End of the Gardening Season - really this time

I've planted every bulb that I've ordered this fall, as of yesterday, so I'd say that the gardening season is officially over here.  I have no plans to move anything else, plant anything else, separate anything else, or otherwise do anything that requires tending to any garden of any type until spring.  It makes me a little more than sad.  However, I did get a Gurney's catalog in the mail last week, so I guess that means that it's time to start planning for next year.

What's first on my "to-do" list for the next gardening season? Probably moving the oriental lilies that I just ended up planting in the vegetable garden because I had already covered all of the gardens with leaves by the time these arrived, and I didn't feel like trying to figure out where they should go.  Second will be preparing beds around the large boulders that we recently brought to the yard from the garages.  There's always plenty to do in the garden, which is part of the beauty of it.

Potatoes Harvested

We dug the potatoes yesterday.  Rita said that they need to be dug before frost otherwise they'll get sugary, and frost was forecast for last night - and indeed we did get frost!  So our timing was just perfect.  We have eaten most of the reds already with probably one or two meals left.  We yielded 95 pounds of Norkota (russets) and Kennebec!

I plan to freeze some of the russets as french fries.  I found this info online somewhere and the kids LOVED them, so I plan to do more.  Here's what I did:

Peeled potatoes and cut into french fries.
Boil potatoes in salt water until just about done.
Dry thoroughly and freeze on cookie sheets.  Transfer to freezer bags.
To bake:  toss fries with one to two tablespoons of oil and bake on a cookie sheet for 25 minutes at 425.

Yum!

End of Summer

How SAD - I think I might actually like fall if it didn't mean two things:  1) Back to work which means a lot less free time for the gardens and 2) WINTER is an inevitability.  Yuck, I just hate saying that word - winter.  I really should live in a different state but I wonder if tolerating this winter is part of what makes the summer so sweet.

The cucumbers have slowed considerably thanks to the cold weather we've had the past few days.  It's gotten down to the upper 30's at night, which makes me nervous as I have a garden full of green Romas still!  Twenty-two quarts of pickles - AND a bag of cucs donated to a good friend - all, in all, the cucumbers were a success!

Now on to tomatoes - I picked three boxes of romas that were "almost" ready so I could monitor them more closely in my window sill now that I'm headed back to work.  I have big plans for spaghetti sauce, salsa, and just plain tomato sauce and hope that the weather cooperates!

We've been eating potatoes for at least 6 weeks now.  I've harvested half of the reds, and just a few of the Norkota plants.  I found a website that gave advice for freezing potatoes, so I thought I'd give french fries a shot.  I peeled, sliced into "fries" and boiled the potatoes before freezing them on a pan and then transferring to freezer bags.  The site said that when ready to cook, toss the frozen fries in a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil and bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Hopefully that works!

When Joey (my four year old) saw me taking the pans of fries out of the freezer, he said "Where did you get those?"  I told them they were from the garden.  He said "WHAT?!  Rita grows french fries in her garden?  That's silly!"

Pickles Galore

As of today I've canned 17 quarts of pickles and one quart of refrigerator dills.  And we're just getting started!
  Here's an easy pickle recipe that I've used in the past and love:

(recipe is for one jar, and you can make several jars at once, of course):

2 clumps/heads of dill
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp canning salt
dash (less than 1/8 tsp) alum
1/2 c. cider vinegar
water to cover pickles
Cucumbers to fill jar

In sterilized 1 quart jar, put one clump of dill, 1 clove of sliced garlic, and cucumbers. Add sugar, canning salt, alum, and cider vinegar. Add water to cover the pickles. Add another head of dill and one more clove of garlic (cut up). Boil in a hot water bath canner for five minutes. Wait six weeks to eat.

Fall Perennial Order

The fall catalogs are arriving - a bittersweet thing.  It means the season is almost over, but it also means planning for fall plantings to enjoy next year.  Here's what's on my wish list (including where I plan to plant it so I don't forget!):

From Bluestone Perennials:

Grape Hyacinth   (Shade Garden)
Scilla (Shade Garden)
Hyacinth (Blue Ice - a light blue one, and Blue Jacket - -a dark blue) (Garage Border)
Snowdrops (Shade Garden)
Lime Frost Daylily (Driveway Border)

I'm also ordering some more oriental lilies from John Scheepers to enhance my garden this time of year next year when a lot of things are past peak.  I ordered five of each so I can plant some in the garage boarder, driveway border, and maybe even around the shed.

Miniature Oriental Lily Mona Lisa
Garden Party

 Sheila

and some more spring bulbs:
English Bluebells (Shade Garden)
Allium (Driveway Border)

About two weeks ago the kids and I doubled the size of the shade garden.  The soil was actually pretty good when I tilled it up - I just had to add some peat moss and it looks really good.  I just divided up some of my perennials and moved a few more to fill it in.  We also tilled up a little garden around the shed and put some more sun loving things there.  I can't wait to see how things fill in next summer!

Other plans for the shed and garage next year - WINDOW BOXES!!!

Martagons, here I come!

Lilium Martagon

Lilium x dalhansonii

We recently expanded the shade garden and now I'm ready to add some martagons to the mix.  Martagon lilies are shade loving plants.  Their attractive whorled foliage emerges early in the season.  The small waxy flowers have recurved petals and are noted for their tremendous substance plus wide color range.  Martagons are slow to increase, which is nice if you don't want to disturb your plantings, but not so much if you want them to multiply in your gardens.  Here are the varieties I've ordered for this fall.

Lilium Martagon var. Album

Cucumbers!

I wish I had taken a picture of the cucumber we harvested and ate from the garden today!  Joseph has inspected the cucumber daily since we noticed it growing a few days ago, and today we decided that it was time to pick it.  Mmmmm.... nothing better!  I planted two plants here in my kitchen garden in June and we have several little cucs on the vines.  Then we planted both slicing and pickling cucumbers from seed at Rita's down the road and those just aren't doing as well.  I think they're in a spot that's a little too shady so next year the cucumbers will trade spots with the squash and we'll see if they do better there!

We harvested more potatoes, broccoli, peas, and thinned the carrots resulting in some sweet little baby carrots to eat on July 23rd.  Can't wait until the beans are ready - any day now!

On a flower note, the kids helped me carry rock to the shade garden yesterday to expand it!  They had so much fun - I totally let them design the shape of the shade garden, complete with stepping stones that were repurposed old cement pavers that were hiding in a pile behind the garage.  The bonus is that it cleared it out a little behind there.  I've also decided that our old river rock from around the house will be spread behind the garage since it's so shady there nothing will grow.  But one thing at a time - there's a lot of work to do out there in the shade garden (sod removal, haul in topsoil and composted manure, plant plants... whew!).