My last harvest before the cold

Here in NC there is that last gasp before the cold night comes that is probably going to tank your warm season vegetables.  You can just feel it, like your plants are on borrowed time. I might get a few more tomatoes but not good ones.

This year was kind of a mess.  There was COVID of course.  But also deep cold snaps that reached far into the spring.  Lots of nights covering my upside down planters with trashbags and lightbulbs. Like the hokey pokey. Things I planted that did poorly.  SLUGS, attacking relentlessly.  fire ants when I harvest. (last night even). Volunteer tomatoes that excelled, but were in a terrible location with no trellis.  I tried propping the fruit up but no good.    

So I learned a lot.

Here it is, the last harvest!

 

It features the last handful of basil culled from six planters.  Two of the awesome volunteer tomatoes.  My Q3 pepper (there can only be two a year.) Nine red ripper beans (the totality of my bean crop this year), three ghostly peppers that I can't tell if they matured or not.  And finally, the star of my garden all year, cherry tomatoes!  Applause for you, you little bites of heaven!

Now I need to execute phase II: something else.

Well, you didnt lose everything after all. Good for you,  enjoy it!!

Nice haul! Our cherry tomato plants are still going full speed, but the rest have really dropped in production. Sad, because the rest I use for roasting and storing!

Good luck with phase II!

Rob - did you end up preserving/drying anything? Next year I'm going to try hang-drying herbs, I lost out on a lot of basil

Brian Holmes wrote:Rob - did you end up preserving/drying anything? Next year I'm going to try hang-drying herbs, I lost out on a lot of basil

I opted for the last hurrah and made pasta sauce with the basil and tomatoes.  Had it last night, really good.

Nice, sounds tasty