Weatherman predicted frost (it didn't come) so I cleaned up the unripe fruit ending with 2 orange and 6 green tomatoes—which I'll probably have to toss since DW doesn't like fried green toms; 3 baby eggplant; and a ton of green peppers (9 bell, 14 sweet, 11 mild and 13 Jalepeno). Tomorrow I finish pulling up and trashing the tomato vines, then it's on to planning for next year. Now where did I stash those seed catalogs??

DonShirer said:     Weatherman predicted frost (it didn't come) so I cleaned up the unripe fruit ending with 2 orange and 6 green tomatoes—which I'll probably have to toss since DW doesn't like fried green toms; 3 baby eggplant; and a ton of green peppers (9 bell, 14 sweet, 11 mild and 13 Jalepeno). Tomorrow I finish pulling up and trashing the tomato vines, then it's on to planning for next year. Now where did I stash those seed catalogs??

Yup, it is getting chilly out there. I am surprised that there are still tomatoes getting ripe. Yesterday I picked a nice bunch of tomatoes and I still had tomatoes on a plate indoors on my kitchen counter.

And the peppers just keep putting out peppers. Very surprising.

Here are the peppers and tomatoes, though we ate two tomatoes last night.


Many more tomatoes on the plants.

pirl said:Here are the peppers and tomatoes, though we ate two tomatoes last night.


Many more tomatoes on the plants.

A nice harvest and especially nice as it is so late in the year. And yes, I have green tomatoes on my plants still also.

Still three other tomato plants I haven't photographed, not that they're beautiful in late October but I'll be happy with any/all tomatoes.

Maybe you folks could be interested is some of the hottest new varieties in greens?
http://www.growingproduce.com/...

farmerdill said:Maybe you folks could be interested is some of the hottest new varieties in greens?
http://www.growingproduce.com/...

Not too many greens in my garden but there were some that looked very interesting. Thank you for the link.

farmerdill said:Maybe you folks could be interested is some of the hottest new varieties in greens?
http://www.growingproduce.com/...

Some of these sound interesting, but most of the websites of the sources quoted in the article do not list these new varieties yet. Instead do a search on the variety name and you will often find other sources for them.

My bell pepper plants are still making peppers, I picked two today.

There just a very few cherry tomatoes still left to snack on. I did pull out nine more tomato plants today. Tomorrow if it doesn't rain might get to the last of them.

My garden is finished. I still have a box or two of tomatoes ripening in the shop. I bought compost in bulk for $45 cu yd, and made long piles of it along what will be next year's vegie rows. Usually I just eyeball it and end up with crooked rows, so this year I measured, used stakes and string and will have relatively straight rows. Another help for spring is tying colored twine to the fence so I have something to aim at when working there next spring. Anyhow, the original plan was to put long piles of compost along the rows and then run the tiller over it. Easy. But then my compost hauling was delayed for a couple of weeks and it rained which made the clay soil too sticky for rototilling.

So we waited and hoped the showers would stay away long enough to get it done. Nope, more rain last night and more today, so now I am on to plan B. I'll use a rake and spread the compost out to stripes about 24 inches wide, then make holes and plant the garlic 6 inches apart and probably 4 plants wide.

Moving that greenhouse was quite a process and I am glad it worked. I'm standing by for the rest of the story!

"Moving that greenhouse was quite a process and I am glad it worked. I'm standing by for the rest of the story!"

LOL, Mary -- right now we're doing the not-so-fun part, getting the railroad ties arranged for the base. Luckily, DH has a lot of experience with this type of work (39 years working for the RR). Once that's done we'll be able to start constructing the sidewalls and the hoops for the roof. Looks like we have a good week of decent weather coming up, so that will certainly help! Whether or not we'll be able to get the covering on it this fall depends entirely on the weather holding out for a while... but if we don't that's okay, we'll do it in the early spring instead.

With not being able to till this year because of the rain, you may find -- like I did -- that your garden is even happier without the tilling! I haven't rototilled for several years now, and the first year that I didn't till was actually for the very same reason, too much rain. For root crops (carrots, beets, garlic, potatoes, etc) I just break up the soil with a garden fork where I'm going to be planting; for other things planted from seed I just use a hoe and rake to loosen and break up the top of the soil. I feel I have fewer weeds now (although I still have more than enough ), and the worms and toads are definitely happier.

Halloween cowpeas.

Summer is about gone. Sweet potatoes are in the barn. few straggling tomatoes, peppers and eggplants hanging on until frost. maybe one more picking of butterbeans. Brassicas are coming on, turnips and mustard are ready. Expect broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower late November. Collards, carrots and Rutabagas for New Years.

farmerdill said:Halloween cowpeas.

• Cow Pea (Vigna unguiculata 'Tommy')
• Uploaded by farmerdill

Summer is about gone. Sweet potatoes are in the barn. few straggling tomatoes, peppers and eggplants hanging on until frost. maybe one more picking of butterbeans. Brassicas are coming on, turnips and mustard are ready. Expect broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower late November. Collards, carrots and Rutabagas for New Years.

I am in awe of how much produce you get. Here there is nothing come November!!

Only the garlic. I have planted approximately 400 cloves and hope to find space for 200 more. That's far more than I have ever planted before. If I don't get a decent harvest next spring I will stop planting to sell and simply plant for my kitchen needs, about 50-60 cloves that will produce 10 lbs. of bulbs.

drdawg said:Only the garlic. I have planted approximately 400 cloves and hope to find space for 200 more. That's far more than I have ever planted before. If I don't get a decent harvest next spring I will stop planting to sell and simply plant for my kitchen needs, about 50-60 cloves that will produce 10 lbs. of bulbs.

Well, we all will cheer for a decent harvest for you as I know many, many people would be very disappointed if you simply stopped selling.

Rita, I have disappointed so many folks on this site the last couple of years (because of my poor "farming"), that many would probably cheer my not growing it. It just kills me to offer the garlic ahead of time and then telling so many of those who wanted it: "Sorry, I won't have enough to fill your order".

I need to go up to Augusta and have Dillard give me farming-lessons.

Ken, there's probably an obvious answer to this that I'm missing, but why don't you just wait until you harvest and know what you have, and then offer your garlic for sale?

Could not help you with the garlic Ken. Onions now, thats a different story. Rita , You could grow brassicas up till about Christmas. Tough ones like collards and kale would probably over winter.

I am trying fall kale this year but my plants have been in the ground now for many, many weeks and are still really small. The fall broccoli I tried was eaten up by slugs before it really had a chance to get started. I will have to do better next year.

From the very beginning I have told those that have been previous buyers that I would contact them before I harvest so that they get first choice of what I (hope to) have. I wanted them to have time to make a decision before offering the garlic to new purchasers.

Your point is well-taken, Sandy. I had pretty much decided to no longer do these pre-harvest offers. Your suggestion confirmed that thought. That will shorten the window-of-opportunity for a lot of my buyers, but at least they'll know that what they want, they'll get.