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| Fall frost |
Sunday, October 9, 2022
With frost in the air, summer loving veggies are coming to the end of their season. Veggies like tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber, basil, and peppers do not like cold weather. It is time to harvest the last of the summer veggies and get the cold crops the protection they need to continue producing through fall and winter.
Basil turns black when bitten with frost. Harvest all remaining basil when they call for low temperatures of 36 or below to be on the safe side. I make lots of pesto and freeze. Makes for a super quick and tasty meal any time. I have a couple basil volunteers in pots. I'll bring those inside for the winter and put in a sunny location. You can also take cuttings from a plant, put in water to get the roots growing and put in a pot for the winter. Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil
I planted Trombetta zucchini again this year because I didn't have any disease or pest issues with it last year. It is still going strong. For this type, you can harvest while the skin is still green and fruits are smaller for zucchini or let them grow huge and use them as winter squash. I picked some when they were green 2 months ago and put them on my kitchen counter. They are a golden color now and show no signs of going bad. Great to know that these squash are excellent for storage as well as fresh eating!. You do need alot of space for these. My one plant has spread 15 feet in each direction in the garden bed with multiple vines reaching 5' wide. They are very productive and rambling! Definitely my new go-to summer/winter squash. Growing zucchini and summer squash
Cucumbers are still producing in my garden. Cucumber info and tips for growing If yours is still producting, you can harvest what is on the vine and put in the fridge to use for salads or smoothies for fresh eating or make pickles or relish. I canned both this year. Grow your own smoothie and juice garden Quick tip-make homemade pickles with extra cucumbers
The peppers are still producing. They handle cooler weather better than the rest of the summer veggies. I’ll wait until it is going to get below 28 before I strip off all the peppers still on the plant. See Peppers are for every taste and garden and Preserving peppers for growing and preserving info. For my favorite hot pepper plants, I usually bring indoors to overwinter. They will continue to flower and fruit for weeks in the unheated garage and have a jump on production in the spring. Peppers, tomatoes and eggplant are all tropical perennials. This year, I am not bringing any of them indoors except my Chipetin ancient and Cayenne pepper as I have plenty of the others in the freezer or made into chili powder. I've had the Chipetin pepper plant for 6 years now.
I'll follow the same approach for tomatoes. When it is going to get below 32, I’ll take off all tomatoes left on the vine. The best way to get them to ripen is to wrap each individually in newspaper and store in a dark location. They will slowly ripen. Won’t be as tasty as off the vine, but better than what you can get in the store. Last year, I had ripe tomatoes through February. Or you can do fried green tomatoes A late fall tradition-fried green tomatoes! You can bring in your favorite tomato plants to an unheated garage, too, to see if they will overwinter. I haven't tried overwintering tomato plants.
I am still getting a few tomatoes. I typically wait until it is nice and chilly to start canning. I'll take all of last year's frozen tomatoes and make into sauce for the winter. I like waiting until it is cooler before canning! This year, I have plenty of sauce left from last year which is a good thing because our tomato harvest wasn't stellar. Should have enough frozen and canned to last until next season. Preserving the tomato harvest
I had only one eggplant this year that produced well this year. It was my fault. I let the morning glory plants run wild and they shaded out my other eggplant pot. Typically, we have great luck growing our eggplant in pots. Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden I really only need one pot of eggplant for what we eat fresh. I have not found blanching and freezing preserves the taste of eggplant. The best way I have found to preserve them is to make a dip called baba ghanoush and freeze it.
I'll harvest the snap pole beans when it is calling for a freeze. I just snap them and put in freezer bags for preserving. The lima beans I'll wait until the pods turn brown before removing them from the vines.
Now is also a great time to divide any perennials you have, whether they be herbs, edibles or ornamentals. This will give them all fall and winter to put down strong roots. Perennial greens are always the first up in the spring. Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden
It is still not too late to transplant fall crops like cold hardy types of lettuce, cabbage, chard, pak choi, broccoli, kale, parsley, garlic, onions or perennial herbs. I have my last round of greens growing inside. As soon as they get their first true leaves, I will harden off on the patio and then transplant to pots.
Now is the time to order your mini greenhouse to extend the season if you don't already have one. I'll put mine out over the greens in my Earthboxes and other pots to keep the lettuce and greens going all winter when they are calling for a hard freeze. Preparing for a hard freeze
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| Portable greenhouse for winter greens |
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