Sea Of Vines Yields Bounty
“Once upon a time, in a vegetable garden not so far away, farmer Jim grew a sea of vines.”
If I were a writer of children’s stories, this is how I would begin a fairy tale-like account of our garden.
The vines that my husband Jim grows are not just your run-of-the mill squash vines. These are enormous vines that swallow up everything in their path. They crawl to the top of trees, across tomato plants and through, over and around the neighboring fences. Delighted with this unleashed menace, Jim monitors their growth each day. Nine inches a day of growth on the pumpkin vines wasn’t unusual during the hot summer.
Hidden somewhere beneath this vast sea of green leaves are countless members of the squash family - curcurbits. Just how many there are won’t be revealed until after the the first killing frost. Then, ice crystals will transform the once-massive proud leaves into a wilted blanket of black. Standing amid this blanket will be the rewards of the fall garden - huge golden pumpkins, winter squash and dozens of gourds of various shapes and sizes.
The following are a few hints for harvesting these final vegetables of this season’s garden:
Winter squash: The winter squash are composed of Butternut, Buttercup, Delicata, Gold Nugget, Acorns, Spaghetti, Banana and Hubbards. Winter squash must ripen on the vine. They will not ripen off the vine. A mature squash will have a hard stem and rind. Check for the hardness of the rind with your thumbnail. If the nail pierces the rind easily, the squash is still too immature to harvest. Be patient. Immature squash can rot easily in storage and it tastes blah.
When harvesting, always leave at least two inches of stem attached to the squash. This will help prolong its storage life and keep it from rotting. Store in a dark, dry, cool area - 45 to 60 degrees.
If a light frost is predicted, cover the plants with a fabric row cover, a sheet or plastic. Indian summer often follows after the first frost.
Harvesting fully mature pumpkins is not as crucial as harvesting squash. If the plan is to use them for fall decorations or Halloween, don’t worry about the maturity. Pumpkins can be carved or used for decoration at any stage of their maturity.
However, if you plan to use the meat, that’s a different story. For the meat to be sweet, the pumpkin must mature on the vine.
Gourds must also ripen on the vine before they are harvested. Like winter squash, check to make sure the stems and rind are hard before harvesting.
Onions and garlic: If onions and garlic are still in the ground now, dig and set both crops in a warm airy spot to cure.
Onions cure best when air is allowed to circulate completely around the bulb. One easy way to accomplish this is to suspend an old screen (or a new one) over rocks, saw horses or pieces of wood.
Once the onions have dried, hang them in an old nylon sock or mesh bag in a cool, dry area. Yellow onions store best.
Garlic can be handled in the same manner as onions. If you wish to plant garlic for next year’s harvest, this is the time to plant. Mulch the newly planted garlic with at least six inches of pine needles, leaves or straw when the temperature consistently drops below freezing.
Carrots: These sweet orange vegetables can be left in the ground and harvested throughout the winter if they are grown in light soil. Heavy soil, like clay, has a tendency to freeze solid, making it almost impossible to lift the carrots.
As the temperatures continually drop below freezing, cover the carrots with six to eight inches of mulch. Covering the mulch with black plastic will make winter harvesting easier. Lift the plastic, then the mulch and dig the sweetest carrots you’ll ever eat.
If you don’t want to wade through the deep snow or frozen ground to get to your carrots, dig them before the ground freezes. Cut off the tops and place them in plastic bags in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. (Bread sacks work great.) You can remove the dirt from the carrots, but don’t scrub them until you’re ready to eat them.
Brussels sprouts and parsnips can also be left in the ground and harvested all winter. Both crops are better-tasting after they’ve been hit by frost.
Until this frost hits, the garden will continue to grow. Included in this growth are giant yellow pumpkins. The big guys are still growing one to two inches in circumference each day. This bit of information came from farmer Jim himself. Last night he was out in the garden with a flashlight measuring his giants.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-Review