FINAL HARVEST AND PREPARING FOR THE SPRING OF 2022.

in HiveGarden2 years ago

All good things must come to an end and this year ended much later than ever before.
For one reason or another, the weather here in Upstate New York remained relatively mild through the first few weeks of October. The warmer temps kept veggies growing and us smiling.

I'm a fellow that loves routine and I'm going to miss starting my mornings by popping cherry tomatoes into my pie hole. Very few of these juicy marbles ever made their way to the kitchen.
When @farm-mom would ask me what happened to all of the cherry tomatoes, I would remind her of the benefits of lycopene, and simply state that my prostate made me do it.
That always worked, as I knew she wanted me to keep that organ in great shape.

tomato mouth.png

The zinnias thought that the growing season was still in full swing. Despite the cold nights, these hardy flowers were still pumping out colorful bouquets.

don't give up.png

The Kohlrabi seemed to be enjoying the cooler temps, but harvesting them before an impending frost was the right move. These were grown from seeds. This was the first time we'd given them a try and we really enjoyed their taste. Kohlrabi can be prepared in so many different ways. Next year we plan on growing a legion of this strange-looking vegetable.

kolabrie.png

Eggplant flowers were still blooming, but with colder temperatures enveloping the area, we knew that the plant would not set any more fruit.

Talk about out of the ordinary, the zucchini and yellow squash plants were still bearing goodies, how was that possible?

egg plant.png

Broccoli flowerets, yummy.

IMG_3506.JPG

String bean plants are usually one of the first to wither and die, but this has been a strange year. A meal's worth was still hanging from the dying vines. The ones we had left for next year's planting were already dried and ready to be added to our seed bank.

string beans.png

With many of the beds now barren of vegetation, the reality that it was time to start dressing in layers, was a little depressing.

In the bottom right-hand frame of this collage are #Mother #Nature's free tomato braces that we use. When I pulled them, I was surprised to see that one of the branches was sprouting new vegetation.
As one of my favorite #Yankee broadcasters, #PhilRizzuto would say, HOLY COW.
2nd cleanup.png

Gardening/Hobbitizing alongside the Love of Your Life, is so very special!

IMG_3547.JPG

Next year's MAGIC STARTS HERE. For almost a year now we've been cultivating these piles of future veggie nutrients.
Compost, what a great, natural, free, and responsible way to garden.

Recently I enjoyed a post by @riverflows. It's a must-read for all gardeners and a topic every human on this planet should be concerned about, permaculture.
Here's the link to this informative post. Don't hesitate to give it a look, it may be a game-changer!
https://hive.blog/hive-140635/@riverflows/revering-the-dirt-beneath-our-feet-matthew-evans-soil

This single line from this blog says it all. Isn't it time we stopped treating the ground beneath our feet like dirt!

IMG_3336.JPG

Some of what has been added to our compost pile has yet to decay, corn husks, tomatoes, potatoes, and eggshells have not been consumed by the bacteria and worms that work their magic.

compost.png

The leaves in this collage are mostly from the same type of trees that we get the sap from for making maple syrup, Sugar maples. The leaves from these trees are loaded with nutrients that provide exactly what is needed by the beneficial microbes that literally make the soil come alive.
Before collecting these leaves I run the mower over them several times. Doing this chops them into smaller pieces which will decay quicker than if they were left whole.

The lower picture was taken just a week ago, right after I turned the decaying material. As you can see, the pile that once covered the entire area between the logs has already been reduced to 1/4 of its original size.

compost 5.png

Being the beet lover that I am, the very last veggie to be uprooted will be a beet.
It's still growing as I finish up this post. 😁

IMG_3524.JPG

To all of you whose garden now looks like ours, stay warm. To all of you out there whose garden is now keeping you busy as a beaver, don't forget your friends who reside north of the equator.

It's your turn to show us your stuff!

garden journal footer.png

Sort:  

Awesome, Amazing, Bigs Weed together with excellent crop, preparing next load of nourishment for worms to get through winter, must be the wife's green fingers 😆

Just saying when the Robin pops into the garden things must just go right!

So loaded for winter now to enjoy that break through winter, got some green leaves there so soak away the aches and pains, just relax!

It has been a very good year all the way around, life is good and you are so right, it's time to relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor!

Time to use the firewood chopped enjoy the warmth and chill out completely.

It looks like your garden did really well for you this year. This long mild fall that we've had has really been helpful for those lat crops.
I'm guessing that you'll probably have potatoes growing in the compost pile next spring, potatoes are funny that way...

It was a great season as our deep freezer is packed to the gills.
That mild weather we had has been replaced with fridged temps.
At night we've been getting temps in the mid-twenties and we had snow flurries for the first time on Tuesday.
I see you are a tomato lover also, thanks for the upvote.

