Last Year's Tomatoes

A look back at warmer and yummier days last fall...

Great production from this variety this summer. Better Boy (vfn). Uniform ripening in the store room picked a few weeks ago before the first real killing frost.

 

Roma

Tomatoes ripening nicely.Here are a few Better Boy var.(VFN) larger red tomatoe, Lemon Boy (var), (yellow) tomatoes, and a few remaining Patio tomatoes (var ?). Still firm and delicious.

shared by members Olivia Shumski and Ken MacDonald

Extending the Season!

I am experimenting with a purchased cold frame to extend our growing season

 

I anchored the cold frame in early October in one of our garden beds. I prepared the soil by adding compost, but kept the kale and some small carrots that were already there. As I anchored the base, I also ensured that it was level. That way, the top pieces would fit better.  After seeding with a variety of lettuce and radish, I build up a bit of soil on both the inside and outside of the cold frame walls. Over the course of the next few weeks, I added leaves and grass cuttings to insulate inside and out, but I added some rigid Styrofoam pieces outside as well.

 

As the weather grew colder,  I covered the unit with a transparent clear plastic sheet. Last week, I topped that with some landscape cloth, to see if I could use that to heat the inside garden during the day. So far, so good

 

We are enjoying a fresh salad every day. The only drawback is that the leaves are very fragile once they are plucked, and have to be prepared right away. Oh, but the taste is wonderful!

 

We will most likely harvest everything before the end of the month. We will use this again in early spring.

 

shared by member Susan Nadon

'California Wonder'

 

 This is one of six 'California Wonder' pepper plants grown in 10" pots. They are very productive, have a large root system so tend to need water every second day in the heat. Love fertilizer. A great summer for them. First fruit picked in July. Fruit goes from green to red, tasty either way! Some are still in our store room, seem to keep well but aren't changing colour. Many went for stuffed peppers in the freezer.

shared by member Ken MacDonald

Anyone still harvesting?

A little while ago, member Denise Mlazgar sent in these photo's. Sharing her harvest and the fun that her daughter Chanelle and grandson, Aidan had while helping put the garden to bed for the season. For me, little Aidan reminds me of all the things I loved about gardens when I was a child.

 

I look at these and then out my window, where pots of daylily and bags of iris rhisomes still need to be planted, and I wonder... is mine the only garden not ready for winter?