Even though the pepper harvest this year was pretty skimpy, I did manage to grow some very red bell peppers by covering the plants with row covers for the entire summer. The covers protected the plants from frost, but yesterday I felt that it was time to pick the fruits. I sliced most of them for tray freezing, then put them in a gallon freezer bag; I also had enough to freeze 4 peppers whole so that I can make stuffed peppers this winter. I don't know why, but peppers are the only vegetable that doesn't require blanching before freezing, so they're super easy to process.
After picking the peppers, I began the process of cleaning up the vegetable garden: I pulled all the pepper and eggplant plants and removed the plastic mulch; I did the same with the melon plants which had all been killed by the frost, as had the cucumber and zucchini. I now have to pick the remainder of the tomatoes and pull up the stakes and cages. I do all the work a bit at a time, stretching out summer's end.
I know you've been doing all of this for awhile now, but how did you learn it all? Asking farmers and neighbors? Internet? Word of mouth? Books & pamphlets?
ReplyDeleteMy first gardens were at rented summer houses, where friends gave lots of helpful advice. It wasn't till I had my own house and garden that I got really serious and spent evenings reading the Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening from cover to cover, in addition to other books. I also continued to get invaluable advice from friends. I use the internet now, but when I began my garden here in 1990 I didn't even have a computer.
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