Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Harshness of Fall

        The harshness of fall is about to visit us. Last night there was a forecast for risk of frost. So I covered the stuff I value. I only have tomatoes which are a soft crop which would be easily damaged by a light frost. It didn't freeze last night.

       Many of my fellow gardeners picked their soft produce such as cucumbers, squash, zucchini and tomatoes. They were apparently taking no chances of having these products damaged. I like to take some chances and cover the plants. I don't think I gain anything. At this time of year the plants are basically finished their cycle. They've done all they are supposed to do and they begin to shut down.

      When our tree leaves turn color it indicates the chlorophyl has stopped taking in the sunlight and turning it into energy that the cells use to grow. Many of my garden plants look pretty ragged right now . In fact, they look so ragged I won't even take a picture of them. Here I've taken out all peas and onions. The beans and chard should have been taken out. So I have carrots, beets, turnips and parsnips left. I will leave them a little longer. I will take them out before the ground begins to freeze.

      As gardeners we have had our season  and we can't push it any farther. We have to be satisfied with what we've got.

      So slowly a  stage of fall takes it's normal course and gently prepares us for the next season.

6 comments:

  1. The root crops can go a bit longer, but the above ground ones need to come in...have you ever tried bringing a pepper plant into the house for the winter? sometimes, you can get them to bear fruit all year...

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  2. Hey Judy you're really fast with the comments.
    This is the first year I grew a pepper . Thanks for the tip of taking it in the house.

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  3. I think fall is usually not terribly harsh, but winter... yes. Hopefully we will have a gentle fall into the harsher winter, Red. Were your tomatoes red, Red??

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  4. Love your alliteration with Red's red tomatoes.
    The first real killing frost seems really harsh and from then on we're used to it. Are you getting frosts at higher elevations? Banff townsite has been zero so up higher it could be much below zero.

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  5. The raccoons stole my squash and pumpkins plants in June! Glad you have stuff to salvage!

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  6. The hot weather we had in Aug. made the garden this year so it was actually fairly productive. The root veggies are still in because frost won't bother them. We had barbecued potato, carrot and onion tonight. Put it all in tin foil and away we go!

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