This is one of our beds of tomato plants after the first damaging frost in early October. Although there were still plenty of tomatoes, they tasted bad / spoiled after the frost hit when they were fine the day before. It is a reminder that the weather doesn't always work with our schedule and we need to be proactive to get things done before it is too late...
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Most of our peppers didn't turn colors this year, mainly due to a cooler summer. We strung up jalapeno and some chili peppers to dry in front of our glass slider. Although we started with mostly green ones, they began to turn red over time as they dried. The chili peppers are mostly dried now, but the jalapeno (shown below) are still squishy as there is more moisture in their skin.
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Last year the blueberry bushes didn't get protected and the rabbits feasted on them all winter long. As the snow deepened they were able to munch higher and higher and at one point some of the plants were completely covered. Part of good stewardship is using things you already have instead of buying new. So instead of buying new fence material, I simply used the side panels from the raised beds and constructed a 3 panel or 4 panel cage depending on the size of the bush.
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To hold the panels in place, I simply cut a small piece of wire to twist together and hold the panels.
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This is a muskmelon that was sitting on the mulch as it grew. This provided a nice feast for various insects as they munched on the melon from the bottom up. We are thinking to use an inverted paper plate holder to keep the melons off the ground in the future.
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This is a cabbage with a strange issue where it looks like the head rotted away from the inside. Not sure if it was from insects or something else. Other neighboring cabbages appeared fine.
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Sometimes it seems like the problems in the garden are discouraging, and we are not getting good results. Here is a sign Shannon made to help us be encouraged to press on.
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