We brought our herbs in and our two nasturtiums. The nasturtiums have been loving the warmth, giving us probably a dozen blooms in the last week!
After all the pots were inside, I put the bird feeder out. I'm so excited to see the birds flocking to our porch once more. It only took them about an hour to discover the feeder - and not much longer to eat every last bit!
Jeremy also pulled our four tomato plants out of the ground and hung them up in the basement to keep ripening.
He also harvested a bunch of kale and most of the chives and parsley. He pulled down all our netting and caging and set up a cold frame to help keep our second batch of kale and lettuce snug (if not much warmer). Our garden looks so bare and sad after the abundance of summer!
Our beans are, somehow, still producing. At least, they were. I think we've had some hard frosts so they may be done. I don't think we gave the scarlet runner beans long enough to grow. They are quite big, but the beans inside are quite small. We'll probably pull the beans down by the end of the week - and plant them much earlier next year!
But we can now say that our freezer is packed and our root cellar is filling up - we should be set for winter.
(Nope, we don't have a new camera yet - the family is letting us borrow one of theirs from time to time. It takes such clear pictures!)
I didn't think the beans in Scarlet Runners ever got that big - mine never did in Welly, but then as I was eating the the whole thing not shelling them it never occurred to me that they should be otherwise!
ReplyDeleteWe've got various greens growing so fast I hardly dare cook a meal without them, the strawberries are starting to loose their novelty value and will soon start heading for the freezer I think... for fresh strawberry jam for Christmas! A handful put away each day soon adds up =)
I just love having such a productive kitchen garden to hand - especially as all I have to do is water it occassionally and harvest! I do like gardening but everything grows so fast here I can't keep on top of it mentally let alone physically.
Rhubarb and ginger jam is next on the list of preserves... and those beetroot better hurry up, we finished the last jar off at the weekend!
One that note I'd better go and pick tea =)
Hmm, I thought scarlet runner beans were the shelling kind. I remember they grew at the house in Seattle and we got these big beautiful beans out of them. But perhaps that was another kind of bean altogether? We'll have to look into this more...
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that your garden is kicking into high gear as ours is dying down. Sounds like you don't have to do much to keep things going. Perhaps we should move to New Zealand too. =)
Move to NZ? Go for it =) Go on, go on, you know you want to really...
ReplyDeleteI finally picked 5lbs of rhubarb today which is soaking up the sugar for the rhubarb and ginger jam and as soon as I'd picked it William added compost around the plants so maybe another batch won't be long behind!
Now I just need to keep on top of the broad bean crop which looks like it's about to go crazy, then we won't end up with too many big tough ones...