The Garden's Last Hoorah

This last week of chilly weather has made it clear that autumn is upon us. The garden, however, seems to think it is springtime. Or at least some of the plants are giving things another go. The acorn squash plants have put on three new squash, each the size of a walnut. One year, when we were living on the mountain, we actually got two full rounds of acorn squash. The ones in the second batch were smaller and didn’t have a very long storage life but they were still tasty. I don’t think we’ll have time to see these new squash come to full maturity.

Acorn squash, round two.

The squash are not the only plants trying again. The tomatoes have put out a bunch of new blossoms as have the purple and fillet beans. A single new kohlrabi seedling has even appeared. The yellow squash has set fruit for the first time this season. Too bad they probably won’t get big enough to eat. It’s unusual for a single type of plant to fail me several times in one season. The cucumbers are giving it another go too. The peppers are still trying hard as are the eggplants. This isn’t really a second attempt for either of them as they have been very slow to produce the whole time.

More blossoms on the tomatoes.

Cucumbers making one final, pitiful push.

A new spiky eggplant flower

The rattlesnake beans have put on a fresh batch of blossoms as well. I’m really enjoying those beans. I grew them primarily for shell beans but as I picked the dried pods today, I also was able to pick a generous handful of fresh beans. With the new blossoms and tiny beans just starting, I may get more fresh beans before frost comes. As for the dried beans, we got 3 ½ cups from about a dozen plants. I’m not sure if that’s good or not but I’m pleased.

New bean blossom.

Rattlesnake beans to shell.

Beans!

Rattlesnake beans ready to become baked beans or soup.

The garden is apparently not ready to be put to bed yet. That’s okay. It’ll be nice to get those last few beans and tomatoes. We did do some final harvesting, though. We pulled all the carrots and dug the rest of the potatoes. The potato harvest was not overwhelming by any means but the carrots made up for it. 

Our meager harvest of potatoes.

Carrots enjoying some afternoon sun.

The corn and pumpkins are definitely finished. There is no way that either will be attempting a second round. The plants are completely dead. The corn was rather disappointing. I think it was the variety. It made small, irregular ears that grew up through the leaves. Weird. I plan on looking for a different type next year. But I collected the stalks and bound them together to decorate the front of our house. We got two pumpkins but one was chewed on while still on the vine. It still makes a decent decoration with the other pumpkin and a ceramic chicken.  

This corn is finished.

One perfect little pumpkin.

All decorated for autumn.