Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913

Hard Freeze

Series: Green Spaces | Story 12

Editor's Note: This column was submitted to us Oct. 8.

There was ample warning, for those of us who check weather forecasts, that a hard freeze was coming. This forced me to stop (some of) my procrastinating. I'll always have something I'm putting off doing until forced into action.

I spent two full days (actually, two afternoons: I still had to cook a noon meal and haul it to Dennis in the field) getting the houseplants sorted out. (This should be a clear warning that I have too many plants.) Some were repotted, some were split, and some moved back in as is. There was a lot of sorting going on as well. Duplicates went into a separate area and will be offered for sale (or trade - I'm ignoring my own warning) later on. I want to be sure they survive the splitting as well as the shock of the change in their environment. Life indoors should be more cushy, but it's still a huge change. There shouldn't be huge shifts in temperature, but the light may be less. I have invested in special grow lights for indoor plants, but even that will be a change from natural sunlight.

Then there was the day spent gathering what was left in the garden. The remaining tomatoes were picked and brought inside. The few runty cucumbers that were left are now in the fridge. There was one mini-pepper plant that escaped the deer predation by being hidden under a tomato cage that had toppled over. I managed one last gathering of husk cherries as well. The deer had started in on the tomatoes, so there aren't nearly as many resting between layers of newsprint as usual. They'll ripen slowly and be savored as they do.

I still have carrots and potatoes to dig. Those chores will have to be completed in the next week as we have my family reunion coming up in Nebraska. I'll have to find things to write about from their point of view. I'm sure the gardening concerns in their zone are vastly different from ours. They probably have fruit and nut trees.

After the freeze, the cleanup has begun. I have roughly one half of the garden space cleared. There's a lot of debris that won't go through the garden tiller next spring. The squash and cucumber vines tend to simply wrap around the tines, forcing it out of the ground - or stopping it altogether. The tomato vines get removed as I've read leaving those could promote tomato diseases. The husk cherry plants are also very fibrous and don't break down quickly. The dropped fruits are everywhere. I'm trying to pick up as many of those as I can because I don't need that many volunteer plants next summer. (I have a really hard time ripping out "good" plants that want to grow for me. I need to think of the ones growing between the rows as weeds.) The few corn stalks were removed weeks ago.

I've had the best pumpkin crop I've ever had. I only put in two plants each of two varieties: the regular jack-o-lanterns type, and a ghost type. Usually I get a lot of vine, but the fruits either don't set or they rot off or they simply start too late. I harvested three large ones and 11 ghosts. I set the large ones on their blossom ends when I found them, so they have great, round shapes. The ghosts didn't need that treatment to form nice rounded bodies. Now to figure out what to make with them. I went down the rabbit hole of recipes for using ghost pumpkins for half a day. Pie, anyone? Soup? Side dish?Anyway, I'm finding lots of possibilities to try. But that's for another day. My procrastination gene is strong.

I did make a simple side dish using carrots. I sautéed a half a shallot with four to five small red onions, chopped, in a couple tablespoons of ghee. I added a bit of honey for caramelizing those. Then six to seven small carrots, sliced on the bias, went into the fry pan. After stirring well, I turned the heat down, covered the pan, and let them simmer until not quite crunchy. They were so good. And I munched on the tiny carrots while those simmered. Also so good. Carrots get sweeter after a freeze, you know.

 

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