Garden Favorites

As our season is almost over, I have been thinking about next year (yes, already!) My favorites this year were the potatoes, sunflowers, and nasturtiums. It's funny, I put a large plot of the nasturtiums in, and they got no use. I didn't like the flavor of the leaves, and I didn't use any of the flowers, but they sure brought a smile to my face when I saw them. The flowers are still blooming and the leaves are still green. I even tried pawning them off to people, but apparently no one likes the flavor of the leaves. It's okay, they are keeping my butternut squash company (still only one,) and they bring an alive look to my mostly dying garden plots.
Our sunflower is wilting, but the head is still big and the seeds are very defined. I have a feeling the birds will get most of them, but I can hope they'll save me some.
The potatoes are in a bin in the garage, and I'm saving them for special occasions because they're so delicious. Next year more potatoes are in order, along with some different varieties. The 4x4 box will be full of them!
Today I removed the last of the bean plants, and tilled the tomatoes into the dirt. The cucumber plants are turning very brown, but there's cucs growing and we're still eating them! We were playing with our new camera last week and got the cutest video of our 2 year old explaining the garden. She can't pronounce the hard "c" sound, so she's holding a "twotumber" and says frogs grow in the garden. It's pretty adorable. I'll try to upload it when I figure out how.

Garden in the fall

The garden is coming to a fast end. Wednesday we pulled out all the potatoes and harvested our last meal of beans. The peppers are still hanging on, and we have a couple zucchinis which will grow a little more. Michigan had three nights this week where the temps got into the low 40's, and the tomatoes really felt it. I pulled them out tonight. My lone sunflower is beautiful, and I can't wait to have more next year. I'm going to dry out my pole beans and see how that works, maybe they'll be better dry than eating them fresh, or maybe I can do something decorative with them.

You can see our final mass harvest. I found a cucumber hidden behind some leaves that was way over ripe. We had a lot of potatoes, and next year I'll do a similar amount. The butternut squash is turning tan and I still only have one on the vine. We'll probably get 3 or 4 more Jalepenos, and I have been freezing them. I've also froze whole tomatoes, and Sarah told me to roast and puree them for easy freezing. Maybe next year.