first frost

First frost last night. Today’s weather was sunny and beautiful though! A very energizing combination. We got a lot done around the yard today. I really like this time of year. When the garden stops producing so much, I can pay more attention to each plant that remains. Noticing their colors and forms, remembering when I planted them, imagining what recipes I want to try, what I’ll need to preserve, how long until harvest, etc.

I harvested a lot of tomatillos today. The plants were frost-damaged, but the fruits were ready. I’ll make salsa verde.

There’s fennel, chard, leeks. Potatoes underground. For flowers, marigolds and borage, a few cosmos flowers. And a wheelbarrow full of squash from the community garden plot.

I don’t cook a lot with fennel, but I like the taste. I’ll need to do some research to find out how to use these still-fresh bulbs. I should be able to do something with the fronds, but I never used the bag of fronds I froze one year.

Chard will last awhile. The plants always grow huge. At some point in early fall, I clean them up, removing dead lower leaves and stalks.

Leeks are very hardy. They will stay until late November or early December. I love to make potato leek soup from the garden in late fall. In previous years, I harvested a whole bunch of leeks at once. It’s a very dirty process because so much wet, cold dirt clings to their roots. This year, I’ll try to pull up one or two on an as-needed basis.

Lots of marigolds – should I dye with them or just save the seeds? There’s a horseradish leaf in this photo. Should I dig horseradish this year? I think yes. It is horrendous to process it because the fumes are so strong. But it makes a nice gift, plus it’s tasty. It spreads vigorously so if I don’t dig up the roots, it kind of takes over.

Some of these squash looked a little frost-kissed, but I think they’ll be okay. The butternuts are mostly huge. And the Blue Hubbards are massive! I’ve always wanted to grow them. What am I going to do with those huge Blue Hubbards? I’m imagining roasting one of them whole in the oven and serving it on a platter at Thanksgiving. Probably not the most convenient way to serve it.

I don’t know why this year was a great year for winter squash. I didn’t really do anything different. It must have been the pattern of weather and watering that made them grow like that. I put some of my pumpkins around the yard and driveway for decoration because they are not so tasty. I’ve got to build up my recipe file for squash dishes. I use an app called Paprika 3 for recipes – I love it.