Last night we got our first frost, and it wasn’t a light one. It was the definition of a killing frost. By the time I got home this afternoon all of the leaves on the pumpkins, squash, cucumber and tomato plants had shriveled and turned black.
The last of the cucumbers were exposed, like they’d been caught out in a game of hide and seek. The squash, so recently hard to count, laid out 1-2-3. Summer is really gone and fall is making way for winter.
Tonight I finally got the poly tunnel up over the winter brassicas. They’re still so tiny, there’s little chance we’ll be eating them this winter. But if they make it, we’ll have them first thing in the spring.
Tomorrow I’ll clean out the tomato vines and get the second tunnel up. My lettuce seedlings are miniscule and scraggly, so a stop at the nursery is in order to get some healthy ones. Hopefully there are still some to be had. They’ll go in with some radish, scallion and spinach seeds and we’ll see what we get (if anything).
In the failing light, under the watch of the moon, I loaded the spaghetti and delicata squash, the cucumbers and the chocolate pepper into a wheelbarrow. The spaghetti squash is maybe not completely ripe – will it finish in the house? It’s a pale yellow, just starting to turn – weighty but not golden. The delicata seems mostly done.
There’s about 15 big salad cukes, too many to eat in a week. Anyone know if you can store cucumbers for a while, like peppers?
Ah well, this year is all about learning on the job. Good thing there’s a farm with a few hoop houses full of greens just down the road…
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You did great!
We heard we may get a frost tonight.
We worked under the light of the chicken coop to clear out the remaining tomatoes and veggies this evening. We’re exhausted, and it looks like I have boxes of tomatoes to work with..again.
We are in unincorporated SNohomish Cty, and we just found out Lynnwood is annexing our area. Chickens are illegal in Lynnwood, but they might “grandfather” us in.
We’re very disappointed. I’m considering letters to the mayor and council. Why do people hate front yard gardens and chickens? Grrr.
I don’t know if the squash will ripen on their own. I have a few butternut that I left because I didn’t think they would, but now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t go out and grab those too.
I dunno – my gardening book says that you shouldn’t leave them much past the first frost. If it hasn’t frosted on you yet, I’d leave them another day or two. I pulled mine because it froze so hard last night that a couple of them got soft spots. I figured under ripe squash was better than mushy squash. I have no idea if that was the right call or not.
If your neighbor’s don’t mind the chickens, it shouldn’t matter if they’re legal or not, right?
We got a pretty good frost here last night.. I’ve pulled in most things, and I guess I’ll bring in the rest today. Not nearly as many squash as you have, though! I’m very impressed by the yield of your garden this year.
I’m experiencing a deep and disturbing squash envy right now…
Hi Laura: those spaghetti squash might ripen; do you have a hot, dry, not-dark place to stick them for a week or two, like a porch? They need to cure (you can tell with a fingernail for hardness) and eventually their starchy insides will turn sugar-y. You have to give them some time. Looks like a great harvest though!
And you would be surprised how well even the tiniest brassicas get big over the winter. My broccoli last Oct. in the greenhouse were all about 3″ tall but I harvested in January. Do you have rowcovers too, for the really cold periods? Even with all that less light they still want to grow.
Last fall we had a few underripe butternut squashes that rotted before they ripened. We tried to save some of the squash flesh but it tasted pretty bland. Will be interested to see if you can get yours to ripen. If so we may try growing winter squash again next year.
I have a lot of tiny tiny brassicas, too. All are under hoops or floating row cover right now, though we haven’t had a frost yet (fingers crossed!!). And I, too, am comforting myself with thoughts of spring bounty, while trying not to think too hard about what we will eat all winter … Lucky thing Seattle has year-round farmers’ markets.
(Oh wait, it’s not lucky; I moved here on purpose for just such a thing.)
Denise – thank you! I’m giving all the credit for my success to the 18 yards of compost and the full sun that it gets…
Gary – really? You shouldn’t envy my unripe squash…
El – my squash are slowing turning yellow in the back bedroom! And the broccoli is catching up, although I need to find a deterrent for the cabbage worms that are eating them alive…
Audrey – I think we’re going to try the first one this weekend – I’ll let you know how they are…
Lauren – how are your starts doing? Mine are catching up fast now that they’re under the poly tunnel.