Another month has flown by!
Rainfall
- 4th: 1"
- 5th: *1.3+"
- 7th: 0.05"
- 10th: 1.65"
- 11th: 2"
- 30th: 0.35" (Ian)
- Total: 6.35+ inches
* The plus (+) is because it started raining on the 4th, but the next
morning I found the rain gauge down on the ground. The 1.3 inches happened
after that, but I have no idea how much we got overnight.
Temperature
- nighttime range: 47-74°F (8-23°C)
- daytime range: 67-91°F (19-33°C)
Planting
- winter wheat
- Daikons
- Carrots
- Cosmic Purple
- Purple Dragon
- Turnips
- Kale
- Lettuce, Jericho
- Collards
- Beets, Ruby Queen
- Broccoli, Waltham 29
- Chinese cabbage
- Salsify
- Garlic
- Multiplier onions
- Parsnips, Harris Model
- Cabbage, Nero Di Toscana
- Mizuna
- Mustard, Japanese Giant Red
I think that's the most ambitious fall garden I've ever planted, but it
seems prudent in these times to do so. It's in later than the regional
planting guides suggest because I was tied up in the kitchen for all of
August. But the soil is still warm for germination, and we hopefully have
time before first frost.
How long a fall garden lasts will depend on what kind of winter we have.
Winter here can go either way: mild or cold. Last winter was cold, so most
of my fall garden died off. If we have a mild winter, I'll be able to
harvest greens and root crops all winter long.
Picking and Eating
We got our first picking of green beans earlier in the month.
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Cornfield pole beans
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Late, I know, but the plan was to plant them when the corn was about six
inches tall. Then the corn didn't germinate well. After two unsuccessful
plantings of corn, I finally planted a few pole bean seeds under the porch
trellis. We won't get a lot, but fresh steamed green beans with a little
butter and salt is a real treat.
Also harvesting by the handful . . .
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Late summer okra, tomatoes, and peppers, both bell and sweet banana
type.
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Herbs: rosemary, thyme, and oregano
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Of fruit,
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| Late figs, which is unusual for September. They were slow to ripen but sweet. |
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Fall picking of red raspberries (with more on the canes).
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This is the first time I got an autumn crop of red raspberries. I added them to the spring raspberries in the freezer for jelly, but only after juicing some and trying the juice in popsicles.
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| Raspberry-banana popsicle. A really good flavor combination. |
Sadly, I missed most of the muscadines.
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Foraged, wild muscadines
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I knew when they first started ripening, and then we had that heavy deluge.
The next time I checked on them most of them had been knocked off the vines
and there was nothing left but hundreds of empty skins all over the ground.
Disappointing, because production isn't consistent from year to year. The
few I got were put into the freezer for a mixed fruit jelly in the future.
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First Japanese persimmon
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We have about two dozen persimmons on the persimmon tree. A first! This was
the first to ripen. It was mild and sweet. I'm not sure what to do with all
of them. Anyone have some recipes?
The first of the winter squash are ready to harvest.
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Sweet potato squash. The dimpled one is odd, isn't it? I'm not
sure
how well it will keep, so it's a candidate for preserving.
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Dan's first cushaw.
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This year Dan decided to do some gardening. He's usually busy with projects,
but the projects are getting smaller as we get things accomplished, so he
picked a spot and planted sunflowers, corn, and cushaw winter squash. I've
already mentioned that the corn was a fail, but the sunflowers and cushaw
did well, and that's the first one. To celebrate his success, it became a
"pumpkin" pie!
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I don't usually top pie with whipped cream, but since
this was a
special pie it deserved a special topping!
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It was really good. And actually, few folks would have known it wasn't
actual pumpkin by the texture and taste.
That cushaw yielded 8 pints of puree, of which one pint was used to make the pie. The
remaining six pints were dehydrated to make powder.
Preserving
Most of the winter squash will go into the pantry for feeding us, chickens,
and goats. Sometimes, I freeze pints of puree. Occasionally, I can chunks.
This year I'm learning about making fruit and vegetable powders (like
tomatoes
and
pear sauce), so I wanted to try winter squash powder. I made it the same way I made the
dried pear sauce: cooked it, pureed it, spread it onto parchment paper, dried until crisp in
my dehydrator, and then powdered it in
my blender.
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Powdered mixture of cushaw and sweet potato squash.
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Drying time was much quicker than for the pear sauce, because winter squash
don't contain the sugar pears do. I think the powder will be lovely for making
pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, etc. Next, I want to add
pumpkin pie spices to the puree before dehydrating and make pumpkin spice
powder. Sounds like that would make good Christmas gifts, doesn't it?
[To rehydrate for puree, 2 cups hot water and 1/2 cup powder. Start with some of the water and stir in powder. Let sit for about 10 minutes and stir again. May adjust by adding either more hot water or more squash powder.]
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Cherry tomatoes, multiplier onions, rosemary, thyme, and oregano.
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It calls for cherry tomatoes, small onions or shallots, and fresh herbs. These
are layered in scalded pint jars leaving 1.5 inches headspace. Course salt is
sprinkled over the tomatoes, and a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar or
lemon juice is added (I used my
pear vinegar). Then the jar is filled with extra virgin olive oil and stored in a cool
place (50-59°F / 10-15°C).
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Cherry tomatoes preserved in olive oil.
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It's ready to eat in two or three months and keeps for up to a year.
I made two pints to see how it turns out. This promises to be great addition
to our winter green salads. The bonus is that the olive oil is flavored too,
and so good for cooking or salad dressing.
Parting Shot
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Buckwheat cover crop in the lower garden for soil building.
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I think that covers it for September. Are you still with me? Good, because
now it's your turn. What's happening in your September garden?
