Fall Garden Update

The Large Garden sign on the front gate...An aerial view of the garden... Asparagus that we should be able to harvest starting next spring

We've had good luck with fall tomatoes in the past. If the frost holds out for another couple of weeks this should be our best year yet. Fall tomatoes require patience, late summer watering, and a heavy layer of hay or straw mulch. The key is to harvest all of the tomatoes at the end of "tomato season" and then keep the vines alive through August and September. They return in all their glory, putting out new growth, blossoms, and eventually, slow-ripened fruit.

3 pumpkin plants, started in late July, have set upwards of 14 pie pumpkins. I built simple boxes with a fragment of screen (all salvaged from our burned home) to hold the pumpkins as they grow. This keeps air circulating around the entire fruit and keeps moisture away from it. Pumpkins will tend to rot if left on damp ground too long.