Rooftop Garden Part XXVI

I am still slacking on my blog posts...had to set up a facebook page for SUFCo. and then link it to a Twitter account (what?). Hopefully I will have a chance to catch up on actual useful gardening info. soon...here is a link to an article from the Seattle Times on the Bastille rooftop garden.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2010203442_pacificplife15.html
Mostly, I am spending all my time advocating for more rooftop gardens around here. Gotta take advantage of the space we have, right? We just have to convince all of the restaurant, office building, and condominium owners...

As you have probably noticed, some of your summer crops have started to throw in the towel. Nighttime temperatures have been in the low 30's and a hard frost is imminent. All of our basil has already bitten the dust as well as the squash, and tomatoes are no doubt next. What this means is: harvest the living daylights out of your garden. Here is a short list of the most temperature sensitive plants: basil, summer and winter squash, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. These crops will certainly be finished soon, so keep your eyes on everything so your final harvest isn't totally frost damaged.
If you end up with more food than you can handle, think about preservation. Nearly everything can be preserved either through canning or freezing.

Ball Canning is a great resource (they make great jars and the website has a lot of trustworthy recipes)

Another great resource is our upcoming canning class at Carkeek Park (details below): it will be a little late in the season, but...we will be making and canning some applesauce. It is nice to have somebody walk you through it the first time so you can see how easy it actually is...I don't have any idea why it is rated 18 and older (I'll try to watch my language).

Use Your Fruit!

Ages 18 and older

Do you have a fruit tree in your backyard? Curious about the best ways to keep that fruit through the winter? Come to Carkeek for a fun, hands-on tutorial and learn creative ways to preserve your fruit. Colin McCrate and Brad Halm from the Seattle Urban Farm Company host this great event. Email Colin at colin@seattleurbanfarmco.com to register.

Location: Carkeek ELC

10/24 Sat Time: 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Newsweek

Here is a link to an article from Newsweek about the recent rise of urban agriculture across the country...Urban Gardens Grow

Prune Yo Tomatoes

You may have noticed that your tomato plants have finally gotten the clue and started to grow a little bit. You may have also noticed that, once they start to grow, they can get out of control pretty quickly...thus the need for trellising and...pruning. Believe it or not, but cutting out some of the branches of your plant will actually result in more, better tasting fruit (and your tomatoes will be less prone to problems such as fungus, mold, drunk driving, etc.). Brad found this article which explains it all very well:
Pruning Tomatoes - Fine Gardening Article
Source: finegardening.com

Bastille II

This link to King 5 website from yesterday is helping to foment the fervor over rooftop gardening...

Onto the Radio

If this isn't ridiculous, what is?
On the radio KIRO 710 AM...Living Well

Cherries

In the very unlikely chance that you have not noticed: it is cherry season in Seattle. This is about the closest thing to a candy tree that you will ever find. If you look around, you will see that there are cherry trees literally all over the entire city. Cherry trees are easy to identify: in the early spring they are famous for their incredibly showy white or pink flowers, and in the summer they have cherries all over them. There are a lot of varieties out there, some very large and sweet, others smaller and more tart. The smaller types are typically used as
"pie cherries", baking with them allows you to add a
little sugar, thus making them more palatable. Other
types are sweet enough to eat directly.
There is absolutely no chance that I will tell you where
the cherry trees that I like to pick are located, but if you
take a walk around your neighborhood, you will almost
certainly find a cherry tree. If located on someone's property,
obtain permission to pick (which is usually easy to do) and go to town.
This bowl represents approximately 1/20th of yesterday's harvest (we picked about 40 lbs in one hour)...most are now in the process of being pitted and heading to the freezer...