I spent Columbus day putting the summer's garden beds to rest. As you can see from this picture that I had let it just keep growing, and growing and growing.
The month of August was a crazy busy and fairly stressful one with Woolen Rabbit demands and September was pretty much a bust for working in the garden because of back issues, so as you can see things are pretty darn over-grown, but not any more. All of the beds, except for the herb bed have been emptied and turned over for winter's rest. I did leave some carrots in to sweeten over the next few weeks though.
This year's garden had some high points and low points. Tomatoes, peppers and corn really didn't do that well. I had enough roma tomatoes to freeze a number of quarts of sauce, but my heirlooms did nothing…boo. Broccoli on the other hand was the plant that kept giving and giving and giving. We had amazing broccoli all summer and I collected another batch when I pulled the plants out. Bush beans, lettuce, carrots and onions all did well too. The herbs were amazing this year. That bed is exploding right now with herbs to dry…and as you can see my marigolds were ginormous!
Remember earlier in the spring I did some companion planting. I can honestly say that I don't think it made a whole lot of difference. I didn't find that one thing did better than usual in the garden other than the broccoli, but the Rosemary didn't keep those pesky cabbage loopers away.
Next year I will try a few different things. Now that the kids are mostly grown there is not the same need to plant so much. I really love strawberries, so I think I may try dedicating a bed for strawberry plants. I will plant less tomato plants, but definitely a yellow tomato plant. I discovered how much I really love them in a Caprese salad…mmm.
Every year when I face the task of putting the beds to rest I groan because it is a lot of work, but when it's finished those empty beds make me smile. Another clean slate for next year…..
The Woolen Rabbit 
An empty bed but great memories of all those delicious vegetables. I’m fondly remembering your caprese salad from vacation. Mmmmm.
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Broccoli in our garden did extremely well, too and it’s still giving (for now). Smith is now working on next years garlic patch.
There is something very satisfying about cleaning up a space no matter where or what.
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So did you save the marigolds for future dyeing? The flowers can be dried and the leaves and stems frozen for future use. Love the Monarch butterfly enjoying your calendulas.
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We had lots of tomatoes, potatoes, chard, and herbs. Pole beans were so-so. Last year, all the squashes, usually the work horses, died off, so we didn’t even try this summer. Do you put salt hay on for the winter?
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Gardening is hard work but it’s good work! I bet fresh broccoli is awesome. I’ve never had it before.
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our tomatoes didnt do very well this year either but the ones we did get were deeelish! our green beans did well though. and we have garlic hung up in the garage for about a year’s worth. our apricots..omg!!! soooo good! and a ton of them! and dh made some awesome confiture out of them so we can enjoy them all year. we also had a ton of zuccini til something killed the plants nad a ton of aubergines. lovely as my dh found a new recipe for them. dh just put out garden to rest for the winter too; it looks so pretty with all that freshly churned earth. now comes the stinky chicken compost fertilizer part 😉
sounds like he does all the work lol! we split things up pretty well. he takes care of garden stuff other than picking – i do that. and itake care of inside stuff. he does jellies and special cooking, i do day to day cooking. he’s pretty free all summer while i work most days so he does do more things in thesummer than in the other seasons to help out around the house
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I always have mixed emotions when I’m putting the garden to “bed” for the winter. Lots of work; a pastime I’ll miss; but I’m usually ready to spend more time . . . knitting.
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Hard work, but good for the soul, and good for everything else except the back. 😦 Have you had a hard frost yet?
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