 2 years ago  

Wow, wow and wow! so much to love about this post. You two are so sweet - it's so clear that you love each other a lot and it must be a great joy to spend time in the garden together the way you do. I can just imagine you fooling about. You are SO productive - so inspiring! And I love the way you pay attention to the soil as well - that's definitely my mission this year as I do more green manure crops as well. So jealous about your sugar maples. I'd love to come over for dinner and eat the vegetables in your garden drizzled with maple syrup! Great update! Thanks for cheering up an otherwise dull day. x

Thanks for such a wonderful comment. Soil is like water, it is everywhere. It also has another thing in common with water, (Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink.)
If we continue down this path of destruction, both soil and water will no longer be able to sustain life.

Whenever you're in the neighborhood, you are more than welcome to stop in and share a meal with us.
I've got a feeling that some really good conversation would take place, but until then, here's a bottle of Maple Syrup just for you.
IMG_7757.JPG

 2 years ago  

And so you get ready for the cycle to begin again. 😊

I always love seeing how you and farm-mom garden together. My hubby is not interested in more than a brief visit to the garden, usually to pick and eat something or say "you should plant more stuff." 🤣 So I'm getting jealous of your lovely wife!

I've highlighted you in this week's Garden journal Weekly, because I couldn't not.

@tipu curate

I guess that since he doesn't like gardening, he does all of the cooking, that's not a bad deal. 😁
The wife is a sweetheart, just don't get her pissed off. After spending half of a century together, I think I know what not to say or do.
Thanks for your continued support and for highlighting this blog.

 2 years ago  

I guess that since he doesn't like gardening, he does all of the cooking

You've got to be kidding! I'm still not sure to this day if his cooking is purposely bad so that I never ask him to cook again. We'd live off pot noodles, baked beans and corned beef if he were to do the cooking, most likely.

I dont know if you've come across it, but we used to have a programme in the UK cashed Can't Cook Won't Cook. The winner was generally the one who won't cook at home, but can and the loser genuinely couldn't cook, as much as they tried. I grew up with a dad who wouldn't cook, but could (better than my mum if I'm honest) and married a man who can't cook. I'm now starting to wonder if I married my mother. 🤔

There I go again, replying to myself.
Not only can't I cook, I still have a problem making a reply in the proper sequence.

If I was the cook in the house we'd be eating PBJs, tuna fish, and eggs for dinner.
Can't cook won't cook and they're missing one, shouldn't cook. That is the category I would fall in. the last time I tried cooking I put on half of a dozen eggs to boil and make egg salad.
I forgot all about them boiling away and by the time I remembered, the eggs had exploded all over the kitchen, the pot was scorched beyond repair, and the house was a little smokey. 😁
At least we both have someone in the house that can cook, it just happens to be the gals.

 2 years ago  

Lol! Can't cook and shouldn't cook might be easiest combined. Just keep them out of the kitchen! 🤣

I’m sitting here trying to work out what PBJs are... peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? If so, that sounds like a strange combination that my husband might join you for.

PBJs, right on, peanut butter and jelly and not just any jelly, it must be grape jelly.

img_9922.png

IMG_9683.JPG

back at you.

Now I understand your username:
The Big's Weed
@TheBigsWeed

lol. I've been calling him that since before farm-mom registered an account.

💖

My Dad was a big-time CB radio guy. His handle was The Big Swed.
When I decided on my handle for the platform I chose the handle he used and just added an extra E. TheBigsWeed was never my intention. Since getting involved with st--m, now #hive, over three years ago, you are only the second one to pick up on my name.
The gentleman who posted the first picture of the tomato plants, @dandays, brought this to my attention about two years ago. 😁

My man!!

What's happening my friend. Headed to the airport this morning to pick up Robin's best friend who is flying in from Florida. Boy is she in for a shock. Temps for the week she will be visiting are going to be in the mid-twenties at night and highs of 45 degrees during the day.
We will have a house full this weekend with all of the kids visiting along with 5 dogs.
@farm-mom has been preparing food for the past several days. With 5 birthdays in November, we celebrate them all at once. It's hard to believe that I will be turning 69 on the 6th of this month, I still feel like I'm in my forties and often behave like I'm in my twenties😁.

You know I just got a visual of the farm this weekend right? Hey I told Robin but not you, dude Erica was a got dang jaw dropper bride. Breath taking.

You people know how to make people envious.

So you're saying there won't be any skinny dipping in the pond this weekend eh?

👊🏼

I know quality when I see double.

All aspects of gardening flourished this year. It must have been the music I played for the tomato plants pictured above.

 2 years ago  

You have a greenhouse?

