Soon it will be time to start mulching the vegetable garden and putting it away for the winter. I still need to decide where I'm going to try planting some garlic (a friend gave me a couple of bulbs from his garden.)
I still have a few Roma tomatoes that are hanging on bravely. I did have one great tomato success in the Brandywines. That plant had two green fruits before it toppled over. I took the fruit in, intending to make fried green tomatoes, but they started to ripen. One spoiled before I could get it, but as for the other.... I enjoyed two lunches of chicken, bacon, and luscious sliced tomato on sourdough bread.
I had a big basil harvest earlier this week too, enough for eight batches of pesto! We had one for supper and I froze the rest, so we'll have some for the winter.
I picked up some rooting hormone today. My next project is to try to get some of the herbs to root so I can grow them indoors. I hope to get that started this weekend.
Peony,
A word of advice about growing herbs indoors is to watch for white flies. At the first sign, if it is at all possible, move the plant outdoors, and the things will go away. I threw away an otherwise good herb garden in a strawberry pot once, not knowing this. Otherwise, for convenience, you cannot beat an indoor kitchen herb garden. No more having to go outside in the rain to pick a bunch of thyme. Of course you can use dried herbs, but it is not the same and you have to scale differently depending on the herb.
thanks for the tips! I have had problems with whiteflies before and always ended up killing the plants (unintentionally)
For the last few years I've been making my pesto with toasted pecans instead of pine nuts. It has a bit stronger, even deeper flavor.
This year my dogs (two beagles) dug up my lavender and almost killed the sage plant(!) I'll have to see what I can do to protect them next year (the herbs, I mean).
I pulled in my last few vegetables two nights ago, just before the first frost.
We have a few more weeks on the CSA - I am debating ordering in some carrots and potatoes for the winter. The problem is, as always, storage. I have a basement but don't know quite how to set up a root cellar!
Steve,
That is a great idea. I have tried walnuts, and of course the Sicilian almond pesto (pesto trapanese), but I can imagine that pecans would taste great.
Another fun pesto variation is to use arugula or cilantro instead of basil. I recently bought a mortar and pestle, and have been pounding my pestos in that. It takes much longer, but the results are far superior, and the pounding can be an interesting late night meditation.
In lieu of pounding, one thing that is easy to do and immediately elevates a pesto is to not put the garlic in before it goes through the food processor, rather to use a garlic press and to add it in afterwards. There is something about the fast metal blades that adds off flavors to the garlic. I do recommend the mortar and pestle, though. It is a good task to delegate to children, too.
Let me know how you get on with the rooting hormone. I've never had much success with it. You might also try willow water. Get a good handful of willow trimmings, strip off the bark, and stand them in a jar of water for a week or two. Throw away the willow bits and use the reserved water on the cuttings you're trying to root. The folks on GardenWeb's propagation board speak highly of this method.