As the sun starts south and the calendar tells us the fall equinox is past, we start looking towards harvest and cleanup for winter. This last week has been very rainy and so I didn't get out in the garden to work much, but at least the cloud cover has kept the frost away until Thursday night. We had a light frost but didn't lose any tomatoes or peppers. I picked all the ripe ones just in case, along with the two small zucchini that grew on my July plant.
I had Friday off so I spent some time pulling up morning glories and weeding. Last weekend I froze some quart freezer bags of whole tomatoes for winter stews and soups. I hope to put up pickles this weekend. I tell ya, it's tough finding picklers this year - I can't seem to grow them and there aren't too many available from farmers markets. We can grow tomatoes and hot peppers here, but not cucumbers!
I have more cayenne peppers than any other kind, but I've also got some nice mild peppers. They're just not as prolific or as big as the hot peppers. I also have a ton of tomatoes, including some heirloom Cherokee tomatoes that are great for slicers. I've made every dish you can imagine with tomatoes, including salsa until it comes out our ears. I am still not sick of salsa!
It's also a time of year that gardeners look back and see what worked, what didn't, and what to do differently next year. I've got to start treating morning glories like weeds in some of the gardens! I do like the blue ones I started indoors, they've done well.
I love my marmalade rudbeckia, and there were a lot of them. I have taken so many pictures of these beautiful flowers! I have been cutting them all summer long to have in vases at home and at work. I also have the yellow rudbeckia, and some white and purple coneflowers. Next year I may spring for the more exotic colors of coneflower - I love the red ones called Tomato Soup.
Since there are so many cayenne peppers, I had to do something with them. I have been fairly successful in drying the peppers. I string them using a large needle and sturdy thread and hang them to dry in the sunroom windows. Then I use a manual spice grinder to lightly grind them and I've got crushed red peppers all winter. I may package some up for Christmas presents this year.
That's what's going on in my garden. What's going on in yours?