October and still getting veggies from the garden!

We expected frost almost two weeks ago, so Apollo and I picked half of our tomato plants clean of green tomatoes, then decided to risk it and covered the rest of the plants with plastic. Turns out they're OK and slowly ripening on the vine. I have to keep an eye on them though because all the rain we're getting is making them split.

Meanwhile, I put all the green tomatoes in paper bags with a banana and have been waiting to see if they would actually ripen.



And look, they did! This is just some of the tomatoes, I have quite a few green ones left. Yesterday I used these, along with a few I picked from the garden, to can four quarts of stewed tomatoes (with garlic and onions). Today got eight more tomatoes out of the bags and roasted them for an impromptu zucchini (yep, still getting them too), pesto, garlic and pasta dish. It was delicious!

I also have carrots still in my raised beds. I've heard I can leave them there, even through frost. I'm not sure if that's true but I guess we'll find out. I pulled up a couple handfuls and a few that were growing kind of funky. Turns out those planting instructions on the seed packets are there for a reason. Next year I'll give them a little more space. Fortunately their shape doesn't affect taste!



Meanwhile I'm already planning what to grow next year. I definitely need garlic and onions for my stewed tomatoes. Which reminds me, I'm hoping to put garlic seed in the ground sometime in the next couple weeks!