September in the Garden

September has whizzed by! What with the beginning of school and a family road trip, I've spent very little time in the garden. At this point, I'm mostly weeding (the more I keep the weeds under control now, the fewer weeds I'll have next year) and harvesting, but as you see from the photos, it's pretty hard to keep up with the weeds, what with all the rain we are having.

Once again, plans for a true fall garden have fallen by the wayside. I can never seem to quite get my act together in the summer to successfully start seedlings. I did plant some carrots to overwinter, and they are doing just fine. The lettuce I planted, though, just couldn't tolerate our hot summer weather, and is now dead. I also allowed the peas I planted to dry to a crisp. I really need to invest in some hoop tunnels so I can shade fall crops planted in summer (and extend our growing season, too).

There are still lots of greens in the garden.Even so, the collards and kale will last in the garden all winter, though they will just barely grow. I also keep the parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes in the ground until I'm ready to use them - usually after a good frost, since that sweetens them up. I may keep most of the carrots in the ground, too, because they sweeten so wonderfully after a frost. (In my area, I don't have to do anything special to overwinter these crops, but if your area gets quite cold, you'll need to insulate them with a thick layer of hay.)

Volunteer tomatoes growing amongst the squash and fall leaves.I've harvested the cabbage, which was hardly worth growing. I like huge heads that I can chop up and freeze for borscht, but this variety yielded pretty tiny heads. I'm also still getting some summer squash; I have given away bags of pattypan squash, and have made about a gazillion jars of zucchini chips. And there are still tomatoes - a wonderful crop that's allowed us to eat tons fresh, plus have quite a few for preserving. The volunteer tomatoes I allowed to remain in the garden have quite a few green tomatoes on them - and I've a handful or so of red ones, too. They were definitely worth allowing to sit in the garden, especially since I didn't do anything for them - I didn't even give them a supportive cage.

Next up will be the butternut squash. I'm really pleased with my crop this year; I will store most of it in a cool location in the house, after allowing them to cure.
Buttercup squash.
2013 Produce Totals  (All but the squash and tomatoes are from a 12 x 14 ft. garden plot; the squash and tomatoes are in an area measuring 33 x 3 ft.)

Eggs 667Chicken meat 20 ½ lbs.
Apples 13  lbs.Basil 3/4 lb.Beets 1Blackberries 3 lbs.Blueberries 7 1/2 lb.Buttercup squash 21 1/2 lbs.Cabbage 6 lb.Calendula 8 lb.Carrots 1 lb.Chives 6 1/2 lbs.Cilantro 1 1/8 lb.Collards 11 3/4 lbs.Dandelion flowers ½ lb.Dandelion greens 35 lb.Dandelion Root 2 1/8 lb.Garlic: ½ lb. scapes + 1 lb. headsGreen onions 1 lb.Kale 12 ½ lbs.Kiwi 1 lb.Leeks 5 lbs.Lettuce 11 lb.Mint 3/4 lb.Oregano 1 1/2 lb.Pattypan squash 41 1/2  lbs.Parsnips 1 lb.Passion vine 1 lb.Peas 5 1/2 lbs.Potatoes 11 1/4 lbs.Radishes 8 lb.Rosemary 1/2 lb.Sage 1 1/2 lb.Spinach 1 1/4 lb.Squash blossoms 2 1/2 lbs.Sunchokes 40 lbs.Strawberry 3 1/2 lbs.Tomato 38 3/4  lbs.Wild onion 2 lb.Wonderberries 1/2 lb.Zucchini 57 1/2 lbs.