The sun has barely risen on this first Saturday in fall when I step outside for the first time today. Not to start the harvest, but to dump my coffee grounds from the French press into a garden spot. Today’s should be a large harvest, including pumpkins, possibly all four if they’re all solidly orange. And if all the pumpkins are picked, it turns into a bigger gardening effort to remove the remaining vines, opening access to the raspberries lurking behind them.
I grab the Mickey Mouse bandana to keep dirt out of my hair, a fanny pack for my phone to make up for shallow pockets, and after a brief hesitation, with a step out the front door, my Tigger gardening sweater. Gardening shoes, gloves, and the clippers are acquired in the garage, then I pull a couple small beheaded sunflower stalks on my way to harvesting the pumpkins. As I cut the stalk for the second one, I realize one vine has a baby pumpkin, with flower still attached. The odds are against it ripening, but I leave that one streak of vine while removing the rest, not realizing it was the wrong vine until later.
The spaghetti squash vines are mostly withered already, but the cucumber and acorn squash vines still have some green and young fruit. The acorn squash, like the pumpkin, surprises me with new fruit. I clear the spaghetti squash vines, along with some weeds (mostly mulberries) that were hiding beneath them.
I carry handfuls of fruit to the bench by the garage, peering in the side door at the cats who glaringly say I should be feeding them again. They don’t seem reassured when I tell them I’ll be in after the harvesting that uses clippers. In my mind, that’s just the sweet peppers. In fact, I have one glove off before I remember there’s a muskmelon as well, and the cats are already fed when I realize, while changing the kitty litter, that I need clippers for the okra. Okra is handled slightly differently, since I keep count of that harvest: 73 (so far) compared to last year’s 353. (I have fewer okra plants this year, so the difference is reasonable.)
Having stopped most tomato harvests in recent weeks because the container was full, I select my largest pot, and start at the smallest tomato section, which is by the acorn squash, working my way up to the overflowing keyhole bed. The container decision is a good one; today’s tomato harvest is about double my normal effort. Now I just need some heavy cream and a bottle of V8 for a delightful tomato soup, which may be served with a side of bacon-wrapped acorn squash.