We’re in that melancholy time of the gardener’s year. The school bus goes by in the morning now, and summer’s dress is fading.
Late-summer blooms brighten the garden still, with phlox, rudbeckia, asters, goldenrod. My thread-leaf Japanese maple is brilliant. I see red berries on shrubs, smilacina (false Solomon’s seal), Cornelian cherry, viburnums. Looks like winterberry shrubs will be loaded down with red berries this winter.
Soon the gorgeous fall foliage Vermont is known for will be showing off. Can pumpkin spice be far behind?
Baskets and boxes at the farm stand are overflowing with beautiful tomatoes, plums, apples, eggplant, string beans, corn and potatoes. Dahlias are flush with big showy blooms. Japanese anemones have bees buzzing excitedly.
Fall chores are beckoning especially this year, which left us high and dry after a lush spring of rain for weeks on end. Time to trim the spent hosta stalks, free up the pathways from overgrown foliage. Watering must go on for containers and window boxes.
Iris can be cut back to fans of a few inches. I like to leave grasses for winter interest and the seed heads of rudbeckias for the birds. Leaving some duff in the gardens provides shelter for insects and especially pollinators.
Order or pick up spring-blooming bulbs, even a few, for a treat that you’ll have forgotten about till March. Garlic can be planted as the air chills.
Time to gather herbs for drying, freezing or making compound butters or pestos. I also like to make mint syrup for drinks and fruit salad. While gathering, don’t forget to gather seeds of favorite annuals or perennials. So far I have some packets of purple Lauren’s Grape annual poppies. I sprinkle columbine and yellow foxglove seeds where they grow in the garden.
Here, we’ve gathered apples for sauce and jelly. This is a prolific year for stone fruit and berries. Looks like apples will provide a plentiful harvest also. Corn chowder is on the menu with smoky Vermont bacon to start. Still time to enjoy a fresh tomato sandwich with mayo and lots of pepper or a BLT. I have been obsessed with quick pickles of cucumbers this summer. Such a refreshing snack in the fridge any time. Next will be pickled beets.
All this plenty beckons us to the kitchen for warming soup and stew, roasted chicken, Mom’s meatloaf or “Sunday gravy.”
Are you overrun with cherry tomatoes? One way to preserve the delicious fruits is to roast them for about 30 minutes with some fresh herbs like thyme or oregano, garlic cloves, salt and pepper and all tossed with olive oil. After cooling down the roasted vegetable, pulse it in the food processor or blender for a wonderful sauce to freeze for those under 30-minute suppers on pasta. Other vegetables can be added like onions, peppers, cauliflower or eggplant.
I’ll also be freezing corn cut from the cobs for chowder and corn pudding from my mom’s recipe. Peppers are easy to freeze. I don’t prepare in any way except to dice or cut in strips to combine with sausages or make Western omelets or add to soups all winter. Berries are best frozen on a flat sheet pan and when firm placed in containers or bags. Muffins, smoothies, pie or coffee cake will be a winter treat.
My mind is busy, as you can see, working quickly to keep the season in memory by saving its good tastes, helping our pollinators and enjoying the garden’s beauty for months to come.
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