Week 13/14 Summer in September

This share seems like a lot of food as we combined 2 weeks in one as many crops were ripening up. Daytime to nighttime temps have been swinging 50 degrees with the nights in the 30's. The plants are giving it their last hoorah. We survived the last freeze with just some basil lost. Next year all pesto for the freezer must be made by Sept 1st. And yes, we have another freeze in a couple days so we'll be watering and hoping for the best. So, with all this variability in temps we started to increase the harvest for the share, the freezer, the dehydrator and mason jars.

By now you've probably discovered a couple bags of heirloom tomatoes the Polish Soldaki's being my favorite (pink and funky shaped), a bag of arugula-mizuna green mix, purple cipolini onions, some yellow squash and grey zucchini, a bundle of bok choy greens, parsley and cilantro, hardneck garlic and nasturtium flowers.

In preparation of growing as long as possible. We've been working on laying the floor in the greenhouse and prepping all the potting supplies for fall/winter greenhouse growing and spring planting. We're exploring what type of heat source will be most efficient-woodstove, rocket bench or perhaps a lorena oven to keep the greens, cruciferous plants, herbs, chard and overwintering peppers warm.

We lost 2 crops of peppers so far this season (too cold spring-coconut planting mix-who knows) but the 3rd is looking the best out of all of them. The sun is dropping lower in the sky and shinning more directly into the greenhouse where heat loving watermelons and peppers in pots call home. We've had luck in other parts of the country overwintering peppers and putting them out the following summer. Then they are strong mother plants and produce beautiful fruit. This may be bordering on impossible with negative temperature winters in Montana but we'll see.

We're thrilled with the idea of fresh greens all winter and started the pablo and slo bolt lettuce, cilantro and basil over the last 2 days. This weeks planting menu includes beets, onions, arugula and sweet peas. We all need a little extra sweet smelling, vibrancy during the winter months and sweet peas might be the right potion.

Keep it up Summer in September.