Cleaning out the garden

Frost or no frost, the end of October is high time to clean out the garden. My folks moved here 10 years ago, and for the first several years, the killing frost came on September 15. It is now October 23, and we still have not seen 32°F. Maybe by the end of this week, maybe not. 

Hilda picked all the pole beans that were left. Some of them were not mature enough to dry. She divided them between us to be eaten as fresh limas, which are delicious. I prefer them to dried, actually, but shelling them is a big pain.

Fresh lima beans in many colors

Saturday was a nice dry day. The ground was moist enough that the earth staples pulled out easily. I’m in the midst of trying to get my pelvis realigned; my physical therapist forbid me from bending over and pulling. Terry helped out by pulling the landscape cloth up, staples and all. I sat in a chair to take the staples out and roll the cloth up. Here are the fruits of our labors.

Rolls of landscape cloth awaiting winter storage

Meanwhile, Hilda worked at removing the landscape cloth from the tomato grid. She wanted to be sure it got bagged and labeled separately. We have had too many years of trying to guess which pieces went with which parts of the garden.

Hilda pulls up the landscape cloth from the tomatoes

We are so ready to be done gardening for the year. When I wasn’t outside this weekend, I was putting up peppers. I roasted, skinned and deseeded poblano peppers for the freezer. I made three pints of pickled jalapeno peppers and some cheese-filled poppers. I made a double batch of stuffed peppers. And there are still apples in the refrigerator that need attention. I have no room left in my freezers and no inclination to do any more putting up. But the Brussels sprouts are still in the garden! We have to plant garlic, too.

Will the pullets ever start laying? They seem to be getting less skittish. I was able to touch one of the Black Star pullets. She just barely started the Squat of Maturity. That was a week ago. No pullet eggs yet. The Black Star chickens are not a homogeneous as I thought they would be. Juanita and Lupita look a lot alike, but Carmelita has much more brown around her collar.

Carmelita

I have noticed that many black chickens have iridescent green highlights, which you can see in this picture of Lupita.  

Lupita with her iridescent green highlights

The Ameracauna typically have a great deal of diversity in coloration, but this year, they all look very similar. This picture shows the slightly darker Consuela in front and the somewhat lighter Rosa Dolores in back, with Lupita and Juanita on either side.

Consuela  in front, Lupita, Rosa Dolores, and Juanita left to right in the back.