2020 gardens......

[Dotch]

Picked all the maters that were ripe or blushing last nite as well as a dozen cukes. Where the maters were located it didn't freeze all that hard relative to the rest of the yard. Looks like we can call it a year in the garden tho & focus on finishing up apple picking. The Fireside and Haralson need to be picked along with a few remaining Honeycrisp.  The SnowSweet should be getting close to ready. Have to round up some caramel and slice up a few. Got my eyes on a rear tine tiller not too far from here. Might have to go look at it over the weekend. Be nice to spread the new garden area with chit & get it worked in before the snow flies.

[glenn57]

picked the green tomatoes off my only plant left last nite and hanked it last nite. will pluck all the flowers today that are toast. my garden is no officially done with.
 

[glenn57]

I opened a jar of my green pickled tomatoes. Man are they tasty.

[Dotch]

Well, not everything got toasted last nite. Cukes are & any volunteer gourds got nuked. Somehow one zucchini survived & I picked a nice 8" specimen. A few of the tomatoes got singed on top but had lots of live foliage left. Cannas the same. Their flowers were fine, just some of the leaves scorched in places. 4 o'clocks largely untouched. Still flowering too but definitely close to being done. Interesting to see how cold it gets tonite after they'd predicted 36 last nite. 

[Dotch]

Still lots of foliage left on the maters yet along with green fruit after the 2nd hard frost nite before last. Guessing we'll have a few dozen more to pick before the week is out. Metering out the ones we picked the other nite nicely. Put the greener ones in the bottom of the buckets so between giving them away & eating them ourselves we should have maters to burn for a while yet.

[KEN W]

Garden season is over......picked all the tomatoes and dug all the potatoes. Still some fall raspberries yet. about half done tilling. Time for some green tomato salsa.

Temps in the 20's starting Wednesday.

[LPS]

Pulled the tomatoes here Saturday.  They had been frozen a couple of times so it was time. 

[glenn57]

Only thing left in mine are carrots. Should get them yanked when I get home from the cabin in a week.

I have about a dozen tomatoes in the garage slowly ripening. Then withdrawals.

[Dotch]

It's coming here too based on the forecast after mid-week. Still lots of tomatoes to pick yet. The past 3 weekends when we've been working at Mom's, I've brought my brother from IA a dozen or so of varying degrees of ripeness. He's had a steady supply. Their garden never materialized due to the dry weather there & he loves tomatoes. Also gave him a bunch of apples. Still apples to pick yet. The SnowSweets should be about ready. Slice some up and dip them in caramel. 

[Dotch]

Got the remaining Honeycrisp & SnowSweet apples picked last nite. Birds raised hob with way too many Honeycrisp & then the ladybugs got in them. Got a couple dozen SnowSweet so was happy about that. Heading to the grocery store for some caramel. The tree had what appeared to be fireblight in it even tho it's supposed to have above average resistance. Felt fortunate it was limited to a couple limbs so will prune that out and hope for the best next year. Should pull out the ratty ass lilacs to the south of it to improve air flow while I'm at it. Love the tree. It was almost perfectly shaped up until this summer. A few Firesides & Haralsons to pick tonite along with the maters.     

[deadeye]

Dug and let dry all the cannas and dahlias. Well, I only dug half of the cannas as that's usually more than I will need next year. Boxed them up and put in basement (I have walkout so I was able to move the boxes with a dolly.  I dug up three of the 6 or so rhubarb plants (each could easily be split into three parts) because they are in what will be the new septic drain field.  Anyone looking for rhubarb is welcome to come and get the remaining 3-4 plants.   

[roony]

I picked a few baskets of apples yesterday also. Fireside, Harolred, and some Sweet 16s that were a little later to ripen. I thought I had removed plenty of apples when they were the size of ping pong balls but I should have removed more. From what I've been reading lately, they should not be closer than 4 to 6 inches from each other. (Social distancing)
I also picked my tomatoes and peppers. I got an egg basket of bell peppers and a real nice bunch of ghosts and serranos which I will start fermenting for pepper sauce.

[roony]

Ghost Peppers

Serranos

In jars ready for a week of fermentation

[mike89]

they most likely come out that color too!!!   

