Autumn's last tomato

We picked our last tomato from the garden
this weekend.










I actually picked about 6 of them.This one is the last.

We cleaned that bit of the garden up and
still have the row of peppers to do. Farmer Dad and Princess began the process,
but got into a game of frisbee and then some horse shoes, and then there was football and
projects waiting inside. I'm not complaining, she will only be 6 once, and one day much too
soon, we will have all the time in the world to get our chores done.
I still have lettuce to start, and some other "winter" crops I'd like to get moving on.
I will keep you all posted on the progress. Meanwhile, Farmer Dad was "mowing" the lawn
for leaves and such, and all I could smell was this...
Ahhhh......the scent of cedar.

Preparing for our first frost...

We are expecting the first frost tonight, so we
set up a little tunnel to garden under for the winter.
I had previously purchased this tunnel frame from Gardener's Supply Company,
but Farmer Dad would never use them..claimed they wouldn't work.


We no longer had the cloth that went with them, but we had some "survive the millennium plastic",
from my Grandfather, so we used that.
Farmer Dad had some wood, so he stapled the plastic to that.

Then we brought one of the hay bales from the front porch decor around back
and after cleaning off the ground inside
we spread it around inside.
It made it very warm inside.




We put the potted plants inside for the time being. Some will come into the house, some will go
into our mini greenhouse, but that needs a new bottom so it is more level and I need to make room inside.



We spread the remainder of the hay around the outside.
I also covered the remaining tomato plant (not sure what it is, it was a volunteer
that we moved to this spot after the peas were done) with Princess's soccer goal
and an old piece of fabric I picked up on freecycle.


It is not pretty, but hopefully it will allow it to ripen the tomatoes left on it.

I plan to start lettuce, beets and a couple other things under the hoop,
but for tonight, the potted plants will survive...I hope.

A little Autumn Clean- up

Here we are at mid-October...the 3 long rows of tomatoes needed
cleaning up. I did not keep track of how many pounds of tomatoes the garden
produced, but it was a lot. I have many jars (see..not so good at keeping numbers)
of gravy and whole tomatoes and ketchup and salsa put up.
Here are Princess and Farmer Dad doing the work..




Princess harvested some carrots...

They found a forgotten pear hanging on the back pear tree.

Here are some shots of the cleared space

We still have a tomato growing on the other end of the garden,
along with the peppers (jalepenos,Anaheim and bell peppers-yellow and red)some swiss chard, mustard greens,and carrots.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Yes, it has been a while since I've blogged here.
Between canning, the lovely Princess's birthday party,
and life in general, I just haven't had time.
This is a bit of what a mess our garden plot looks like right now...
We are still getting tomatoes here and there, but it has been getting cold at night.
The later planted green zebras are thriving. The peppers are putting out like gangbusters
and we even have a bean or two still producing a handful at a time. Just enough for
Princess's lunch every other day.

The trees in the area are really starting to turn now, and I love to just look above me
to see the tops of them.Especially as the day ends and the late afternoon sun slants across the yard.
It's our favorite time to play outside now.

The canning continues

I have decided it might be a good idea to stop canning long enough to
post here about what's going on in our little corner of the Garden State.
We are still getting visited by the "Terrorist" aka the evil Groundhog.
Now, he climbs into the compost bin to steal tomato scraps.
Better than breaking into the garden to do it, and since I'm canning, there has been a fresh pile every day!
lol I will post pictures soon.I am having difficulties at the moment.

Heirloom Tomatoes

I have been too busy doing this,

to blog about all of these

covering every surface of my house.
I'm not really complaining, I'm just tired of canning.
I am working on identifying and seed saving too, so I may not be around as often as I'd like.
I'll post a bunch of pictures of all the varieties we have grown this year tomorrow.
Now I think I'll go make a tomato sandwich.....