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Carrots are always a bit sweeter after a few frosts. And in defense of radishes, they are great for learning a new skill: juggling. Thanks for getting my Sunday off to a good start!

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😂 I’m so happy to see you here. Thanks for reading and commenting. I’m going to wait till after the frost to harvest my carrots, so thanks for the tip. Now I have a post-frost activity to look forward to.

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Oct 14Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

Yes! My dad discovered this one Thanksgiving when he was digging thru a light layer of snow to harvest carrots. We were amazed. Northern New Hampshire is not known for long growing seasons.

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I love things that can be harvested in snow. Kale is like this too!

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Oct 17Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

I don't think anything can kill kale. It will be here long after the apocalypse:)

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😂 I love kale.

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Oct 13Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

I love hearing about your beautiful garden. It makes sense to hold on to blooms and bounty for as long as possible - especially when it’s such a gorgeous start to fall! In past years, when I planted my favorite dahlia flowers, I would carefully watch the weather and wait until the last possible day before a freeze to dig out the tubers. I wanted to enjoy those blooms in my garden until the last second (and have definitely rocked a headlamp when digging them out in a post-work, night gardening session :).

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Thanks Vanessa. Dahlias are stunning! Did you know you can dig your tubers out after the frost? The flowers will die but it is recommended for the tubers, and then you can enjoy them without hyper vigilance. This has worked for me every year except that winter we had two years ago where we just got hammered early with snow.

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This is terrific news! Now my waiting until the frost to dig out the tubers is a master strategy rather than a race against time. Also - your post inspired me to hit Northwest Seed and Pet and load up on a ridiculous amount of bulbs. It’s been a tough gardening year for me, but I’m excited to finish strong with hope for spring.

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Nov 2Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

Planting seeds in the fall for the spring? I’m gonna try it! Thanks!

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Fortify the soil! YES! This is a great collation of information - I look forward to reading it again after chores.

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Thanks for reading! Do you have tips on how you fortify the soil? :)

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Cover crops dug in green and yearly compost. I have cows and chickens so my compost heaps are rich!

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We had a spotty killing frost the night before last. Dahlias down the street were still going strong. My zinnias are questionable. Last night I picked the peppers I could find and salvaged a few mustard greens to have with my soup. Usually I'm more on top of things, covering them so that when the temps pick up a bit later this week we keep going, but not this year.

I have garlic to plant, but I need to clean up a space to do it. And every year I mean to plant more bulbs.

I have moved inside for reading, but in February I will sit on my porch for the brief window when the sun is shining on it. It's actually still cold, but I need more outside time then.

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Oh the killing frost…how the garden changes overnight. I hear you on not being on top of it. I’m going to try and build a cozy reading space inside. I love mustard greens. 🤗

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Oct 14Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

Loved this week’s pocket. I’ve found fall can also be a good time to do some garden rearranging. I don’t feel guilty when I step right into my garden and yank out the aggressive mint—leaving some to grow for next season’s tea, but not letting it bully out some of my other plants.

Last spring I spread compost in my vegetable garden from my haphazard, rarely turned compost pile. There must have been a bunch of flower seeds in there just waiting to sprout, because my vegetable garden grew a wonderful crop of foxglove and brown eyed Susan’s volunteers. Since the foxglove are biennials and only grew lush greenery this summer, I’m having a great time transplanting these plants into my flower gardens. I’m anticipating glorious blooms next summer…and adding more compost to the perennial beds at the same time.

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My compost is definitely haphazard at best so I love that idea. Thanks for reading and commenting. 🥰

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I am not a real gardener. But I am a loving gardener, that is to say, when the warmer weather is upon us, I hire my land lubber friend to do the weeding and watering, as I will be swimming in the salt water. Even my feet resemble flippers, long with toes reaching out for another stroke of ocean bliss.

Letting go? Why I have been so stubborn regarding this notion, I had a doctor stunned. He was surgically removing a part of my intestine, and he said afterwards, "I have never seen anything like it. I literally had to wrestle it out. " My response,? " I apologize, you see I have an issue with letting go, even if it's necessary."

Yet I had a gentle revelation the other day. The sky was that perfect cerulean blue, and the winds were blowing like the dickens.Sitting in my favorite car i languished in the beauty of the pine tree limbs swirling about, when suddenly, I thought, "wait a minute, you don't like windy days." I don't like wind at all, except this day a shift occurred. I had to recognize I had given wind a one sided description which was menacing, because that kind of tumultuous wind usually happens on dark days. Silly me. Everything has its light and it's dark, its intimidations and its love potions.

I so enjoyed your humor, and wisdom. I remember when I planted garlic, cause I could plant in the fall and harvest in the fall, ( not that I don't swim in the fall), but funny thing, like your radishes , I don't really care for garlic, just the process, and the beauty of the earth around the freshly harvest cloves. What an inspiring article., Oh and fall perennials? bought a sad looking hibiscus 4 years ago, she still comes up late in August, thought this year she waited till October to once again, become the crowning glory. Gardening ... it teaches us so much about ourselves.

