be perfect for Thanksgiving.
Crisphead lettuce should do well from seed.
Both my Spanish and american arugula seed has started from my sowing 2 weeks ago and I know that will last until the first frost.
Mustard, spinach and cabbage set out from nursery starts and they are doing well.

From early August planting, I have golden beets growing nicely, although they have some sort of leaf miner doing some damage. Will have to see what controls those little pests.
The broccoli from seed sown in the beginning of August is growing well, no heads yet, but the plants look better than my earlier nursery sets that were attacked and basically destroyed by aphids.
The trombocini squash is still free from leaf wilt and virus and producing one a week, so that is still my star for the year, that and garlic.
Great weather may give us some ripe tomatoes, we have had some from the one plant in a black pot on the patio the rest are green, looking good but far from ripe....we shall see.