• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • How to Garden
    • Garden Pests
    • Plant Diseases
    • Plant Profiles
    • Raised Bed Gardening
    • Seed Starting
    • Tools & Equipment
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Herbs
  • About
    • Books & Classes
      • Herbalism Classes
      • Books for Christian Herbalists
      • Privacy Policy

Vegetable Garden Winding Down and Thinking Ahead

November 5, 2010 by Jeanne

I don’t know whether this time of year makes me sad or happy. On the one hand, the vegetable garden is winding down. Tomorrow’s task list includes taking out the tobacco sticks (long sticks with pointed ends that were using to harvest tobacco in olden times; I got a bunch of them from a neighbor who was cleaning out his barn and I use them as tomato stakes), removing the dead tomatoes and peppers, and trimming back the herbs. I found a few wayward carrots and those will need to be pulled too.  I also found my onions. I’d planted a bunch but thought they’d all died. Lo and behold, after cleaning out the beets a few weeks ago, I found a few shoots, and left them alone.  They’re still rather small so I may leave them over the winter and see what happens.

Beans have fascinated me for a long time too, not just the green beans typical of the suburban garden but the plethora of heirloom beans that were once grown by Native Americans, European settlers and more throughout North America. Many of them are easy to find in the supermarket – kidney beans, white beans, navy beans, black beans – so I probably won’t grow those. But what about the yin-yang bean with its amazing coloration that looks like the Chinese yin-yang sign? Jacob’s Cattle bean, once a staple food? There are dozens of beans like this and I spent quite a while last night on the Vermont Bean Seed company website, thinking of what to plant.

I know that I will plant broccoli rabe next spring. I missed planting it this year and I enjoy it even if my family has yet to grow to love the bitter taste.  And…it goes well with beans….

Can you tell I’m getting a wee bit obsessed again?  Yet it’s this interest, this delving into one topic and following all sorts of routes and side routes of information that has kept me interested in gardening all these years.

So tomorrow is clean up time in the vegetable garden. I will redraw my garden plan so that during the winter I can remember where all the bulbs went – I tend to lose them from fall planting to spring blooming. If time permits, we’ll add another 200 daffodil bulbs to the orchard lawn, and move more truckloads of compost into the vegetable beds.  Typical Saturday!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Previous Post: « What I Learned About My Garden This Year
Next Post: Not Feeling Particularly Chatty »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Substack
  • YouTube

As Seen in Porch

 As Seen in Porch

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Explore All Gardening Articles

Latest Articles

  • Beginner’s Tips to Starting a Vegetable Garden
  • What to Plant in Early Spring: Vegetable Garden
  • How to Grow Green Beans Organically

Herbalism Classes & Supplies

Goods Shop by Herbal Academy – botanically inspired products

Disclosure

Home Garden Joy participates in two affiliate programs: Amazon and The Herbal Academy. Home Garden Joy earns a commission from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. As an Herbal Academy Associate, HGJ also earns a commission when you sign up for classes or purchase herbs or supplies from The Herbal Academy. Herbal information and recipes on this site are provided for educational purposes only.

Footer

green beans on the plant

How to Grow Green Beans Organically

Beans – whether green beans, snap beans, heirloom beans, or any other kind of beans – are easy to grow organically. They need warm temperatures, full sunshine, and fertile soil to grow at their best. While there are insect pests that will eat the leaves of bean plants, they generally don’t harm the beans themselves,…

Read More

a red wheelbarrow filled with mulch with a shovel leaning against it

How to Adjust Soil pH for Vegetable Gardens

How to Test Soil pH If you slept through high school chemistry class, never fear. You can still learn the basics of soil pH for vegetables to ensure a great garden this year. pH refers to the scale of acid to alkaline, a scale developed in the early 20th century by chemists trying to describe…

Read More

polyphemus moth caterpillar

Meet a Polyphemus Moth Caterpillar

We were on our evening walk last night when this beauty crossed our path: a polyphemus moth caterpillar. What Is the Polymphemus Moth? The Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is a large and visually striking moth native to North America. It belongs to the Saturniidae family, which includes many of the giant silk moths. Its name…

Read More

garlic growing alongside beets

Home Grown Garlic: How to Grow Garlic

Love it or hate it, garlic is a staple of most pantries. I happen to love garlic, but I know that some do not like it – or the odor that lingers after eating it! Garlic offers many health benefits, and it definitely provides a wonderful, robust flavor to many dishes. As with most home-grown…

Read More

  • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Awards

Copyright © 2025 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme