Last weekend I stripped the garden (again) of tomatoes. I even pulled down the tomato cages. We are out of the tomato business for the rest of the year.
We are also out of the corn business. The stalks were stripped on Friday because of impending frost. I made 7 or 8 pints of creamed corn for the freezer. The corn was picked late enough that the sugar had converted to starch so I added a bit of sweetened condensed milk to each jar. Of course we had creamed corn for dinner one night of the weekend - the sweetened condensed milk did its job admirably.
I did leave a few very small peppers. They have managed to survive the cold nights and grow some more. The gourd and pumpkin plants are still growing (although some vines have died back and I did pick decorative gourds last night).
That only leaves the green beans. they were flowering again last weekend, so I may get another small crop before the season is officially done with.
After I clean up the vegetable garden, it will become the holding bed for the roses that I received this year. They are all young plants, and own root, so small enough to be in quart and gallon pots. Since I did not have time to plant them this year, I will plant the pots in the vegie garden and let the soil protect the roots from the winter. Next spring they can be dug back up, without having to disturb any roots, and planted where I want them.
Last weekend I also dug up volunteer flower garden plants. I have loads of volunteers in pathways that I had told a friend at work I would dig up and give to her. After all was said and done, the haul (literally) for my friend was; Black Eyed Susan's, Perennial Bachelor's Buttons, pink Tickseed, Husker Red Penstemon, white Gay Feather, pink and purple tall Phlox, and about 20 Creeping Phlox plants of various colors.
Everything except the Creeping Phlox was large enough that I potted them into quart containers. If I was smart, I would dig up volunteers, pot them up, overwinter them and sell them in the spring. The quart pots would sell for $7-8 each and the smaller pots of Creeping Phlox would sell for $3-4 at garden centers. However, I'm not that smart, so I give the plants away. I toy with the idea of a road-side stand, but I'm just not that interested in it yet.
Guess what this is:
That would be Lots of Lavender that I harvested for drying. I have two plants that overwintered last year (surprise, surprise) and I started a bunch from seed this year. None of the plants are overly big as the survivors of the winter died back almost all the way, and of course the first year plants aren't really established yet. I was impressed by the harvest of what I do have though. The lavender that I started from seed this spring has been planted amongst the roses that are between the patio and house. I'm hoping that will keep the lavender warm enough it will survive the winter better than the stuff that struggles out by the driveway.
Other things that I potted up were three starts from hydrangeas. Those starts weren't intentional; I had cut flowers and put them in a vase in the house. After a month or more, the flowers dried up and I was getting ready to put them in the mulch pile on Sunday when I noted that one stem had roots forming and two stems had little nodules forming.
So, I potted them up and put them in a darker section of the house. Perhaps they will continue to root, perhaps not. Doesn't matter to me, but I figured to give it a shot.
This weekend we are getting lots of rain from two different systems. Probably no garden work for me, unless it is to pick green beans.
The trees are really changing color and the mornings are getting colder, so there is not much more gardening weather left for this year. Soon it will be time to just let everything go and wait for the first hints of green next spring.
Goodness--all of the gardening activity! You seem to have to heel in roses (and other plants) each fall. That is not a bad thing to do, and it saves you money for having been able to pick up bargains. I started to write that I wish you could see the one pepper plant that produced in our garden, this year; but, will post photo(s) for you.
You've had a very productive gardening/yarding season, so I should think it would be time to kick back. Knowing you, you'll be equally industrious at something else until it is, again, gardening time.
Posted by: Cop Car | September 27, 2008 at 11:16 AM
i stand in awe of you bogie! i hope one day to be as keen and successful at growing my own food as you are. i made a small attempt this year with a little success, so you never know, perhaps next year.....
Posted by: bod | September 29, 2008 at 03:17 PM
Cop Car - Actually, I have never heeled in any plants before. I have always just put the pots in a semi-protected area and covered them with straw. But, I have never had to overwinter young own-root roses before so this will be a new experience.
Kicking back - that can wait until after we get the wood stacked - only got about half the woodshed filled, so have to do more.
Posted by: bogie | October 03, 2008 at 07:35 AM
Bod - Hey, I heard that you had good luck with pears this year and that is nothing to sneeze at!
Posted by: bogie | October 03, 2008 at 07:38 AM