Gardenist: The Post-Season

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Oct 1, 2007 4:45PM

It’s been a while since we’ve weighed in with a "Gardenist" update. The last time we did, about six weeks ago, the peppers were just starting to come in, after months of waiting.

Since then, we’ve been picking peppers fast and furious. August was a wet month, and September, like much of the summer, was unseasonably mild. This probably contributed to the lengthy wait for fruit to come in from the pepper plants. Two days into October, however, the peppers now show no signs of stopping. We’ve been harvesting a lot of both yellow and green peppers in the past two weeks, using them in our home cooking and in salsas with fresh mint.

We’re also looking to next year, and have finally put together a compost can. It’s an old garbage can we found in the basement. Inside, we’ve placed grass and tomato plant clippings, egg shells, coffee grounds, tomato seeds, and other biodegradables like the bag that holds our coffee beans from Bridgeport Coffee House. We’re turning the compost with a shovel and hoe, to aerate it, and keeping the pile moist to accelerate decomposition.

The container also allows us to be able to add and build up compost over the winter. When we begin to plant our garden next spring, we’ll have a whole can of rich compost to fertilize the garden. At least, that’s the plan.