Here are some things to consider before the harvest wagon pulls up to your house, if it hasn't already:
- Harvest your garlic. By now you should have dug your garlic from the garden, and after sending the first of the crop to the kitchen to be enjoyed, select the best bulbs for planting this October and cure the rest for storage.
Ben cures garlic on his north-facing porch, where they are protected from rain and direct sunlight, but they do get a cross breeze which helps dry down the outer skins. He simply lays them out on the concrete porch, turning them every few days for about two weeks.
- Tomato harvest has fired up in both our gardens - where in Ben's garden the squirrels are taking care of the harvest on his behalf. Back at Mark's the wildlife have more competition, and there is no problem filling bushel baskets. Remember to continue applying Bordo mixture every two weeks to keep early and late blight at bay.
- Last chance! For French and snap beans before they go woody, so harvest while you can.
- Carrots, beets, radishes should be ready by now as well, contorting to weird shapes and losing sweetness if they aren't harvested soon.
- Cucumbers are in their second year growing on diagonal trellises at Mark's place. It's a program that works by keeping them up off in the ground, resulting in healthier cukes.
- Summer squash - nobody we know grows enough of these without growing way, way too much. Mark's favourite trick is to carve the grandkids' names into them to be discovered in the garden - a gift from the "Zucchini Fairy"
- Seeding kale, swiss chard, leaf lettuce and mesculin mix - there is still time if you are hoping for a fall crop. They hold up well to the cold, so it's worth your effort.
- Runner beans are running, somebody remind us next year to think of more creative ways to support these! It is so fun watching them climb up the obelisk, there has to be an opportunity for runner bean garden sculpture.
- Keep clipping those herbs! So you can get the last growth out of them. Remember, what you can't use fresh can be dried in the oven on its lowest setting and crushed into air-tight containers for use throughout the winter.
