We've nudged freezing temperatures with 32.1 and 32.3, but I still have productive tomato and pepper plants, and am also still harvesting swiss chard (a little more hardy!). Last night I harvested lots of cherry tomatoes and several peppers, and many LARGE carrots (see photo). The carrots are probably a little too big?? All of the red and white onions were harvested a week or so ago. I think I may be reaching the end of the harvest though, this hard frost-free period has to come to an end soon. In 2005 our first good frost was 9/15, in 2006 it was 9/17, last year it was 9/26.Many of my perennials are still blooming - New England Aster, coreopsis, yarrow, Russian sage, and others.
We've had a huge number of tiny flying insects cruising around - my tomato vines are covered with them, they go up your nose when you're outside, crawl up shorts, and more. It's unusual and I have no idea why they're so numerous. They do seem to be attracted to water so I've covered my water containers to reduce the attraction.
I'm in the Salt Lake City, Utah area. I grew the 'Bright Lights' Swiss Chard in my veggie garden because it's pretty and decorative.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking I might just have to eat some but I have NO clue what to do with it. What do you do?
Hi, Sorry there's been a delay in my reply but I've been lax with my blog lately. I thought I had it set to notify me when a comment came but I guess not!
ReplyDeleteMainly what I do with chard is to cut the thick spines out of the center of the leaf, and then tear it in pieces and saute it in olive oil & some garlic. I'm not the most imaginative cook.....plus, I enjoy the planting and maintenance phase more than the harvesting....! Marianna