Autumn's comin' up quick in the Northeast (VT, zone 4/5). Nights are down into the low 50s, maybe 

lower. The tomatoes are still coming, but slowing down. There should be a few more yellow squash 

to pick, and maybe some tomatillas from the giant plant covered in flowers? My garden got 

overtaken with weeds after the long rainy summer, but I'm not giving up. I'm just narrowing my 

focus now to a long bed that I can cover up with clear painters tarp really soon, plus root crops 

to mulch over. I'm still hoping for eggplant fruits (not just flowers) and maybe I can extend the 

basil season, which was the highlight this year.

I weeded and planted some more beets in an empty patch in the beet bed yesterday. The daikon is 

doing nicely next to it. Today: I dug up 3/4 of the second squash bed (no squash survived there), 

amended it with compost, and planted Kale and Tat Soi. Still hoping to get some parsnips and other 

cool-weather crops in under the long plastic coldframe I've got planned.


9/5/09