[LPS]

Those dangerous peppers are beautiful.  Way to hot for me.  I would like to try a taste of something made out of them though.  1 bite.  LOL  I like to watch the food shows when they are eating that real hot stuff.  Pretty funny how some can handle it great!  Looks like they are in serious pain. 

[roony]

Here's a young gal who knows how to handle a pepper

[mike89]

not me!!! 

[LPS]

Now isn't she delightful?  SHE is the Reason I'm thinking pick of the day!!!

[KEN W]

Covered the strawberries with straw today. Also laid down my grape vines and covered them with dirt. Supposedly could get a foot of snow by Sunday.
.

 

[glenn57]

pulled the last of my carrots. dumped leaves in the garden and mulched them up. tomorrow as its snowing i'll dump unmulched leaves on ma's flower bed. then its ni-nite for the winter.

[Dotch]

Picked the last of the tomatoes Saturday a.m. Got the remainder of the apples picked last nite and inside. After 24 this morning I'm thinking we're gonna call it. My quest for a tiller has been frustrating. Too much time being spent at Mom's cleaning out stuff. Every time I find one I like that's close enough, it's gone before I get a chance. Eff it. Spread chit on the garden, buy another tractor & disc it in instead! 

[KEN W]

Got my first 2021 seed catalog yesterday.....Pinetree Seeds out of Maine.

[glenn57]

i have not recieved any yet, but i havent ordered anything from a seed catalog for a long time so nit sure how many i'll get!!!!

[Bobberineyes]

Are they better seeds than home dumps? I'd be game to try.

[glenn57]

I've only bought different perennial flowers and onion sets threw a catalog. One year had excellent luck with the onions another 2 years not so much. I get my onions from the local hardware store and all my seeds from fleet farm. And that is like in March when I first see them put out.

Now my brother gets his tomato seeds and starts them from seed through Amazon. These are a certain type of tomato, smaller but tasty. He buys these during the winter and taste like they where vine picked that day.

[Bobberineyes]

Sooo, pretty new to this garden stuff. I ended up dropping the mower deck while sucking up leaves today and dumped a bunch of cut grass and leaves on the garden.  Being pretty late should one let the snow smash it down and till it in the spring, or till it yet this year?

[glenn57]

Either way. If you got time wouldn't hurt to do it now.

[KEN W]

If anyone here is interested in getting catalogs.....here are 40 to choose from

https://offgridworld.com/40-free-seed-catalogs/

And if you want to see how your favorite company is doing, go to DavesGarden.com. 8,000 in alphabetical order along with the top 30 rated by gardeners.

https://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/

[glenn57]

If anyone here is interested in getting catalogs.....here are 40 to choose from

https://offgridworld.com/40-free-seed-catalogs/

And if you want to see how your favorite company is doing, go to DavesGarden.com. 8,000 in alphabetical order along with the top 30 rated by gardeners.

https://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/

so Ken, i think we.ve had a bit of this discussion but of all those seed catalogs that you get, how many do you actually order from???? i really dont do any "extreme" gardening, usually stick to the basics and that i can get seeds anywhere that sell seeds.

if there would be something i'd like to order it would be that tall prairie grass type stuff. its strictly ornamental, but i really have no place to put it, and i've tried dreaming up of a place in my city lot. i really like the reddish colored grass!!!!

[KEN W]

Most years I order from 2 or 3. Just depends on what varieties I want to plant but am out of. I am also looking for new ones to try. Especially ones that are new with All American awards. This past year I ordered from Seeds N Such and Jungs. I also got test varieties from NDSU.

Some things are a bust....won't plant them again. Example is orange beets. Just wanted to try them to see if they are different than the reds. I won't be planting them again. Going back to hybrid red beets. They are crossed sugar beets and are sweeter than the old reds or the orange ones. I let my grand kids make the decision. They all like beets.

I ordered most from Seeds N Such and Pinetree Seeds because the packets are smaller and thus cost less.I would rather buy new fresh seeds every other year rather than planting seeds left over from 3-4 years.

But I like to see the catalogs with new varieties and good information. I probably get around 15 or so. They are all free.