Dill seed! It's the only thing that survived the snow and hard freeze we had over the weekend. It's ok, though, I'm through... I love to garden, but I'm ready to call it quits for the year.  I will dig dandelion roots, horseradish and Jerusalem artichokes in the next few days and weeks, and then I'll put up my garden shovel and get out the snow shovel...

Still getting cherry tomatoes, Swiss chard, all kinds of peppers, and one volunteer Roma-type tomato plant.  Those rot before they mature, but I'll pickle the green ones with the last of the peppers when frost hits.  I have late mustard greens, collards, and Brussels sprouts halfway to maturity in a sheltered spot.  My lettuce is stunted from too much rain, and the Simpson was the only variety which bothered to sprout.  Also have basil, lemon balm, and a few shoots of late volunteer dill.  Bad news is that my late planting of Sugar Snap peas probably will not mature before the first freeze--simply not enough sunny days. Our first frost generally occurs around Oct 23rd or soon after, but these are in flower beds and might have enough shelter and warmth in this tiny downtown area to keep everything through the second or third frost (I hope). 

hmm, the only thing left to harvest is the snow that is piling up out there.  Going to be a long winter.

I gathered up the last of the frosted tomato vines & put them in the garbage today. 

The stove has two pans of tomato sauce reducing from the picked-green-now-ripened tomatoes.  I picked three 5 gallon buckets & over half of them have ripened & been made into sauce.

I am still slicing the pimentos as they ripen & dehydrating those, as well as saving their seeds, since they are heirloom.  I have about a cup & a half of seeds dried & stored in some small bottles now, but there is still about half of a 5 gallon bucket of pimentos to ripen & dry yet.

I haven't had time to dig the rest of the potatoes, but now that I am home sick with the H1N1, maybe when I feel a little better I can get that done.  It's not like the potatoes would get sick 

 Do you ever can the pimentos? I had an Aunt that canned them but dont know exactly what she did to them. She is gone now so cant ask. Babs

 Everything got killed by the frost exept for my Brussel sprouts and turnps. I am harvesting bags of Brussel sprout and letting the turnips stay in the ground a bit longer.

Sad to see my pole beans grow. I had beome so fond of just looking at the way their rope-like vines grew, and so used to being excited to find more each time I went out. 

Does anyone else really miss their garden?

Pimientos are better canned with lemon juice than they are with white vinegar.  They fall apart when you pressure can them.  They freeze beautifully.  Bro put in some turnip greens--hope he planted turnips!  I hate them raw or cooked, but you can make a kimchi-type seasoning with a little extra turmeric, sweetened vinegar, and the turnip roots make a superb refrigerator (or back porch, in cold weather) pickle.  No frost predicted until maybe next week, so I might get all my habaneros ripened and get a few more banana peppers. I need to start picking that lemon balm for tea 'cause there sure isn't enough to freeze--early drought stunted the plant.

My tomato plant out front is still putting out blossoms!  I'm pretty sure that they won't fruit before it starts frosting over regularly, but it's definitely still healthy enough to.

 Pimento cheese one of our favorite sandwiches. No one even know what it is in Vt. Its funny cause the salvage store always has canned one dirt cheap. I buy up all they have then enjoy. Tried to grow them here. I think the season is too short . Need to start them indoors really early but I never get it done.

Yes , I do miss my garden. Babs

We pulled the last of the tomato plants a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of a cold snap. They're hanging upside down in the cellar ripening on the vines. They turn red but are a bit mushier than truely vine ripened fruit. Everythng else is done. 26 jars of sauce in the pantry, so it wasn't a bad harvest.