What Happened In My Garden This Week? – Week 38

The stalks were nearly 20 cm taller this year and the harvest was easily twice as big. The sunchokes were absolutely beautiful. I placed the leaves in a brine and I boiled and cut the stalks into smaller pieces. The pieces of stalks were added to the kimchi paste and the leaves, along with leaves from my squash plants and my sunflowers, were the main components in the kimchi.

I stirred the Chinese soy sauce as well as the doenjang from last year. I added filtered water, a little bit of syrup and some of my Korean soy sauce as I thoroughly worked through the paste. It had already finished the necessary six months of fermentation, so I wanted to make sure to work through it. I wanted it to have a little bit more moisture and I wanted to adjust the flavour ever so slightly so that it would continue to ferment. The last batch made it to two years before I ran out. This time I made about four times as much, so I won’t be running out any time soon.

Annuals

Alliums

The onions and green onions are sprouting here and there in the garden and the garlic greens are quite tall. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, since they do need to keep their strength up if they are to make it through the fall and winter. I think I’ll plant some more alliums before the season is over, since I suspect the rain washed a few away.

Brassica

I harvested all of the remaining cabbage plants but one this week. Though there were only a few leaves that were still safe from pests. A few leaves out of over a dozen plants isn’t what I’d call a great success. The slugs have truly been relentless in the garden this year.

The kale and black kale plants are still growing, so I will give them the benefit of a doubt for now. They could still grow strong and provide me with a decent harvest.

Corn

Two of the corn plants in the garden are showing signs that they are beginning to form cobs. I’m not sure they’ll be able to this late in the season, but I will let them be for now. Whether they produce cobs or not, I will be able to use the corn plants for food. Either they will be turned into syrup, tea or I will use the leaves when oven-baking food.

Cucumber

I haven’t harvested any cucumbers in the garden this week. I had about twenty cucumbers forming at one point, but pests stole all but two. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and more of them will emerge next week.

Herbs

This week I harvested all of the herbs in the garden. I gave away part of my mint plant and I got an oregano plant, a lemon balm plant and a thyme plant. I also harvested all of the berry bush leaves that have medicinal properties. All leaves and herbs were dried and placed in bags this week. I drank my first iced tea with meadowsweet and honey berry leaves this week and it was delicious as well as anti-inflammatory and detoxing.

Root vegetables

The root vegetables in the garden are doing great. All of my seedlings are up, so I will continue planting more of them regularly until I run out. I harvested a few radishes this week and made some room for more seedlings. At this point I am only focus on growing more carrots, beets and parsnips as far as root vegetables are concerned. I haven’t decided if I want to plant any more black radishes or not. Time will tell if I have enough room.

Tomatillos

I have harvested all of my ripe tomatillos in the greenhouse and hope to harvest the remaining ones next week. As in, I hope they have matured by then. I’d like to get between 1.5 and 2 kg worth, and I have harvested about 700 grams thus far.

Tomatoes

I harvested most of my tomatoes in the garden before the potential frost and I have harvested a handful of tomatoes since. I am not sure more will produce this year. But I do have quite a few plants in the greenhouse so I might get some harvests out of them.

Peppers

The pepper harvest was beyond underwhelming this year. If nothing changes soon, I only got a handful of peppers out of 20-40 plants in the garden, which is disappointing to say the least. I will certainly try another placement next year and individual containers rather than a vertical system.

Potatoes

The final potatoes for the season are not quite done yet. The potato greens are still greens, though they are beginning to sag.

Spinach

The spinach plants are doing so well. I have two varieties planted in a few containers and all of them are forming leaves.

Sunflowers

The wind was so strong this week that one of the containers with sunflowers tipped over multiple times. And it was a heavy container. I had help turning the container the other way around, so that the hedge next to it would support it somewhat. It helped. I still have a handful of sunflowers growing and they are so, so tall. I have harvested all the leaves I can reach, and I may harvest some more flowers next week. They are delicious after all.

Squash & Pumpkin

They are still producing, beyond all odds. I hope they’ll be able to grow big before the first frost.

Perennials

Berries

I have some more blackberries to harvest and I’m so glad. They are delicious. I have also harvested all of the berry bush leaves that I needed for my farmacy. I may harvest some more, if I find the room to store them.

Fruit

No more fruit this season.

Vegetables

The sunchokes were harvested this week. All of the sunchokes from one of the two containers and all of the stalks from both containers. The stalks were about 20 cm taller this year and double the amount of sunchokes. I will harvest the second container next week, and I hope for an equally, if not more, abundant harvest.

I made a bouquet out of the flowers for Mabon. The stalks and leaves were used to make kimchi. Half of the sunchokes were used in the kimchi paste and the other half were used in a root vegetable soup. I roasted them with carrots and rutabaga, blended them with coconut milk and water, brought the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer.

Fertiliser

I filled the second bokashi of the season in the garden this week. In two weeks, it will have finished fermenting and I can then layer the content in a container with soil. After I’ve drained all the liquid out of it, of course. I should have a decent amount of compost and fertiliser for all of my spring plants.

Next week I’ll fertilise with bokashi tea again. This week I’ve only fertilised with golden water, but the plants do love it, so it’s fine.

Propagation

Berry bushes

All of the propagated berry bushes – the cuttings – are doing well. They show no signs of rot or dehydration.

Fruit trees

The propagated fruit trees – the cuttings – are thriving. They also show no signs of rot or dehydration.

Fruit trees from seed

Both the apricot tree and the pear tree are doing well. I am still considering whether they’d prefer to spend the winter in my window indoor or in the greenhouse.

Conclusion:

It was an excellent week and I feel much more prepared for winter now. There is still much to do, but I have the essentials down. My farmacy is now stocked with herbs, leaves and flowers for herbal remedies. I have enough seasoning preserved for a few years. Soon I will receive fruit directly from farmers and I will preserve most of it. I will make juice, possibly cider, can the fruit in fruit syrup and dehydrate fruit leather.

There are still various harvests left this season and I need to repot some of the perennials. When the tomatoes and tomatillos have finished growing this season, I can move perennials into the greenhouse. The ones left outside will be placed closer together, most of them under covers.

Before the first frost, I also need to prepare mycelium and growing mediums so that I can grow mushrooms. I want to get regular harvests throughout the next few seasons at least.

The tomatoes will be preserved and the tomatillos will be turned into salsa. Since I do not have a canner right now – it broke a few months back – I need to stick to waterbath-canning. In other words, I can only can foods like fruit, berries and pickles. I do have my dehydrator though, so I will focus on dehydrating foods this season.

To do’s for week 39:

• Prune one of the apple trees a little bit more.

• Get started with the mushrooms.

• Add wider spreaders to the cherry tree.

• Harvest and preserve more food.

• Plant out more root vegetables.

• Harvest the potatoes if they are ready.

• Harvest the ginger and the turmeric.

• Start pulling plants that have finished their growing season.

• Start packing up the garden and preparing the plants for the colder months.

See you next week!