It’s definitely cooled off in my garden this week. We had one night that the temperature got down to 36 degrees. Thankfully, my garden did well. However, this week the forecast calls for two nights below freezing. It’s time to pull out the drop cloths to see if I can keep my peppers ripening for a little while longer. This weekend I harvested so much that I’m going to share my harvest pictures with you in my next post.
FLOWERING:
Yes, I have plants flowering – in November. Amazing, isn’t it?
My rocoto peppers are ripening and still producing dozens of flowers.
Yesterday, I noticed one of my parsley plants was flowering. I’ve never seen a parsley flower before.
IN THE GARDEN:
My Celeste fig tree has dropped most of its leaves, but it still has quite a few figs left on it. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to ripen before the frost gets them. With most of the branches bare and the figs hanging on, the tree looks like something alien, don’t you think?
I’m hoping the frost doesn’t get to my lemon drop pepper plants. I have so many peppers yet to ripen.
These lemon drop pepper plants are still producing new peppers, too.
Remember my roma tomato “weed”? I have several bunches of tomatoes growing on it, so I’m going to cover it well this week. I’d love to see if this “experiment” allows for a few ripe tomatoes.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had a single winter squash from what I planted. Between the pickle worms and lack of pollination, all I’ve had are vines and flowers. Look at my spaghetti squash vine. It grew through the fence and into my neighbor’s yard.
In the spring, I planted five purple and four green artichoke plants. Of the nine, only two plants have survived – one of each, purple and green.
My key lime tree has about a dozen fruit on it, and I harvested my first three key limes this week. I intend to taste one of them tonight. Here’s the tree before I picked the ripest ones. (By the way, key limes are ripest when they start to turn yellow.)
This week, I think I’ll start taking my key lime tree inside every night. I don’t want to lose my fruit – or the flowers that have just started blooming again.
In my next post, I’ll share pictures of this past weekend’s harvest.
What’s happening in your garden or on your homestead?
Sanctuary Gardener 