Thursday, October 27, 2016

A Bountiful Harvest from Tom's Garden on Legs

Monday morning I harvested the vegetables from Tom's garden.  The weatherman was forecasting a possible freeze during the night.


His garden has been bountiful. I've lost track of  the number of  times we have had vegetables from his garden this year.  He put in a soaker hose this year.  Maybe it helped that he watched the water supply closely.

In late July and in August, he harvested red beets.  They were a nice size and sweet, just the way I like them.  We had a couple meals of beet greens, too.  When I was a child, Mother fed us beet greens from her garden, using the leaves from the beets she pulled when she was thinning the row.  Sometimes she served us cooked beets with butter on top.  Other times she pickled the beets.  I liked them, no matter how she prepared them.


Lately, we have been having Swiss chard, green peppers, and green beans.


On Monday, I picked a mess of Swiss chard.  Tom planted spinach the first couple years he had his garden.  Then a neighbor told him Swiss chard was better.  It didn't go to seed and it was hardier.  Fewer insects bother it.

My Grandma and my Aunt Audrey always referred to a large picking as a "mess".  It is a country term from northwestern Ohio. It seems to me I have seen the term in books I have read about Kentucky also.

I also found a mess of green beans and seven green peppers.  This is the first year that Tom's pepper plants have done well in his improvised garden.


We didn't have a freeze or even a frost Monday night so we may get even more vegetables before the plants are finished for the year.



1 comment:

  1. Yes we speak of a mess of vegetables in Minnesota too! Looks like the garden was a wonderful success! Way to go Tom! It all looks like wonderful produce! :)

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