Finally! The Big FREEZE.

Finally, it has happened. We have had overnight lows of 26-27 for the last three days. Hard frost. I usually expect this by mid month, so it's a bit late, maybe. Anyway, the swiss chard and the roman cauliflower survive. Time to plant garlic and shallots. Time to till it all to bed for the winter.

Royal Paulownia tree... drops all it's leaves the morning after frost

swiss chard ... and yet it survives!

frost on the pumpkins (It disappears when it thaws.)

Last harvests before the Frosty

We are feeling a full flung fall here. When the weather is nice, it's very nice! (...and when it's bad it's NOT better!) Today we harvested all of our peppers and then pulled the plants. Three giant(?) pumpkins are now resting on the lawn up near the house, where we can keep our eyes on them. We do not know the weight(s) ...yet. I'd guess about 100 lbs each. That is a far far cry from the current world record which is over 1800 lbs! The only plants remaining in the garden are "romanesco", swiss chard, and the perennial herbs and flowers. Now there is plenty of empty ground just waiting to be tilled and "tucked in" for winter. So, below you will see some of the last of the "poppop bounty" before our first killing frost ( ... which happens to be a bit late this year.)

The entire soybean crop!

soybeans!

Edamame! ...boil them with salt. Then they just pop out. We freeze em.

romanesco ("roman cauliflower")

onions

The GIANTS!

squash squash squash

PEPPERS! poblanos, golden summers, jalapenos, dancing spirits, tangerine pimentos, and a lilac

The Octoberpus (and other aliens)

The big pumpkins are ready. Winter squash is out of the garden on the picnic table. All peppers will be picked very soon. We pulled all of the soybean plants and the edamame is ready to freeze. Onions are in the garage curing for storage. More photos of some of those things later maybe...This post is all about some alien forms we've found. I'm not sure about the "octoberpus"... you can decide which photo fits best. (Click photos to enlarge.)

Is this the Octoberpus?

cucumber Magnolia pods

Romanesco... better taste than broccoli or cauliflower... and interesting!

Lily stalk

Garden now...

This is the garden BF.... before frost! Actually we have had a light patchy frost, but it had little effect on the plants. It is likely that the BIG frost is coming in the next few weeks. It won't kill everything, but when it happens, the garden will be transformed.

soon will burn

quince

more on the pumpkins later

chard

roasted tomatoes

what's left of the corn

                  

hops

mmmm