I picked my share of peppers too. I didn't have very many tomatoes but did pick what was left. Dawn, you mentioned it was "bittersweet, harvesting ahead of a frost, loving every minute of being in the garden where lots of flowers and herbs remain in bloom" and I was thinking the same thing. As I finished picking I couldn't help but stand there a while, with basil branch in hand, smelling the sweet smells and enjoying the last evening of the garden.

It's 32 here this morning so it really is over. Just down right depressing... Gears will be shifted to clean up now.

Lynn

Lynn,

I can just picture you standing there in the garden with that last basil branch in hand, trying to "capture the moment", and I completely understand what you were feeling.

It was 31 here again, but must have been at that temperature much longer than last night, because the frost is much, much heavier than yesterday's.

I haven't been out to the garden yet....I kind of hate that first look at it on a day like today, with the plants looking all cold and frozen and miserable. (sigh)

It is depressing, but at least we have our preserved produce....whether we froze or canned, made salsa or sauce, dried/dehydrated, or just have tomatoes and peppers lined up on every counter in the kitchen. We'll be able to enjoy the 'taste of summer' just a little longer until all that produce runs out.

I guess I'll start clean-up tomorrow or, if not tomorrow, then Monday. Today is already 'booked up' with laundry and house-cleaning. Sunday is more of a family football-watching day (although, with the way the Dallas Cowboys are playing, maybe I SHOULD skip the game and clean-up the garden instead).

We're expecting a freeze here next week, as opposed to only a hard frost, so I am going to have to move all the potted brugs into the house. I guess the warm growing season is really, really over.

I do have 4 pots of 'Christmas flowers' started....3 of Amaryllis and 1 pot of paperwhite narcissus. It isn't much, but it will give me something.

Dawn

We had frost again today, here in Tahlequah. But it still wasn't heavy enough to kill anything. I went out at 5 AM and there was no frost. But as the sun came up, temps dipped just enough to turn the grass (and some low plants) slightly white.

I've been harvesting too. Picked about 5 1/2 more lb of green beans yesterday and was stringing and snapping last night at dinner. Today I'll can them. I also need to pick more and get the last of the tomatoes and peppers.

Tuesday I picked A LOT of Habaneros. Today I need to pick the others. Actually, with the Thai Hots I "pick" by pulling the entire plant and hanging them in the shed, where it never freezes. They dry there, and later, I pick them for permanent storage. But Habanero is my favorite. I just love the flavor.

I was in a hurry, and didn't want my habaneros to go to waste, so I just cut off the stem end and dropped them into a pan with some vinegar. This I boiled and then put the whole mess through a food processor. I added some salt and bottled the resulting liquid. It's thick, almost like a paste and... HOT! I canned one jar, but will use the other for spicing up other salsas, etc. It's not even fun to taste. I labeled it "Habanero Magma." Still, this way my peppers are preserved for the coming months.

George

Hi Dawn & Lynn,

I picked a grocery bag full of peppers and tomatos last night! Like you I stood in the garden enjoying the air and already missing it.

Much work to do when weekend comes as garage is full of tropicals & such. They have a home inside for the winter but have to rearrange and make sure no critters will come in. Also have almost 2 year old granddaughter who will eat dirt so have to manage this somehow. Maybe she won't enjoy it so much this year.

Have enough tomatos & peppers to do another batch of salsa too. Look forward to the smell already as will be another year before cooking it up again and suppose the DH will be out with new DR lawn & leaf vac. He is so tickled to have new machine. Funny one's idea of fun to another.

All in all, was a great season! Have a good weekend!

Laura

It was so cold and rainy here that I pulled the plants up by the roots, put them in a wheelbarrow and hauled them to the house. I told hubby not to scream. I have MOUNDS of peppers to pick through. 8 caribeans, 2 orange habs, 3 tabascos, half dozen hawaiian sweet hots, and I just picked the tops out of the thai's and came up with a 55 gallon trash bag full! I just left the cayennes and cherry peppers. They reseeded the year before and figure they will again. I was hoping the peppers in the house would turn. What do yall think if I picked them off the plants, put them in a bucket with lid on and stuck a banana in with them? Think they would turn? Hubby said to leave them on the plant and they will turn quicker. I'm afraid half of them won't turn at all. Oh, btw, got my excalibur dehydrator going tonite. It will hold appx 4 gallons of pepper chopped up. I have to dehydrate some in order to get more in the freezer!!LOL

River,

I've had better luck getting them to turn color if left on the plant....and that's the way my uncle, a lifelong gardener, does his too, pulling them up by the root and hanging them upside down in an insulated barn. If they are already showing some color, they might color up more inside on the counter.

As far as putting them in a bucket with a banana and a lid. Is the purpose of that so that the ethylene gas released by the banana will supposedly help them turn color? If so, I am not sure you'll get the desired result. Remember that produce shippers/growers pick tomatoes green and ship them that way. They expose the tomatoes to ethylene gas to 'ripen' them, but all it really does is cause the skin color to change. It doesn't really ripen a tomato the way one ripens naturally on the vine. So, even though the tomatoes look ripe, they really aren't.....and this is the reason grocery store tomatoes taste so bad and have such poor texture...they are not really ripe.

You have way too many peppers! I have tons of ornamental peppers I am going to pull up today and hang in the garage to dry so I can get seeds for next year's. I am allergic to hot peppers, so I have to be really careful processing them or I make myself ill and then poor DH (who will be eating them mostly alone since I can't eat many of them) has to finish it all alone.

You need another freezer. It worked for me! Now I have the freezer compartments of the kitchen refrigerator AND the garage refrigerator, and a deep freeze as well. All are full. Before next growing season, I want a bigger freezer to put out in the garage. I used to think my aunt and uncle were a little crazy because they had several freezers. (They are avid gardeners.) Since moving here to OK where I have room for the large veggie garden I always wanted, though, I do understand the need for more freezer space.

Don't forget.....you can make hot pepper jelly too. I make it, even though the fumes about kill me. LOL

Dawn