It’s the fourth of November and we haven’t had a freeze. Not even a frost, unless you count a bit of the white stuff on a car roof, which, as a gardener, I don’t. If it didn’t take out the tropicals, it didn’t happen. The header photo is a bowl of poblano chiles I harvested before a potentially frosty situation that failed to materialize a week or so ago, and now I need to get them on the grill and into the freezer pretty quickly. The plants are still making flowers. Crazy. Here’s the rundown on what else is currently producing out there in my little corner of Zone 7b.
I’m still harvesting eggplant, which are somehow enjoying the fall weather. I wish they had produced more – Rosa bianca is a really delicious variety. There are about four fruit still on the two plants, and I’m hoping they will get a little larger.
The tomatoes have made an unexpected comeback. The green ends of the otherwise browned vines began growing again once the heat and dryness came to an end, and now I’ve got some decent looking fruit. You can see the dead parts of the vines underneath the new growth. I didn’t clear anything out for air circulation because it didn’t occur to me there would be enough time for them to bounce back before the first frost, much less produce anything edible.
Me in September: *sniff* My last Brandywine tomato of 2022.
The Brandywine tomato plants in September: Says you…
The cherry tomatoes did the same thing as the big heirlooms, so they became part of a Taco Tuesday that hailed back to my childhood. Ish. Those are soy crumbles seasoned with ancho chile, oregano, cumin and a little garlic powder, and freshly made tortillas from a local restaurant.
The answer to that perennial question, “did I miss any potatoes?” I am not convinced I’ll get anything out of these little plants, but I’m not going to pull them up, just in case. That’s the Coyote cherry tomato plant in the back.
There are a few things that are actually fall plantings, like the watermelon radishes. I’ve struggled with these guys having them bolt in the spring when we have just one hot day and freeze in the fall before they make a nice root. I thought I’d give them another try, and so far so good. There’s a little, frilly dill seedling in the upper right. I’ve got all kinds of things sprouting that should have waited for spring, but maybe there will be time enough to harvest a little of it. In the meantime, someone really ought to pull up that chickweed.
I am so pleased with these turnips. These are a Japanese variety called Hida beni, and they are growing like gangbusters with small, red roots already forming. I wish I had planted more, but I put parsley in the other half of this plot, none of which came up. Maybe there’s time to put in a few seeds. I’ll go check the forecast.