I still have some zinnias, a pepper plant or two, a kale plant that has struggled and a cabbage plant that I might get a small head out of. Will wrap things up by the end of the month when I pull everything out, plant my garlic and put a good bed of mulch on top for winter.
A couple of weeks ago I pulled a tomato plant at home that with the sun shift just wasn’t getting any sun but had at least 15 green tomatoes on it. I put them in a paper bag with a paper towel on the bottom to absorb any “leaks” and sealed the bag shut. Opened it this week - I have 15+ beautifully ripe tomatoes! I sure wish I could somehow keep this going through the winter season - haha!
I did some clean up last weekend, but it’s supposed to be warm this week. Tomatoes are done. Herbs are all doing great except the parsley which drowned in a pot whose holes got clogged. I dug up one Zone 10 plant to bring in soon. I put in a few new perennials. The new rock garden had some hits and misses, but looks better than I expected.
I need to plant the tulips I bought a while ago when I was ambitious. We haven’t had a heavy frost yet, but if I don’t dig and turn the soil now, I may miss my opportunity.
Down in zone 9 our gardens never sleep! This is an exciting time and I’m looking forward to lots of cool weather veggies and greens. I wish it were easier to get seeds now, and potato starts.
Here in New England, my tomatoes are not ‘done,’ seem happy, some cherries, some larger. Eggplant going strong, picked one yesterday,3 more growing. Green beans have slowed down, but still flowering.
Alas, I dug around in one potato bag and found nothing. In another week or two, maybe I’ll empty that and see. Maybe some are lower than I checked. Odd, cuz these were organic mail orders, should have been good sets.
What dmd said about potato starts! We never bought them. Always used cut up 'taters. All you need is to have a piece with an “eye” to grow a potato plant.
This time of year I realize how much I will miss walking out on my deck and picking fresh herbs… I never have much luck with herbs inside except parsley.
The late start terribly limited my plants growth and health this year. Very few tomatoes and all were small, although the cherry tomatoes seemed larger than ever. Yet, to date most of the tomatoes remain green. Got a couple of juicy Cherokee Purples, but again they were smaller than expected. The okra sprouted buds that never bloomed into flowers. Had some success with Bok Choy and Tendergreen Spinach, although last week the spinach became infested with little brown bugs and now the plant has wilted and died. The good news is…the Vates Collard Greens look good. Will harvest the Collard Greens once the weather turns cold, to get that optimal sweetness. Oh, the basil was a big success.
Wonder what I did wrong this year? Had plenty of organic fertilizer and the same soil/soil-less mix from last year in my containers. Got plenty of flowers on the veggies so the phosphorus (bone meal) in the soil was good. I am debating whether or not to add a mid-season burst of MiracleGro to my organic fertilizing next year.
In my case, I think part of the problem was the quality and percentage of the compost. For plants that don’t need so much of what it offers, it can lead to nice blooms and growth, not so much production.
