We are definitely in the home stretch of fall here in Alberta. We’ve already had some frost warnings and are due for some snow this week, if the weather network is to be believed. To that end I have finally harvested all my tomatoes, peppers and zucchini, ready or not.

In the case of tomatoes and peppers, the answer is definitely not. I still find it shockingly hard to believe that tomatoes that I started in MARCH are still not ripe on the vine. The only logical explanation I can find is that they went into serious hibernation for all of July, growing tall but no more, that and the fact that they’re heirlooms. Cause it can’t be normal to take six months, can it?

Anyway, I lost two tomato plants to blossom end rot, both of them Valencia’s which is quite sad since they are absolutely fantastically delicious. They are like balls of sweet, complex golden sunshine and the few tomatoes that were salvageable were simply the tastiest of them all.  Now I know that they have the least resistance, since no other tomato variety suffered.  So at the end of the day I am left with a few dozen ripening, but far from ready, tomatoes of various shades and sizes. As they ripen I eat them straight out of hand since this seems like a decadent thing to do each day, and is far healthier than any other snack I can think of. Typically a small handful and one or two large ones are waiting for me in the evening, and tonight I need nothing more than a BLT to make my day.

I also have about two dozen peppers, which is actually not a bad amount, given that I only planted three little plants that shivered in the yard, until the sheltering bulk of zucchini covered them from the wind. And the last two squashes – one large and perfect for stuffing, and one small and tender, great for a quick stir-fry.

Now all that’s left to do is garden clean-up. And eating. And dreaming of next years’ garden. Cause after a summer like this one, it’s gotta be all uphill.

Daffodil

In the meantime all I can do is come home every night, weed my lawn, look at the pretty flowers and sigh.

Some kind of tulip

Typical tulips

Mystery flowers

 

 

 

 

However, there is some joy on the horizon – in the raised bed we did plant some radishes, peas and carrots. All veggies that don’t mind a cooler start – that are hardy in gardening parlance. And we waited and waited and waited – about ten days or so. But now we have little baby radishes which came up first, just like the books said they would. The peas are barely starting to unfurl little stalks, but are barely breaking the surface of the earth.

 

 

 

Baby radishes

 

 

 

 

 

So it’s all a bit of a waiting game – either the weather will warm up like it supposed to, or this weekend will be an engineering 101 project in my backyard.