And thus Another Gardening Season Comes To An End
Whew… The past two weeks have been just amazingly overwhelming. Children off to school, crazy schedules, weddings, anniversaries, cars breaking down and of course Cleveland weather threatening to destroy the garden in preparation for yet another winter. All in all, this schedule has made me lax in how often I have posted (and I must apologize). And there is so much to post… A few more tomato tasting need to go up, a review of how string up tomatoes worked out for me, bitching about the weather (frost warnings tonight 🙁 ) and new how to video that is sitting half done on my computer. So much to do and never enough time to do it.
We are in the final stretch here, folks. Mother Nature is evicting Summer and Fall is sitting on the porch with his bags ready to unpack. Yesterday I watch a rain of leave from the black walnuts in our back yard flutter past my back door. The dogwood is tinged with red. And today I was forced to use my 4 year old’s tummy to warm my chilled hands. These are all sure signs that the garden will be dead in two weeks time, maybe less.
How unfair is that? I suppose not at all, really. I do live in Cleveland after all. It is not like cold is not expected. But every year I feel it come earlier and stays later, but this is not the case. The seasons march on as they always have. We march on with them, retreating to seed catalogs and gardening magazines to satisfy the yearning for sun and dirt when the weather takes from us what we love to do most.
I feel the same way about the approach of winter. I love your line “I feel it come earlier and stays later”. You know the ‘elders” warned us of this affect.
I feel the same way about the approach of winter. I love your line “I feel it come earlier and stays later”. You know the “elders” warned us of this effect.
We’re about 120 miles apart, but the weather is pretty much the same. I was just bitching about all the tomatoes and now I’m bitching about how cold it is in the morning. I feel especially po’d since Winter stuck around until Memorial Day.
On the bright side, I can go back to work on my landscape project. I started with an exsisting bed of pale yellow daylilies with a low wall in front. I enlarged the bed with mathing white bricks. I planted Antony Waterer Spireas, hostas, a few sedems, foxglove, English Daisies, a Huechera, and some Hens and Chicks from my Mom’s garden in Maine.
I plan to extend the bed around the front of the house, move some things and add some lilies and fall bulbs. This is my favorite time of year!!
In Olympia WA, the soggy days aproacheth! Methinks the remaining tomatoes will never get ripe. Aside from the book and the movie, is there such a thing as Fried Green Tomatoes? But I still have potatoes to dig up, and squash and pumpkins to finish off. And if the sun will just stay out a few more days, I have watermelons and cantelopes in the plastic hoophouse that just might ripen for me. :=) Is it too soon to start planning for next year’s garden?
Somehow fall and the cold weather comes too fast. I am trying to make myself start ripping out the tomato plants, even though we have not had a frost yet, so I won’t get caught again by sudden cold weather. We haven’t had a frost, yet, in my part of Utah. It does make me sad. I wish I could somehow extend the warm weather.
Janet: There is a restaurant near my home that sells Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches; apparently it is one of their signature dishes. I haven’t been brave enough to try one, but southerners definitely eat them.
In Oklahoma we have had just enough cool weather to tease us into thinking we won’t have to water for a while. Alas, the highs are supposed to be back in the 90’s this week. So, while you are chillin’, we are bakin’!
I have enjoyed reading your blog, your tomato reviews, and all the various other garden info.
TM
trey – Damn those elders for always being right. 😉
steven – I know what you mean. It seems so short this year.
gus – That all sounds lovely! I amusing the cooler weaher to plant some more things myself.
Janet – Never too soon! I expect that catalogs will be pouring in within the month. 😉
Muum – Every year I think “Just one more month”. It would be nice if we could extend the weather.
Janet & Ornery’s Wife – Fried Green Tomatoes are very tasty! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fried-Green-Tomatoes/Detail.aspx I eat them every year. They are very tangy. I also like to use my green tomatoes in stir fries. Last year I tried Green Tomato Jam. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/102047 I personally was not wild for it but I could see how a person would enjoy it.
Hugs! I feel you fall-dread. And to think, fall use to be my favorite season!
If your neighbor likes the Health Kick variety she would also like Hard Rock by R.H. Shumway, via Totally tomatoes. I have grown many Romas, and at least here in Iowa I can attest ‘Hard Rock’ beats them all for YIELD. Fruits are attractive, taste good,(not fantastic), but set enough to make your own salsa, sauce, as well as give tomatoes away to anyone who will take them. Thanks for an informative blog.
Hanna,
Greetings from Longwood, FL (zone 10) where we are getting badly needed rain which causes the occasional sink hole to appear and drop whatever is in its path. Our long hot, sultry summer in struggling to end. My friend Ted the local birdman says a Canadian change will get to us by late Ocober and then it will be refreshening mild through next February. Aint we fortunate? My plant delight in past weekes has been an elegant Staghorn, a gift from my BIL in Windermere, FL. I am making a wire net basket for it to hang on our patio fence, shaded by an Australian tree fern. Will send an image in due course. Enjoy your fall. We miss it after our 10 year sojourn in Chicago. Never thought I would admit that…