Garden getting ready for winter

 

We had an early frost last week.  I had intended to take some cuttings from the tomato plants to see if I could overwinter them, but it didn't happen. The predicted frost did happen, though. I pulled up all the landscaping fabric pieces that were between the rows of my tomato plants,and removed and untangled the tomato cages from the vines.  Ed helped me by stacking the cages and removing the remaining fence posts from the deer fence we took down a few weeks ago. 

I put the tomato vines into my compost pile, as you can see, the vines dwarf the composter. There were hundreds of yellow jackets hovering around the composter. They did not bother me, but Ed got stung twice.   Ed suggested putting the vines through the chipper/shredder, which is in the garage at the bottom of the hill.  I did not relish fighting to bring the chipper uphill.  He evidently didn't, either. I found a few thistles which I pulled to garnish the top of the pile. 

I draped the landscape fabric pieces over the pea fence, since the larger deer fence was gone.  The fabric was quite wet with composted weeds and soil on top of the fabric, which I shook into a pile at the edge of the garden.  The wind should dry them out in a few days. Then I can roll them up and put them away for the winter.   I am debating whether it is too late to plant lettuce, or at least microgreens, in the weedless soil that was under the fabric.  

My second crop of peas is doing well, was not damaged at all by the frost. They self-seeded when the snow peas I planted in early spring ripened and dried up in the space of a few days during our early summer heat.  The plants are starting to blossom.  Hopefully the weather will stay nice long enough to harvest some snow peas.  I have had fancy restaurants serve the tender tendrils on salads, so that is still an option. 

I noticed that the blueberry bushes could do with some pruning.  That is next on the list.