Gardening is Out and the Winter Season is In

It is now getting colder and most of my plants are done for this year except for a few peppers and my strawberry plants which will be protected with some straw.  I didn’t think my pepper plants would last through November, but I am still picking the peppers right off the plant until the very first frost which will end the season officially.



Before or when the ground freezes straw needs to be applied to plants that you want to save for next year.  Certain plants don’t need straw especially if they are perennials like blueberries.  Strawberries on the other hand can survive without straw, but you will be taking a risk not covering it with straw.  It is always best to cover them with straw before the real cold weather arrives.



At the moment I am just enjoying the very last of the summer fruit and vegetables.  I had recently started cutting my watermelons which are really tasty and juicy.  I am trying to keep them around for as long as possible in order to enjoy their incredible flavor.  They should be able to last a month or so as long as they are kept in a cool refrigerator.


Carrots are still outside in the ground and they will be ready once Thanksgiving comes around the corner.  In a couple of weeks I will have them up from the ground and they will be cut and ready to be eaten immediately.  With enough of them I could can them and enjoy them all through the cold winter months.  There is only one row, but if they are big enough I will can them for future enjoyment.

Melons are done and Ready for Harvesting

The only large fruit that was left from the summer were my watermelons.  It was that time this week to finally pick them from the vine.  They had been left outside long enough and they should be ripe inside once I cut them to see for sure.  All my melons are now done and all that is left are some remaining cherry tomatoes and peppers.



While I was outside I thought it would be prudent to continue picking some cherry tomatoes that were left on several of the plants.  Many of them are still green and just some sunlight to turn them red is what I am waiting for.  There were a few that were ready for picking and that is what I did this week.



Peppers on the other hand will probably last a little bit longer at the moment.  They have several fruit on the plants and I think I have many more pepper harvests in the near future.  Once a frost comes then it will be the end of these plants and the entire garden for the most part.

The Harvests I missed During a Week Long Rain Storm

There were many harvests I wanted to do this week, but couldn’t because of the rain storm that lasted several days.  That is why I wrote a post today to make certain that you are up to date with the latest harvests I did this afternoon.

My pumpkins were finally ready this week and I should have picked them much earlier in the week.  They have been ready for quite awhile and I just like leaving them outside in order to have them turn orange quicker.  A couple have become rotten and I had to cut them up and throw them into some compost that I will be making.  Other than that they were pretty good for being outside through this storm for this long.

Beans are another harvest that I got done today.  I actually wasn’t sure if many of them were going to be ready for picking, but when I went outside and looked at my vines I saw plenty of them that needed to be harvested right away.  Today’s harvest was quite big and I got over nine pounds of these sweet and delicious beans.

The last on today’s list are my peppers that are just still producing flowers despite the weather and are growing amazingly.  They have really good peppers on the plants I got about a dozen of them that were ready waiting to be picked.  Most of them were large sized peppers, but there were a couple that were a little bit smaller.  Nevertheless as long as they taste good I am not worried about their size.

A Few More Tomatoes and another Batch of Beans

This is going to be a small post today because it looks like many of my harvests are winding down and I don’t think I will be picking as many tomatoes for the rest of the season.  My Roma tomatoes are done for the most part and cherry tomatoes are still around with more fruit.

Beans on the other hand are probably one of the last plants that are continuing to produce other than my pepper plants.  I should see a very large harvest from my beans soon and today I was able to fill half a bowl of them.  I might be able to fill up two bowls from one harvest if my beans are going to produce more flowers and pods.

Besides some peppers, an eggplant, and some broccoli plants the last thing from the summer will be a couple of watermelons.  These are always some of the last fruits from the garden and should be harvesting them soon.  I would say early October and these melons will be completely done and ripe enough to eat.

Ending the Garden Season on a High Note

Although it is not the end of the season and I would say that it will not end until the real cold weather arrives I wanted to get a good last harvest from my Roma tomatoes.  I had plenty of them on the plants that I was just waiting for them to ripen fully.  Today I think I picked the most I have ever in just one day.

It just happened that many of them were ripe on the same day.  Since most of them grew at the same time it makes sense that they would also ripen at a similar time.  I did leave some of them on the plant because they were just not quite ready and some of them still had green tomatoes on them as well.

Only a couple were continuing to produce tomatoes, but for the most part production of tomatoes is pretty much over for all the types of tomatoes that I grew this season.  The rest of them will be picked at a later date sometime in the near future.  There was 70 pounds worth of Roma tomatoes which will be turned into thick red sauce.

On a side not some cantaloupes were picked this week.  This makes two types of fruits that were picked this week.  This is usually the time when I start to pick my melons and watermelons are always last to be harvested.  Just four more cantaloupes to enjoy for as long as possible until other melons are ready to be picked.









 I also have one honeydew plant which is the only one to survive during the cooler month of May and it has one fruit on it that is hopefully going to ripen this season.  I hope that it ripens soon before the cool weather harms the vine and it won’t be able to fully ripen.  It has finished growing so right now it is working on the ripening phase of the fruit.

