The end of October in PA – harvesting what is left in the garden

It’s the end of October and not much left to harvest out in the garden.

While this is most likely the last of any decent harvest from my garden, I still may get a few stray items.  The cold is setting in here in Eastern Pennsylvania and the plants are no longer producing much.

My lettuce is still doing quite well on the back porch, but we have not had any real frost yet.  It sure does feel cold though with the moisture in the air from the rain and the temperature at 40 degrees.

I have been husking, washing … and then freezing the tomatillos whole since they are too many to use right now.  My tomatillo plants were all volunteers this year.  Tomatillos usually grow like weeds and are good producers.  They are much easier to grow than tomatoes, in my opinion.  They don’t seem to be bothered much by any pests either.

I think that I’ll make some breaded green tomatoes in the air fryer tonight.  I love my air fryer.  I just scramble a couple of eggs and dip the veggie slices in it and then in seasoned panko.  I set the air fryer for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, but check on it often and flip them over when they start to brown.  You can eat them plain or dip them in sauce, ranch, or your favorite dipping sauce.

There are maypops on the vine still not quite ready.  I am hoping ripen before we get a good frost as I don’t think they are frost hardy.  There are also lots of green figs on my fig bush, but I don’t think many more will ripen in this weather.  I only got two today (in the upper right of the picture).

Other than that, I am looking forward to our first real freeze so that I can dig up some Jerusalem artichokes tubers.  They are supposed to taste better after a good freeze.  I fermented some last year and I really enjoyed the taste and crunch.  I am hoping to do the same this year.

It’s that time of year to start my limited indoor gardening.  I’ll talk about that more later.

Peace and love till next time.

Wen