N&C Midwest — October 2021

OhioGardener 10/6/2021, 5:58 pm

The Romaine Lettuce and Spinach are loving the cool weather that has been setting in for fall. The daytime temps have been in the 70's, and the nighttime temps have been in 50's and 60's, which is ideal weather for the fall crops.

We use the Romaine Lettuce as leaf lettuce, regularly picking the outer leaves to use in salads and sandwiches. That is Perpetual Spinach behind the Romaine Lettuce.

**Scorpio Rising** 10/8/2021, 6:26 pm

Nice! I am thinking it’s time to clean up some of the beds this weekend and next—the weather has been gorgeous, warmer than usual. Only tomatoes I have now are cherries.

Your lettuces look great, OG. I lost all motivation this year. I think it has mostly been due to the fact that my sense of taste (smell) has been seriously affected by my COVID-19 infection at Christmas last year. Still super hit and miss. Really changed how I tasted (or didn’t, or it was changed) a lot of things. Hopefully, this gets better….

In the scheme of things, pretty small change.

OhioGardener 10/9/2021, 8:20 am

I'm trying to get some of the beds cleaned up for the winter, too, SR. Our average first frost date is Oct 19th, so we're not to far off. I still have the Banana and Butternut squash to harvest, and the Kale and Swiss Chard are at their prime right now. The fall planting of carrots and beets are nearly ready for harvest, but they don't mind frost and can wait a while.

It is terrible that you lost your sense of taste, especially during the summer abundance of fresh vegetables. I hope your taste fully restores soon!

**Scorpio Rising** 10/9/2021, 5:31 pm

Yeah, it has seriously sucked. I was glad I made it, was pretty sick. The vaccine wasn’t available at the time.

Anyways, moving on! Still things to do! Clean up, garlic planting!

**Scorpio Rising** 10/10/2021, 9:13 pm

So, today I picked all ready peppers. Bells, green and red; sweet bananas, poblanos and jalapeños (red and green). I want to make Cowboy Candy again with the jalapeños, and I need to dig up my mother in laws recipe for pepper butter. I have never made it, but had it many times—very tasty and different!

Celery is about ready. Cukes are done. Need to get the cherry tomatoes and freeze them—I am over them! There are a few medium sized regular tomatoes out there too.

OhioGardener 10/13/2021, 4:19 pm

Took out the tomatoes, and put the tomato cages away for the winter. Picked over a half-bushel of green tomatoes that are packed away to ripen over the next few months. Cleaned the bin, refreshed it with compost, and covered it with straw for the winter.

Picked the last of the green beans, cut off the plants, and chopped up the plants to put in the compost bin. Refreshed the bin with compost, and covered it with straw for the winter.

The only things left in the beds now are peppers, swiss chard, spinach, and lettuce. They'll all stay until frost or freeze kills them.

The last picking of the green beans wasn't much, but they'll make a meal.

**Scorpio Rising** 10/13/2021, 10:39 pm

Hmmmm

nrstooge 10/14/2021, 7:39 pm

The birds ate all my lettuce seedlings and the squirrel has been digging in all my pots - so I planted microgreens and started sprouts. Gotta get my garden fix somehow. Twisted Evil

**Scorpio Rising** 10/16/2021, 12:21 pm

I picked a bunch of peppers, so I am going to try and make pepper butter—it will be hot-ish, because 4 of the peppers are poblanos. I have had it before, and it is wonderful, especially on sandwiches or with meats.

The only recipe I have other than Pinterest calls for green tomatoes…and other veggies. Still deciding on which one to make. The one with all the veggies is the only one I have ever actually tasted.

Might make some more Cowboy Candy with the jalapeños. They are beautiful, lots of red ones.

OhioGardener 10/16/2021, 5:18 pm

Harvested the Banana Squash today. These are delicious winter squash that store for a long time. The longest one, which is 29" long, weighs 17#, and short fat one weighs 16.5#. In addition to these four, there are 3 more smaller ones still in the garden, but they are still too green to pick.

OhioGardener 10/18/2021, 8:47 am

Had the first fall frost last night. The only things still in the garden, other than the plants in the coldframe, were the peppers. This morning I'll have to retrieve the remaining peppers, and cut up the plants for the compost bin. Hate to see the season end, but not garden is ever as good as the one we are going to have next year.

nrstooge 10/18/2021, 10:23 am

As the patio garden winds down, I begin growing inside the patio greenhouse (lettuce, etc) and nursing the herbs and microgreens inside. Sprouts and microgreens are space saving and nutritious (as you all are aware) and very easy to grow in an apartment.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVLDLP-rqIp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

**Scorpio Rising** 10/21/2021, 6:14 pm

Cool night ahead here, not sure if we will have a frost, but we’ll see! Nothing out there but peppers at this point, and some cherry tomatoes.

Huge squash, OG! Nice! I am going to try my first Red Kuri this weekend with the cooler weather on the way.

I have not grown micro greens, nrstooge! Might have to!

**Scorpio Rising** 10/27/2021, 7:39 pm

We had a frost here last night; I went out and picked the last celery plant and the last few peppers, 2 green sweet ones and about a dozen jalapeños. That’s a wrap here! Need to clean out the boxes this weekend.

I’d like to try some pepper butter or something, and maybe more Cowboy Candy (which is beautiful with the red and green jalapeños). We will see what the weekend brings!

OhioGardener 10/28/2021, 11:18 am

We had a freeze the night before last - got down to 29ºF - which killed the rest of the squash plants. Fortunately, I had picked all the winter squash that afternoon, so they weren't frozen.

Pulled the fall carrots today. Got a good crop of them from a 4' section of the raised bed. These are the Kyoto Red Carrots.

There were 7.5# of carrots after the tops were cut off.

**sanderson** 10/28/2021, 7:53 pm

What will you do with all of those carrots? Some fresh eating, I assume, but will you be canning or blanche freezing the rest?

PS post in the carrot thread?

OhioGardener 10/29/2021, 9:23 am

The smaller ones were kept for eating fresh, and the rest of them were put in the freezer for the winter meals. The Kyoto Carrot is known as the Winter Carrot, and it is much sweeter than the orange carrots we grow in the spring/summer.

OhioGardener 10/31/2021, 4:14 pm

Pulled the final one-third of the fall beets so that I could clean that bed and get it ready for winter. Added a couple inches of compost to the bed, and then covered it with straw. They are predicting temperatures in the mid-20's for the next 2 or 3 nights, so seemed like a good time to get ready for winter.

**Scorpio Rising** 11/1/2021, 6:57 am

Nice! Yes, I need to top my beds off as well!

**sanderson** 11/14/2021, 1:25 pm

And here I am, complaining about nights down to 45*F and chilly foggy days. You guys are actually getting ready for winter!

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N&C Midwest — October 2021

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