By Karen Cohen
People Get Ready
Winter is coming. Mid October is when the temperatures in Greenbrier County will hit the low 30’s. Day time temps will reach the 60’s on some days, so we need coats at night, sweaters during the day. What does fluctuating temps do to our gardens? Not to be negative, but things will die. What can you do?
I advise you to get out to your gardens now. Harvest whatever is still on the vine, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cukes and zukes. I still have flowers blooming on many of these plants but next week, it will be history! While I have the chance and it isn’t freezing outside, I do the work needed to clean up before frost hits.
You may leave pumpkins and butternut and acorn squash on the vine for another week or two. If the vine has dried and turned brown around the base of each one, then it’s ready to be pulled. If you pluck these too early, they won’t develop their sweetness and will stay pretty hard. These veggies are frost tolerant to about 27 degrees. When temperatures are predicted to go lower, cover them over with an old blanket or tarp. If they freeze solid outside, decay will set in quickly. You can continue the ripening process inside if you need to by keeping the squash in a very sunny window in a warm room, turning them every few days to get all sides exposed. Once they are cured, you can cut them up and freeze them, or cook them in the oven and puree it all when it is soft, and then freeze it. Remember that the seeds scooped out when raw can be baked just like pumpkin seeds!
I store my pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, and kabocha squash in a dark, dry place, with cooler temps. My indoor crawl space stays about 55 degrees and that works perfectly. If you are fortunate to have a root cellar or unheated basement, that’s where they will keep best as long as the mice don’t get in. If all conditions are favorable, squash can be stored for up to two to three months.
Squash and apples go together and at this time of the year, there should be plenty of both!
An easy casserole combining the two is a quick and tasty side dish or main meal if you eat only veggies. Using tart apples and one large butternut, peel their thin skin first. It will give you a better texture; you can use a potato peeler to do the job. Then slice both into thin slices, half circles, and line them upright in an oven dish. Mix up some crumble top with brown sugar, a little flour, dash of salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add pecans for more flavor! Cut in a stick of cold butter into the mix and sprinkle it all on top of your apples and squash. Cover with a lid or foil and bake for about an hour. Test it to see when it softens and remove the foil so the top crumble mix can brown up and get crunchy.
Your house will smell like the fall is supposed to smell, delicious and comforting. Dishes like this make it rewarding to stay indoors! Rest assured, all the work that you put into your garden to produce fruits of your labor will resume next year.
Karen Cohen is an organic grower, music and nature lover and avid explorer. Contact her: natureswaykaren@gmail. com