Looking To Pick the First Cantaloupe in Near Future

It looks like in the next couple of days or so I should see the first cantaloupe harvest of the season.  I am not certain about all of my melons, but one of the cantaloupes that I was looking at seems to be just about ready to pick.  If it falls off the vine tomorrow I will not be surprised because it could have been picked today, but decided to wait another day or two at the most.

On the other hand my tomatoes are just continuing to ripen and there doesn't look like there is an end in sight to these fruits.  I am glad I am getting many Roma tomatoes because I can use those for some great sauces because of their meaty interior.  I picked about a full bowl of them which is about a little over 20 pounds.


Even though the focus is mainly on Roma tomatoes I did also have some time to pick more cherry and steakhouse tomatoes this afternoon.  I still have many cherry tomatoes left on most of the plants, but there is a limited supply to steakhouse tomatoes on these plants.  I have been picking these large tomatoes over the past week so I have plenty to use for my noontime sandwiches.  I also have plenty of cherry tomatoes for many future salads.

More of the Same Harvests With an Eggplant

For the most part I have been picking mostly tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, and cucumbers.  I did pick most of them this morning and got another good harvest from them.  I did pick quite a large steakhouse tomato that was just about two pounds by itself.  It was just as large as my hand.

I also managed to pick the first eggplant for the season today.  I wasn’t going to pick it today, but it wasn’t growing anymore and it felt ripe to pick it.  A little bit small, but I can still find a meal to use it for and hopefully enjoy its unique taste.



I just wanted to let you in on the progress of my melons especially cantaloupes.  They should be ready real soon and will be the first melons to pick for the season.  My watermelons are doing well, but they take a little bit longer to ripe and produce the sugars they need inside the melon.  Since cantaloupes are smaller they will not need as much time to ripen.

Corn looks like it is done for now and I don’t think there are that many left to pick.  I was able to get about eight more last week and now most of them are done.  I will be removing the stalks from the ground and start using them as mulch or just chop them up and burn them.

Getting Plenty of Vegetables for Multiple Meals

The past couple of days has been good for harvesting and there was plenty of vegetables that I needed to harvest as soon as possible.  More and more tomatoes are getting ripe and turning to their respective color and my corn is coming to an end along with my regular cucumbers.  I would say that I have probably a half a dozen of corn left and only two plants of pickle cucumbers remaining.

The good news is that although it is halfway through the garden season I still have plenty of peppers, Roma tomatoes, steakhouse tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes left for more harvests.  Soon I will start using all the Roma tomatoes for making sauces and that will mark the beginning of the end of my Roma harvests.  They are almost ready for picking and I am sure by this week or next week I should be picking many of them.

For now I have been picking the vegetables that are ready and I will work on the others when it is their time for harvesting.  Let’s just look at a couple of harvests that I did this weekend such as corn, cherry tomatoes, and peppers.

I think this was the largest harvest for cherry tomatoes this season and I might be able to get an even larger harvest this week depending on how many are actually ripe.


Peppers and cucumbers were also ready for some harvesting and I wanted to pick all the ones that were ready so that these plants can continue producing flowers and vegetables.  Most of my pepper plants are spitting out flowers as fast as possible and my cucumber vines are also producing flowers and I hope to pick many more of them.

Ten pickle cucumbers were ready for harvesting.  Some of them look a little pale, but once you peel them they will still taste like a regular pickle cucumber.  These five peppers are about average size of this year pepper harvest and there are actually some on the plants that are much bigger that I can’t wait to pick.

How about Some Corn on the Cob?

Yes that is what I was able to enjoy yesterday with a decent harvest of some of my corn.  I like to cook all of them right away or at least the same day that I pick them and with that I got to have some corn to eat with my dinner.  They were quite large and delicious and I can’t wait to continue picking all the rest that are still out there.  I would guess that I have about a dozen or so left to harvest.


Beans are also flourishing and some more of them were picked as well.  I still have many growing on the vines which means I should be getting some more this month and hopefully through September as well.  As long as those buds and flowers keep coming I should have many more harvests.


A few peppers, cucumbers, and a couple of Romas were the harvest of today.  I even had one zucchini that was ready as well.  It is just the second round for my zucchini plants are there are a couple more out there that are not ready, but I should be picking them soon.

How About Some of Those Large Tomatoes?

Yes, I have some large steakhouse tomatoes that look so good and I want to pick them very soon.  Luckily today I was able to pick the first steakhouse tomato on one of my plants and was definitely a good size.  It weighed just short of two pounds and was able to fit in my entire hand.

Besides tomatoes I had some more beans to pick today.  I knew I was going to pick them before the week was over and that is what I did this morning.  I got much more than my previous harvests and I am not sure, but I think this will be one of the largest harvests of beans this season.

Peppers, cucumbers, and pickles were also on the list for harvesting.  I had a large cucumber that I was hoping to pick soon because it was a very large size that I didn’t want to see get too big otherwise it may not taste right.  I picked it today along with two peppers and two pickle cucumbers.

