All the
leaves are off the apricot and the apples and the cherry at the back of the
yard, though some of the other trees are hanging on to their color for a
while longer. Lots of red from the cherries this year, and the weather has been
good for a colorful leafshow.
They say
it’s time to trim when the sap falls, so I was out there last weekend cutting a
lot of the branches that reach straight up tall where you can’t pick any fruit. There
will still be plenty for the birds, don’t worry about that. Now I have a pile
of branches to cut up for bbq wood. Before I have too much fun with that, I
need to remember to reserve a couple of slim, forked branches for holding up
tomatos next year.
The garden
is pretty much wrapped up. Some salad and herbs remain, and potatos. I love
harvesting potatos; it’s like a treasure hunt for gold nuggets in the earth.
But then I have more potatos in the kitchen than we eat in a month, and it’s
better to leave them in the ground. I’ve tried keeping them in a cool, dark
place, and they are ok in the fridge but my fridge is not very big and there
are all those tomatos in there already. I tried the basement, but it’s not cool
enough down there and they end up with sprouts 2 feet long and no potato left
in the potato skin. So now they stay in the ground as much as I can resist
digging them up. In September, all the
plants had withered away & you knew the spuds were ready. Since then it’s
been cold at night sometimes, but not that cold and a dozen or so potato plants
have come back up as if it were spring already.
The tomatos
should move out of the fridge this weekend, if all goes well. About 2 weeks ago
I harvested all the green ones and pulled the plants out. It was threatening
frost, so it was time. They’ve been getting ripe in the kitchen, each red one
going into the fridge. Sunday is tomato canning day, and anybody still green
will miss the boat. I have stores of sauce already, and these will be tomato
chunks for chili over the winter.
