Purple Mashed Potatoes and the Fall Garden

Our garden is winding down for the year.  It never quite stops as we've always got one thing or other overwintering--even if its just the garlic bulbs we plant in the fall--but, things are certainly clearing out.  Matt pulled all the corn stalks.  We didn't get much in the way of corn, but alas, what can you do.  We got a handful of ears.  We are lucky in that we can supplement our corn with the plot they have for communal use at the community garden.  In addition to fresh eating, we froze maybe 24 cups or so.  That may be all she wrote for corn this year.
Carrots for overwintering in the front with tomatillos, summer squash, and corn in the rear
We've been having a good haul of potatoes--especially the All Blue--and are eating them daily.  We have an 8 foot by 4 foot plot at the community garden which we planted all with potatoes.
The earthworms we uncovered while we dug the potatoes were mighty impressive.  One was over a foot long!   We also have a couple small potato patches at the home garden, but we haven't harvested much of them yet.
Matt has an unfortunate tendency to spear the biggest potatoes with the potato fork as he digs, but its all good.  That just means its time for purple mashed potatoes!  Fine by me.
The summer squash, watermelon, and eggplant were all really unhappy after another frost last week.  The watermelon vines against the house are still alive, but barely.  We may get a teeny-tiny watermelon off it yet.  Matt has pulled the summer squash and eggplants.  We're eating eggplant every day this week, I think.  Again, fine by me.  Matt picked all the tomatoes ahead of the frost as they already looked pretty sad.  They are ripening in boxes in the craft room.  While it was better than last year we were once again pretty disappointed with our tomato yields.
This was the zucchini plant after the first frost.  After the second we decided to put it out of its misery, so to speak.
The sad eggplants are in the foreground with their curled, dying leaves.
We pulled the dry bean vines and stripped the pods off.  Most are still not completely dry and so are spread out on screens in the garage.  I was sick with a nasty cold over the weekend and this proved to be a very good garden task when the day was just too sunny and nice to lounge in a sickbed indoors.
The peppers continue to be my garden pride and joy.  They did so well this year.   They were plentiful and enormous and almost without exception have gotten the chance to ripen fully.  I adore all peppers, but green are my least favorite.  Huzzah for an abundance of red and orange!  We're still eating them fresh out of the garden, but I bet we'll be chopping and freezing the rest soon enough.
We'll be planting the 2015 garlic later this month.  Matt is already working on crop rotation plans for next year, too.  The freezer and larder are filling.  The homegrown goodness is at is peak.  There are still winter squash to pick and store, as well as tomatillos to process and a second crop of raspberries ripe on the cane.  Life is good.

Comments

  1. I made mashed potatoes recently too (recipe on my blog). But alas, mine were the normal color lol.

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    Replies
    1. You can't go wrong with mashed potatoes! Ever! In any color! :)

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