More Vegetable Harvests will be Coming Very Soon

I will be very surprised if I don’t start harvesting my corn this coming week.  Most of the stalks have about one to two ears on them and a few of the earlier ones are actually close to picking.  I checked a couple of them today and they are still white which means they should be turning yellow very soon with some good sun in the next few days.

On the other hand some of my tomatoes are starting to turn as well.  Cherry tomatoes as you well know I have been picking for about a couple of weeks, but my other tomatoes I have not started yet.  That should soon change with a few of my regular tomatoes and sauce tomatoes are a light orange color at the moment.

I might also start picking some more zucchini in a week or so now that my plants are producing more of them for me to pick.  It took a little bit longer before they could produce a second batch, but at least they are starting to grow some more for another harvest of them.

Last, but not least my eggplants have started producing flowers and only one has a vegetable beginning to grow from it.  Eggplants take a while to mature and that is why I am not surprised that it took this long to produce a vegetable that I am looking forward to harvest in less than a month hopefully.

Start Picking Those Peppers Right Away

Today was the first harvest of my peppers for this year.  I have about six plants and only two were picked this afternoon.  I didn't want to pick too many especially if they weren't ready or they could get much bigger than what they are right now.  All of my plants have peppers and soon I will start picking much more of them once they reach a good size.











Along with peppers I had some cherry tomatoes, pickle cucumbers, and some beans ready as well.  I was hoping to push my beans to this weekend, but they needed to be harvested today before they get too big with large beans within their pods.







Here are my cherry tomatoes and pickle cucumbers that came along with this harvest.  Just a small, but good harvest today and plan to have many more of them real soon.

Another Day Full of a Few New Harvests

I just decided to finally start picking my cherry tomatoes and some pole beans.  I was planning on picking them sometime this weekend and that is exactly what I did today.  There were also a few cucumbers that were also ready which makes for three simple harvests today.

There were just a few cherry tomatoes that were ready for picking, but there are many more that will hopefully start turning real soon to make even larger harvests.  I usually like to fill large bowls filled with cherry tomatoes.  I am actually waiting on my regular and Roma tomatoes to turn because those are the tomatoes I like to use the most.

My beans this season were quite large and I would say that they were just shy of a foot long.  This goes for all the ones that I picked today.  Looking through the vines I saw that there were many more to pick and they were about the same size, but were just not ready to pick yet.





Just wanted to mention the four cucumbers that I picked today as well.  Two were pickle cucumbers and the other two were just normal cucumbers.  I wasn't planning on picking a couple of them, but they were a decent size and I didn't want them to grow on the vine for too long.

Start Getting Ready for Many Harvests in the Garden

It is that time when harvests of many fruits and vegetables will be coming.  For now I have started with zucchini, cucumbers, a couple of pickle cucumbers, and blueberries.  I have been looking through the garden and it looks like I have some beans to be picked very soon.  I could start picking them today, but instead I picked a couple of cucumbers that needed to be harvested right away.

 You can see from the picture that my pole beans are growing, but they are just not quite ready for picking.  There are a few early birds that are ready and I might pick those this weekend, but the majority will most likely be ready in a week or so.

It looks like tomato picking is on the horizon as well with a couple of my cherry tomatoes beginning to ripen.  It doesn’t take long for these types of tomatoes to start ripening since they are a much smaller size than the others that I am growing.  That is why they are the first to be picked which shouldn’t be that long from now.

I think I have a cantaloupe that has been pollinated recently.  One of the vines has many fruits, but there is only one that looks like it has been getting bigger once the flower fell off.  It could be the first melon of the season depending if it continues to grow or not.

Now Some Cucumbers can be Harvested Today

I have left my cucumbers on the vines for plenty of days and it is now time to remove them from the vine and enjoy their amazing and sweet taste.  I wanted to pick them earlier, but I ended up harvesting them today instead. 

I also decided to start picking all kinds of zucchinis that were growing in the garden.  I was only going to pick one or two, but I saw that many of them were hard enough that they needed to be removed from the plant today.  I collected only four average to large sized zucchinis.  I still have plenty out there and will continue picking them as long as the plants provide them.

Just a quick side note on my squash plants that include my pumpkins, I have found about three pumpkins that are pollinated and have started getting bigger each day.  As long as I keep feeding them and don’t let them get dry they should continue getting bigger. 

Getting to Harvest Zucchini Today and Soon Many Other Vegetables

Right now I have not harvested anything from my summer crop.  If you count blueberries as a summer crop, then I have only harvested one fruit this season.  Well all that changed today when I harvested the first zucchini of the season. 

Not only are my zucchini plants producing vegetables, but my cucumbers are on the verge of harvesting as well.  For now it is my straight eight cucumbers, but my pickle cucumbers will probably come shortly after these. 

 One pumpkin looks like it wants to grow right on the vine.  I have a pumpkin plant that has its first pumpkin growing right on the vine.  This is the first one of the season as well and with many other vines growing in the garden I hope to see more of them in the coming weeks.