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The end of the Season

567 views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  krackin 
#1 ·
Weather reports here claim that we have fair but cool weather until next weekend, roughly 11/4, before we can expect a hard frost. Some friends have reported ice on their watering bowls in the higher elevations outside town, but no killing frosts.

How far along is your season? Anything left?

My leeks and collards lasted far into the winter last year, but we had no ice and no snow worth bothering about.
 
#2 ·
I had spotty frost Friday and Sat of Labor Day weekend. It did in cukes and melons mostly. I've had several since then. Even maters and peppers in greenhouses got hit, no real matter as they were running down and not worth putting heat to them. Outside I still have turnips, rutabagas, kale, broc, cabbage, kohlrabi.

I still have spuds, onions and carrots to harvest, deer are pruning the carrots pretty well. It turned so mild onions started to regrow. The taters left are Red Pontiac and they just may start sprouting in the ground, they are prone to that somewhat.
 
#3 ·
I have a small garden on my balcony and the plants don't know whether they're coming or going this year. I cut back the 2 tomatos sharply three weeks ago prior to baggin 'em up for compost in Nov. Now both have stems with lots of leaves and blossoms on them! Chives came back as has the oregano and sage. Oddest of all is that a whole bunch of green bean seeds have sprouted - and I planted those seeds in the spring and figured that they were "bad" because they didn't germinate 5 months ago.
I've also had Monarch butterflies fluttering around in the last couple weeks. They should definitely be well on their way south by now.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Holy Cow!!!! You are both way, way North of me! I cannot figure this out.
Krakin, my onions (here in N. Arkansas) were harvested two months ago, and I MUST (Phooey, hit the wrong button) dig potatoes before the first of July or they will rot in the ground. My chard, collards and brussels sprouts did almost nothing until the first of Sept. when it cooled off just a little--they are thriving now.

Alida---First time I've seen Monarchs in a long time--they are feeding on a single large lantana plant in the yard. As for tomatoes, mine wanted to die in early August when things were so hot and dry. I pruned them, watered them and they came back like gangbusters. I have been picking ripe tomatoes for a month now and will have green tomatoes to pick when frost threatens.

Can you take your tomatoes indoors? I have an ornamental pepper two feet high that is going on its third year--it lives in the garage in winter, looks horrible in February but in the warm late March days it revives and comes out like gangbusters for the Summer.
 
#6 ·
Holy Cow!!!! You are both way, way North of me! I cannot figure this out.
Krakin, my onions (here in N. Arkansas) were harvested two months ago, and I MUST (Phooey, hit the wrong button) dig potatoes before the first of July or they will rot in the ground. My chard, collards and brussels sprouts did almost nothing until the first of Sept. when it cooled off just a little--they are thriving now.

Alida---First time I've seen Monarchs in a long time--they are feeding on a single large lantana plant in the yard. As for tomatoes, mine wanted to die in early August when things were so hot and dry. I pruned them, watered them and they came back like gangbusters. I have been picking ripe tomatoes for a month now and will have green tomatoes to pick when frost threatens.

Can you take your tomatoes indoors? I have an ornamental pepper two feet high that is going on its third year--it lives in the garage in winter, looks horrible in February but in the warm late March days it revives and comes out like gangbusters for the Summer.
Oxankle: In this month alone we've had 75F some days and 54F others - in the same week!. 54F would be a average temp this time of year,with drops to 40 at night. I don't have much room here in my condominium so I'll just have to let the plants do their thing and then in a month when it's just above freezing I'll pick any tiny tomatoes that may have appeared and compost the rest. Some farmers a little further south than me in Ontario are picking the last of their tomatos, and working overtime picking apples.

I hope you're enjoying the butterflies on the Lantana plant. I had to google that name, gorgeous blossoms. It's good to hear that other people are seeing them again after a real slump in population.

Krackin is further north than I am, so if they're getting frost now in Maine, I should be getting some round about Halloween.

Krackin: growing up we'd leave parsnips in the ground until after several frosts. They'd sweeten up so much. I even recall digging some up out of the ground in January some years,when the ground wasn't completely frozen yet,but had a good layer of snow on top.

It's so interesting to read about gardening in other areas of Canada and the US, especially when people much further south talk about planting gardens in January and I have a foot of snow on my balcony.
 
#8 ·
I haven't grown parsnips in years. We used to mulch them and have them in spring, a real treat for Easter. The last time I grew them the starving whitetail sniffed them out and decimated them. I wouldn't be surprised if hedgehogs helped out. I've had them dig up asparagus crowns, several times. So it goes.
 
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