My fall garden

A few months ago, I started planning my winter garden. This was a first for me. I usually garden from April to August and then clean everything up for the winter. Now I know that lots of vegetables can be grown and harvested throughout the winter. Being the type A planner that I am, I mapped my fall and winter garden out in my garden journal before I planted everything. Jake thought this was hilarious, but it was necessary, I swear. For one thing, I had to plant some plants in a bed that would be protected by a cloche (the lettuce, spinach, and fennel). Not only that, some seeds needed to be planted in late July and others in August and October.
Another bed in my fall garden contains hardier vegetables that don't need to be protected with a cloche. I planted peas (which will just last through the fall), rutabagas (which store great in the cold ground), overwintering onions, collard greens, and kale.

On another note, I was finally able to harvest my winter squash. I didn't get as many as I hoped, but this was the first summer I've ever grown winter squash and I'm grateful for every one of them that actually grew. I ended up with four of the largest delicata squash I've ever seen (delicate they are not) and three large butternut squash.
Those of you that follow my blog know about my love for butternut squash. It was the best to crack open my own homegrown beauty for dinner on Saturday night.

I hate to admit it, but when I was cutting it open, I was halfway nervous that it wouldn't be the beautiful, firm squash I hoped it would be. However, I was delighted to discover that is was almost solid "meat" - just a little hole of seeds to scoop out. I peeled it and cut it into little cubes, which yielded about 8 cups of squash. I used five cups of it in a yummy recipe for Roasted Squash and Black Bean Tacos from Diggin Food. I served it with homemade corn tortillas, fried green heirloom tomatoes and chocolate cherry tomato salsa.

The chocolate cherry tomatoes deserve a special tribute. These are from the two plants I started from seed in February and raised indoors. In June, hundreds of little green tomatoes appeared all over the plants and from then on, about two or three pounds ripened each week. It is the most amazing harvest I could have imagined. I don't know if this is normal for cherry tomatoes, but just enough ripened each week for us to comfortably eat and share. I am still harvesting cherry tomatoes from these plants. Last week, I harvested a whopping four pounds. For the past four weeks, I've been bringing in pounds of cherry tomatoes to my staff lounge – they're inevitably devoured by noon. These tomatoes are so sweet and delicious, Jake says I've ruined him for tomatoes. If you've ever thought of growing tomatoes, try planting a few of these. You won't be disappointed.