Yesterday I said goodbye to my garden. Fearing a killing frost last night, I went and picked anything that would not survive the cold weather. Right now, my window sill is covered with green tomatoes.



Most of these will not turn red, but since I am a Yankee, I have never really had a taste for green tomatoes. I will probably end up looking for some way to cook these up, perhaps even can them.

I also picked all of my peppers. I don't know how many a peck is, but I sure picked alot. I double and triple checked the plants, because each time I thought I got them all, I ended up finding more. I plan on canning these today.



I also harvested the rest of my basil. I am going to make pesto to store in the freezer. I will have enough to last me until next spring's basil is nice and tall. While tearing up the garden, I also found a renegade cucumber, a small eggplant and two tennis ball sized cantaloupes. Although I am celebrating the end of the garden, I am still growing a few plants. I have lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower that can handle a light freeze. I have oregano that grows all winter long (I usually have to cut this back, it is more like a weed). My rosemary stays outside, and I already have garlic growing that will be ready next spring.

As I wrap up my garden for the 2006 growing season, I have to label this as a poor year for my garden. The heat and drought kept my yield far below previous years. The worst part was the loss of most of my raspberry bush to the heat. I cannot wait until next year to see how much bounces back. Until then, I am going to relax a bit. I will start next year's garden's seeds indoors in January.

- Frank