Tuesday, September 29, 2009

First frost


We were in a frost watch last night, so Graham and I took a stroll through the garden to look for tomatoes that showed any color. Graham was especially good at diving deep to get those last few tomatoes just out of reach. Twice I had to rescue him from the plants he said were trying to gobble him up. We did end up getting a bit of a frost, though I'm not sure if it hit the garden hard enough to kill the tomatoes. We'll see what they look like in a few days.


There aren't all that many tomatoes left, anyway. Most of my tomato plants (the ones that grew next to my blighted potatoes) show signs of disease. Except for my one volunteer cherry tomato. This volunteer grew up amidst my blighted potatoes and so far has shown no signs of damage. In fact, it is sprawling everywhere. I will be saving some seeds from those cherries to see if they are indeed blight resistant.


I am rubbing my hands with gleeful anticipation for my Brussels sprouts harvest. I am so pleased with their growth this year, and the effects of my Bt spray, that I think I will grow tons more Brassicas in next year's garden. My kids love broccili.



So much for my experiment to see if waxed rutabagas stored any better than unwaxed in my not-very-cold basement. Next year I'll wait until late June or early July to plant my storage rutabagas. I have a dozen or so slower-growing 'bagas left in the garden, waiting until the temps start to cool off. My root cellar will be built this week, so I'll have a cooler place to store them. Maybe I should try to over-winter these waxed ones in my fridge for seed production next spring.

Here is my monster potato, one pound nine ounces. Anybody else have any mutant spuds from this year's harvest?

And the award for the weirdest looking potato goes to this little guy, aka 'Frosty the Snowspud.' If I can find a little hat and scarf, I'll color in his face and put him on my kitchen window. Then when his eyes start to sprout he will turn into 'Frosty the Alien Snowspud.' I'll take all the laughs I can get to help get me through the winter.


3 comments:

Mama Pea said...

We had our first frost last night. The very end of September? Not bad for our region.

Now I can really go great guns at doing the last of the garden cleaning. Only thing left is onions and potatoes . . . and cherry tomatoes and cucs under cold frames. But there will come a time to give up on even those.

Really enjoy your posts. Keep 'em comin'!

miSz tUna said...

Me too, I enjoy your posts :)

And the potato, wow!! It's HUGE?!

whatever happened to 'Frosty the Snowspud'? ;)

Jo said...

Thanks Mama Pea and Hazwani! I guess the end of September isn't too bad for a first frost. But it just seemed to come so quickly after our heat wave during the middle of the month. Guess I should stop complaining and be grateful for what I've got!

Frosty the Snowspud hasn't turned alien on my yet, though I've yet to dress him for the weather. He's still sitting naked on my window sill. Poor little guy!