No, my house isn't green it's light brown. 😁

 2 years ago  

Good man! You're going to keep them in the same pot? You using LED? 😁

Nice tomato plants!

img_9128.heic

They were huge! Like softballs but juicier.

Good morning!’

What's happening

Charts ! Exciting stuff! Cro wants to rocket 🚀 ship to $1 and beyond!!

I think the pro ballers are signing up to their all inclusive package where you can do everything inside one app. Buy, sell, earn, farm, send on Visa card, get rewards, … they have one lock up period of six months and the locked amount in usd is $400,000 but the rewards and services provided are awesome

All good news!
How is hoops going?
I believe we have one of your BB here, it's black and purple or blue.
Did Owen get his phone yet?

Owen gets phone this week. Basketball going good Ava has practice 4x week!

Reply to this when you wake up! I sent btc to you ?!!

Congratulations @thebigsweed! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You published more than 350 posts.
Your next target is to reach 400 posts.

You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

To support your work, I also upvoted your post!

Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:

Feedback from the November 1st Hive Power Up Day
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
 2 years ago  

You old codger you.

image.png

I am envious! I didn't know people grew kohlrabi. I rarely see them growing on the store shelves and I have eaten them 3 times in my life. I didn't imagine eggplant flowers before. Wow. There is so much to learn.

I hear you when you say there's so much to learn. I need to learn how to cook and that seems to be where you shine. Most things I cook end up not being fit for human cosumption.

I admire your enthusiasm and energy. Because the work in the garden is so much time consuming, but rewards are great. Nothing can beat the fresh food.
I had cherry tomatoes on the balcony this summer and I loved them so much.

Very time-consuming for sure. I'm not sure what I'll do with all of the free time I have now that the gardening season is over, NOT.
Robin has a honeydew list that is as long as my arm.
The best thing about cherry tomatoes is that they fit into the mouth perfectly.

Your gardening is so impressive @thebigsweed! What happens in winter? I know this might be a silly question but being Australian is my only defence. We can garden all year round in our garden.

Ok, now I'm jealous. Gardening year-round, that is a beautiful thing. I must say that it's nice to take a break and have the time to do other things.
In the dead of winter, we skip town and head south to Florida.
The winters are very cold and long here, and cabin fever would surely visit.

 2 years ago  

I'm an upstate NYer now too, and, while I don't have my own veggies to show off, I have a fabulous farmer's market nearby that is still cranking out the most beautiful veggies! What a joy to have fresh tomatoes, peppers and eggplant in early November.

Great post as always. You pack in the love. And the beets. Gotta have beets.

There is nothing like a good Farmer's Market. Early in the gardening season, before our veggies are ready, we frequent them often.
This year has been so different, usually by the middle of October, frost has killed off everything.

Another beet lover. 😁

 2 years ago  

Wow you're surely very efficient with your time! I am always so impressed by the order and cleanliness of your garden, it takes a lot of effort, so good job! I also enjoyed the part on permaculture and on how to enrich the soil.

Much love to you guys!

I guess that once you're retired you have the time to be anal about things.
Efficiency = being able to get more accomplished before they throw dirt on my face.
Much love to you guys also.
I hope the family is doing well and likewise with man's best friend, your beloved husky.

Wow! No kidding! This was such an awesome post and I just don't know where to begin! My garden, including the flowers, grew and are still flowering. Tonight will get cold here, typical for right after Halloween.

But, upstate New York and still sprouting goodies? Hello? That is pretty awesome! Your composting is golden, your kohlrabi is yummy looking! I always forget about growing it, it was one of my parent staples growing up. You two have done such an amazing job!

@farm-mom better let you have those cherry tomatoes!

BTW just for grins, I Googled Dandays plants to see what they would call them (and yours too) They called them Fine French Herb. Ha.

You deserve kudos! This was awesome!

Thanks, it has been a great year for growing all kinds of goodies.
Before this year, we never even heard about kohlrabi. Since the few we did grow from seeds did so well and we enjoyed them so very much, we'll be growing many more next year.
That's the first time I've ever heard tomato plants called Fine French Herbs. 😁
I've used this herb in some different recipes and it sure does add a unique quality to the dish.

 2 years ago  

Is this a radish? Also, I am excited to see some of your blogs on farming. Have a nice day.

That is the last of the beets we grew, the last one standing.
I'm glad you enjoyed our blogs on farming!

Maple syrup! That is amazing. And what a wonderful garden you and your beautiful @farm-mom have! Watered by love.

That comment about the cherry tomatoes is hilarious @thebigsweed! Exactly the type of remark my husband would make .... my prostrate made me do it .....

Thanks for the compliment.
Us men do think alike! 😁