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I love all of these musings. Thanks for sharing. I love my hibiscus too. I have one I leave out and one I take in before the frost. Last year the one that I left out died because the winter was so harsh. Fingers crossed for this year. I’m glad you have found one of the loves of your life in swimming.

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Oct 14Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

So much wisdom here. Each spring I plant a vegetable garden with the highest of hopes, but I've come to realize that tomato plants hate me. No, really, I hear their evil laughs as I snip the neighboring basil. Even my usual success with bell peppers alluded me this year. The only happy surprise was the one, tiny, sweet baby watermelon that my daughter grew. And if only I could figure out why my morning glories struggle to grow all summer, then erupt in healthy green splendor in September, only to bud in mid-October and die from frost a week later (I'm in Connecticut). Even so, I think I'll stick to flowers next year (though no more morning glories, for heaven's sake, it's just too painful!). xo

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Hi Betsy! Thank you for the restack. I know that feeling well, of something that is just getting started right before the frost. I have some thoughts on seeds. Would you like them? I’m learning to ask before sharing my thoughts as unasked for advice is apparently criticism. 😂

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Oct 14Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

Yes, please!! All thoughts welcome.

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I would recommend getting your seeds from a local source if you don’t already do that. For example, I always try to buy Snake River seeds as I know they grow well here and are designed for our growing season, and this has served me well. I also gave up on growing Roma tomatoes or tomatoes for sauce as it required so many tomatoes and that was pretty much my whole harvest. I stick with smaller tomatoes now- ones I can eat in a sandwich or in salad and ones that make excellent salsa. Tomatoes are also heavy feeders and it helps to rotate where you grow them as they drain the soil of nutrients. 🥰

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Brilliant! I’ve been using the same raised bed for my tomatoes, so that could definitely be a reason they are underproducing. I will do some research about local seed sources as well. But promise me you won’t be mad if I ultimately decide to go the cutting (flower) garden route. 😊

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Oct 14Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

A fun read, Mary. Although I found myself remembering my dismay the first year in San Diego when, in November, I was out in the yard weeding. I was used to short growing seasons and winters off. I was new to gardening then and don't do much of it anymore but I do remember the sweet anticipation of seed catalogs in the dead of February with snow all around.

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Sweet anticipation is right, and you make a good point of a forced rest or pause. I just hate that frost hits here in October. It’s too soon.

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Oct 14Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

You know that my interest in gardening is -37 on a scale of 1-10, but I always love reading about it when you write about it. Your love for your garden is such a beautiful thing. I definitely relate to the struggle with letting go. I’m not sure how to get better at it, but I do know that more radishes will not help. Ew.

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I love to plant bulbs in October. Never considered flower seeds, but will now. Fall is also a time to prune (some) things. Talk about letting go! Thank you for your thoughts on letting go, on fall gardening, and on spraying water on neighbors. Spraying my neighbor is fun to think about though I'll never do it.

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What are you pruning in fall? I could learn something in that area. I love pruning as a metaphor. I probably won’t spray my neighbor either. Let me know how it works out with the seeds.

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Oct 13Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

I was just at Northwest Seed and Pet buying spring blubs last weekend! I made myself a note to plant them this spring because I also love seeing the flowers pop up all around the neighborhood, but this is my first attempt at planting them in my own yard. I hope I buried them deep enough. I guess I'll find out in the Spring!

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Yay! Bulbs are easy! You will do great!

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Oct 13Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

I will confess to being a fair weather gardener. It takes so much vigilance to keep everything alive through our increasingly harsh summers that by the time fall arrives I feel worn out with it all. But this makes me feel like getting back out there, even if just to deadhead the snapdragons that have finally started to thrive. I love your meditation here, which feels like a long, extended metaphor for so many things.

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Thanks Rita. Fall is really a lovely time in the garden, a time of restoration after a hot, dry season. I love the tenacity of snapdragons. And yes, so much metaphor…I think it’s my fav literary device.

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Oct 13Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

Thanks for putting a smile on my face. And, yes, I love radishes. Have you tried them roasted?

Also, at our house, we never give up on living outside during the winter: sheepskins on chairs make it more bearable.😊

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If anyone could get me to like radishes, I have a feeling it would be you Rachel. Please share the recipe. And same on outdoors all year- fires, blankets and skis 🥰

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Oct 13Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

Hopefully Michelle reads your Substack and will write to you to remind you of the thing you were supposed to remember to tell her 😜 I often write notes to myself too but then have issues deciphering what the note means

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Sadly I was going through my hand-written memoir edits today, my notes to myself, which seemed brilliant at the time, and they also were lacking in lucidity. 😂

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I love radishes!!

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My husband makes a slaw on top of fish tacos, and those are delicious, but the radishes are still not my fav part. How do you eat them? I admire your fortitude. 🥰

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Oct 13Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

I eat radishes as a snack, and I blame it on my Iranian heritage 😂

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Awesome!

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Like straight up? Sliced? Seasoned? I’m so curious.

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Oct 13Liked by Mary Hutto Fruchter

Straight up 😂 Kind of like a tiny crunchy spicy apple

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