Fall garden

I cannot believe we have not had a frost yet. I cannot believe I still have tomatoes, almost halfway through October. (See last year's October garden, for reference.) 

They are winding down, surely, but I'm still managing to make a big pot of sauce each week. I fill my big pot and let it simmer for about 24 hours, throwing in the seasonings only at the very end. Oh, it steams up all the windows, and makes a mess of the kitchen, but isn't that what tomato season is for? I think so.
Out in the garden, it is that sweet overlap of tomato season with roots and greens season. 

I really enjoyed growing calendula this year, for the first time. It's supposed to self-seed, but I helped it out by crumbling up some of the seed heads along the borders. I've said it before and I'll say it again, pretty, well-mannered flowers will always have a place in my vegetable garden. I cut and dried quite a lot of the flowerheads, too, to use in lotions and potions and bath salts. Calendula is fabulous stuff for skincare.

Inside, I've been shelling the very last of the beans, and making my final end-of-season garden notes, and slowly, slowly, starting to imagine next year. 2013 was truly a stellar garden year-- thanks in large part to the highly cooperative weather-- and I am so grateful to have been here for it. I have a feeling I might be looking back on this year's garden with some nostalgic gleam in my eye... 
Or maybe not. So many things, so many systems here have only just begun to work. I've tilled in two entire autumns' worth of fallen leaves, plus compost and horse manure, and I mulched heavily, heavily with mowed grass all summer. I have made a significant dent in improving the heavy clay soil of this place, but next year, it'll be even better...
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