While Crops are Finishing Some are Still Thriving

 At the moment all my corn is completed and so are my beans and zucchini.  I did not get a good crop of beans this season due to I only had a couple of vines that sprouted and they were planted later than I would have liked.  corn I was able to get a good harvest from the two types that I had planted this season. 

 I was able to save and freeze them in order to have them during the Winter at some point.  I also got plenty of zucchini and was happy with the entire harvest of these squash plants.  The last of the squash would be my pumpkins which are just about ready for picking.  There are only two of them that are not ripe yet, but with time and sun they will be ready by October.

Kale and broccoli are the two cool weather plants that I added into the garden during the springtime.  They are normally for the fall and they were most likely not supposed to survive the summer months except for broccoli.  At the moment these are the two plants that are continue to thrive now that cool weather is arriving and the hot humid days are over with. 

 My broccoli is a hybrid plant that is made to withstand the harsh hot weather of the summer months while kale is just for cool weather.  Luckily my kale was able to survive the summer and looks like I will be continuing to cut many of the leaves.  The rainy summer this year was probably one of the reasons why my kale was able to get through the summer.  Both of these plants will probably last far into the fall season.

I also planted some peas that are also another cool weather plants except I decided to plant them in the fall rather the spring.  I planted them in the spring last season and they didn't produce or grow that well and that is why I am trying out planting them in the fall.  I was also going to plant radishes, but in the end just stuck with my pea seeds instead.  I planted them a little while ago and I am hoping that they sprout sometime in the near future.

One last thing that I wanted to mention was the digging up of my potatoes.  This was the latest new harvest since the last post and wanted to let you know.  For the amount of plants that were in the garden I think I got a pretty decent harvest.  I would say that each plant had at least two potatoes and they were about the size of a baseball.  Next year I hope to plant much more potatoes similar to last season in order for them to last long into the fall.

Now it is Time to Start Digging Up Carrots

The last thing that I do in the garden is dig up my carrots.  I leave them in the soil until November because although they might not be growing the cold ground makes for perfect storage.  They are safe from frost so I don't have to worry about the plants dying from these types of temperatures.  Usually just before the ground freezes is a good time to start digging them up.

I actually like to pick them up just before Thanksgiving.  I find that since they are able to last this long why not pick them as close to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as possible?  This way I can have extremely fresh carrots for Thursday that I and everybody can enjoy.  Check out some of the carrots below that I picked this evening.

These are not the best I have grown, but with a little bit more work and fertilizers I can make them much better for next year.

Broccoli is also a late plant that I can harvest all the way until the ground freezes.  The ground is starting to freeze and the cold night temperatures are beginning to slow down the production of broccoli for these plants.  They are most likely done for the year, but I still will go out there and check them out just in case there are some plants that are continuing to produce.  Take a look at some that I harvested this year.

My Broccoli Heads Reached Perfect Harvesting Size

I didn't think that I would be picking my broccoli heads this late because normally I would be picking them the beginning of October to the end of September.  Even though it is a little later than usual I am still not worried that I can get much more broccoli this year. 

I have picked about five heads right now and I am waiting to pick some of the side shoots that will produce some more broccoli for me to pick.  These shoots are where the bulk of the broccoli will come from.  It is just a matter of time before I get a day with large amounts of broccoli.

Now that my broccoli harvesting has started my eggplants have now ended the season.  With only two left I didn't want to leave them out there too long because the plants were done growing these vegetables and it was pointless to keep them on the plant.  I picked the last two eggplants that began growing about a month ago or less.