Tuck In & Tidy Time (plus preserve beans & peppers)

October is my time to harvest the remains of our summer bounty. I cut off stalks, leaving roots in the ground to help hold soil structure, take down vines and put away trellises. I do pluck out any evasive weeds and tuck-in winter plantings with mulch as I go.

I feed my soil as often as possible and fall is no exception. If some of the soil is bare after harvesting vegetables, I get it covered as soon as possible. I typically cover soil with chop’n’drop garden waste pieces by cutting them into 2-3 inch lengths. I also use this harvest opportunity to spread my garden beds with lime. Lime helps to raise the ph level of acidic soil. This year, I also spread on an inch or two of hot-composted horse manure that I had leftover from earlier in the summer.

After mowing the lawn, I spread fresh grass clippings on the garden beds. Grass clippings dry into a sort of matting which helps smother any weeds. Eventually, grass clippings will add water-holding organic matter to soil and release nitrogen, once it breaks down. I have, in the past, purchased straw to act in the same way.

The next day, I collected small red leaves from a neighbourhood boulevard (the colour choice was no accident, since it added to my outdoor autumn decor). A thick layer of leaves helps to further hold soil in place during heavy rains. The leaf mulch will also breakdown over the winter and add a vast array of nutrients to the soil.

I’ll add at least two more layers of leaves over the next month, as well as save bags full in the garden shed, to use as mulch next spring and summer.

In spite of being planted very late in July, the Scarlet Runner beans raced up the 16 feet of wire that we provided for them. This spectacle caused quite the stir in our neighbourhood! I hope that many people will try growing these beans next year, as they not only provided a lot of food for our family, but also shaded south-facing windows during the heat.

Above is just one flat of beans that I harvested. We ate some daily for weeks and at the end, when I took the vines down, I processed the remaining beens for winter use. I cut all of the tender beans in to similar sized pieces. The tough and stringy beans went into the compost bin because no matter how long to cook a tough green bean, it will still be tough and stringy.

I blanched a huge bowl of washed and cut beans into boiling water for 60 seconds. That was enough time for the beans to turn a vibrant green. Once they were blanched, I strained them right away into the kitchen sink and rinsed them with cold water to stop the cooking process.

I spread all of the blanched beans onto a large parchment paper lined baking sheet so that the remaining steam could escape. To further speed up the cooling process, I placed the beans into the “blast chiller”. I don’t really have a blast chiller to quickly cool food items, like the cooking shows do, but early autumn mornings and a patio table are a great alternative!

Within 15 minutes the beans were cold and fairly dry. I dabbed a clean kitchen towel over them to remove even more water and condensation, before filling freezer bags.

Within a few minutes, I had three large freezer bags full of delicious Scarlet Runner French beans. A straw helped me suck the air out of the bags for optimal freshness. I arranged the bean baggies flat for two reasons. One reason is because I can fit a lot more food items into my freezer when they are stacked flat, and the other reason is because It will be easier for me to break off a chunk of beans for winter meals when they are frozen thinly.

Along with the bean harvest, I also picked several green peppers, some jalapeños off of several plants and a few rogue onions that I found under kale leaves.

I cleaned the assorted bits and pieces of peppers and onions. Peppers are one type of vegetable that can be froze without blanching, so it’s nice to take advantage of that simplicity.