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Roots and Shoots -
Harvest for Hunger
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Written by Connie Bellet
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Saturday, 01 October 2011 07:55 |
Autumn in the Community Garden There were frost warnings, so I scurried around the garden, stripping tomatoes, squash, eggplants, and chile peppers. Then, I snipped as many clusters of grapes as my biggest bowls would hold. The kitchen table is still piled high, even after processing most of the basil into pesto, which went into ice cube trays in the freezer. There’s not much room left in the freezer which means---more canning and drying. The big solar dryer is going to get a few loads of tomatoes, leeks, squash, kale, and herbs, as long as the weather holds.
This has been a fine growing season, so I experimented with pickling dilly beans and zephyr squash. Salsa is a staple in this household, so that was canned, along with marinara sauce. Roasting the jalapenos reduces their volume a bit, and gives richer flavor to the salsa, as does roasting the fresh garlic. Soon, it will be time to plant the garlic for next season, and volunteers are welcome. Some veggies benefit from a touch of frost, which brings out their sweetness. Kale is a prime example, as is winter squash. The winter squash are lurking in the octagonal Three Sisters garden in the front yard, along with the sunflowers, dry corn, and maybe a few beans. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to look at another green bean. Right now, the pole beans in the back garden look like kudzu covering whole beds. They will die shortly, and the seeds of the beautiful violetta trionfo beans can be collected for next year. The plants will make great food for critters like pigs, chickens, and sheep. Folks are welcome to take some for their animals.
People who grow strawberries know that they are supposed to be renovated in August, which didn’t happen, but maybe I can get away with transplanting them out to the new permaculture bed in the spring. Phil wrestled with a hefty rototiller to loosen the soil enough that it could be piled on top of cardboard and garden scraps into curved swales that will help catch rainwater runoff and winter snowfall. What a huge job that turned out to be! I keep telling Phil that it only has to be done once, and the strawberries were not getting enough air circulation in the raised bed, and were subject to fungal infections. This made them easy prey for the dirty Japanese beetles, which we slam-dunked into a nice bubble bath. We have heard that Johnny’s Seeds has an organic spray that doesn’t kill the beetles outright, but it effectively glues their mouth parts together so they can’t munch on your precious produce. Now, normally I abhor cruelty to living beings, but Japanese beetles are a pathogenic scourge, and are therefore an exception. So are hornworms and earwigs. The secret to healthy plants with few pests, according to Maria Rodale, is nothing more complex than healthy, composted soil. This means that if we simply put back the nutrients our food plants extract, our gardens will be in balance and will produce the most nutritious food. What could be more logical? So, on a crisp fall day, you rake- up the fallen leaves into a big pile and watch the kids reduce them to fine mulch to keep your garden beds warm and shrubs protected. You might sprinkle a little wood ash on the garden, but none where you grow potatoes. And you cover your compost pile to keep it warm and slightly moist for the winter. Then you can stack up the firewood and settle in by the stove with more garden catalogues. |
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Last Updated on Saturday, 01 October 2011 08:59 |
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