Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Tuesday, October 07, 2008




It's the end of the season this year for our veggie garden. Yesterday I made one last sweep of the produce, took down the deer fencing and heaped loads of clippings onto the compost pile. There were five gallon Ziploc bags full of different lettuce varieties, baby carrots, baby yellow neck squash, cucumbers, and loads of zucchini and basil. Today I'll make a few transplants of thyme into pots to bring in for the winter and snip the rest to dry. With all of the basil, I was able to make a few half-pints of pesto to freeze; summertime flavor to savor when the snow falls.

Being my first year to plant a veggie garden, next year I'll know not to plant as much zucchini ... it is prolific and takes up way too much space. Sow the seeds in early June, leaving a few empty rows to accommodate some later plantings. Use some type of either black plastic mulch around the base of the tomato plants ... or some type of water bag sleeves that radiate heat that my neighbor used. Soon I'll post a picture of my green tomatoes.

The best part of having a garden: Fresh food, fresh air, sunshine, working with my hands, getting dirty, tired sore muscles, eating food without pesticides grown about as local as you can get.

6 comments:

thisgoodhearth said...

Looks like you have a great harvest! We didn't do too good with our vegies this year. I think we may need to experiment planting some of our vegies next spring in between the flowers as we may have allocated the wrong place for the vegies.

Felisol said...

Dear Mrs. Mac,
you are swell. No, I guess you are a thorough worker in all the tasks you take an interest in. I love basil, but so do the snails. I have to buy basil in pots and pesto in jars.
The only thing I actually have the whole winter is thyme. We rarely are below +7 Celsius degrees and that makes the thyme thrive.
Guess I have to enjoy my little pleasures instead of envying you. (I do, though, but just a little)
Next year I'm hoping for tomatoes. The dream was created by the look of your crops.
From Felisol

Mrs. Mac said...

Felisol ... when you see my photo of all the green tomatoes, your 'dream' of my garden may go bust as you snicker in sympathy in all their greeness (I sorely hope a few of them ripen up after bringing them inside. One can only hope that next year will be a better crop. Our little part of the North Woods had a bad year for producing tomatoes without much aid in special equipment. I was pleased not to have many bugs nor slugs in the patch. I pray that you have ooodles of tomatoes next season. Enjoy your thyme ...

Pat said...

I had the same results with my tomatoes this year, and I have heard that many others have too. Last year I wrapped my green tomatoes in newspaper, and put them in the basement. They ripened beautifully in a very short time. I guess I'll be doing the same this year!

Mrs. Mac said...

thanks for the ripening tip, Pat!

donna said...

You have inspired me beyond words !!! We were going to put in raised gardens this year and then other things got in the way...I am going to begin planning RIGHT NOW......for next year....

Wish I had visited you sooner!!

blessings
donna