The Season's Last Harvest
Here at my farm, my gardeners and housekeepers are rushing to pick the last of the outdoor vegetables before the first hard frost.
A hard frost is when temperatures drop below 28-degrees Fahrenheit for at least four consecutive hours. So far we've had a pretty mild fall, but nights are getting cold fast and there's still a lot of delicious produce growing in my garden, including peppers, eggplants, leeks, and a second crop of potatoes.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- It may be late October, but there’s still a lot of wonderful garden produce to pick. I always keep close track of the weather so we can be sure to harvest all those vegetables that wouldn’t survive a hard frost.
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- Enma and Elvira picked a bounty of wonderful vegetables for me and my hardworking crew.
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- They picked as many of the eggplants as possible. Eggplants are part of the Solanaceae family, also known as the nightshade family, and are sensitive to cold temperatures. Eggplants are ready to harvest when they are firm, glossy, and shiny.
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- And look at this bag of peppers. The most common sweet pepper is the bell – usually seen in green, red, and yellow, but they can also be purple, brown, and orange. It was a great pepper season – I’ve picked a lot this year.
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- They also got some hot peppers.
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- Swiss chard always stands out in the garden, with its rich red, orange, and yellow stalks.
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- Enma picked a handful of Swiss chard. It’s best to harvest Swiss chard when the leaves are tender and big enough to eat.
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- The leek is a cultivar of Allium ampeloprasum, the broadleaf wild leek. The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. Leeks have a mildly sweet flavor similar to onions, shallots, garlic, and chives.
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- We did not pick the celeriac just yet. Celeriac is tolerant of a few frosts and can be left in the ground when it’s cold.
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- And in the two back corner beds are the potatoes – they’re also ready. This bed is a less attractive sight in the garden, but it’s filled with lots of delicious russet, red, white, and yellow potatoes.
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- My gardeners planted this bed of potatoes in late July after they harvested a first crop – about 100 days ago. Depending on the season and the type, potatoes usually take 80 to 115 days to grow.
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- Here’s Ryan as he starts to pick through the vines in search of potatoes. The size of a potato can vary depending on the variety. We have all different sizes up to more than two pounds.
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- The potatoes are ready to pick once the vines have died back – when the tubers are done growing, and the potato plants have begun to turn yellow and withered.
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- The best time to dig up potatoes is on a dry day. Here in the Northeast, we haven’t had any rain in weeks, so it’s been very dry. To harvest potatoes, Josh uses a gardening fork. It has four tines that can pierce the ground more easily than would a shovel or a spade.
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- Josh drives the fork into the soil at the outside edges of the plant and then carefully lifts the soil and plant.
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- Then Josh digs deep into the ground and feels around for potatoes – potatoes will be slightly cool to the touch.
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- It’s important to dig them up carefully, so as not to damage any of the tubers.
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- Always be careful not to scrape, bruise or cut the tubers. Damaged tubers will rot during storage.
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- The skins of mature potatoes are thick and firmly attached to the flesh. If the skins appear thin and rub off easily, the potatoes are still too ‘new’ and should be left in the ground. All of these are just right.
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- And leave any green potatoes alone. When potatoes are exposed to light, they turn green, a sign the toxic substance called solanine is developing, which may cause illness if eaten in large quantities.
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- We always keep varieties separated, so we know what grows well and should be grown again next season.
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- Here’s Ryan with our bounty ready to be stored in a cool, dry place. Another tip – never wash potatoes until right before using – washing them shortens the potato’s storage life. Because potatoes grow underground, it is always a surprise to see how prolific the plants have been. It was an excellent harvest!
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- And then after all the potatoes are picked, the bed is emptied of vines and raked clean. Later, the soil in all the beds will be amended and prepared for winter.
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