Eating Locally: Your Own Backyard

Friday, November 02, 2007

You can’t get any more local than your own backyard. Even though we live in the city, I always make a point to plant and harvest my own vegetables and fruit.  This year we grew watermelon, herbs, tomatoes, raspberries, eggplant, squash, grapes, blackberries and lots of hot peppers. Because of an unseasonably warm Autumn, a lot of the plants are still producing because there hasn’t been a killing frost yet. I am sure it will happen any day now, so it is best to be prepared.

Here are some steps to maximize what’s left and prepare for next year:

1.  Cover the eggplants/squash with a bag or fabric. Not 100% protection, but sometimes it is enough to ward off a light frost for a few days and allow almost mature vegetables to ripen.
2. Pick green tomatoes. I made chili with some green tomatoes and wrapped others in newspaper and stuck them in a dark place to ripen.
3. Bring delicate potted herbs indoors.
4. Dig up your pepper plants, plant them in a pot (with some fresh potting soil) and bring them inside. They can reproduce all winter if they are in a sunny spot and can be replanted in the Spring.
5. Compost any vegetables that will not ripen off the vine or plant them in the ground-you might get a “free” plant growing there next year.
6. Weed. It sounds silly, but if you get rid of the weeds now you might have less after the last frost and it discourages pests and disease.
7. Cover and mulch the garden area.

A brief note: This is my first post as a guest writer for Farm to Philly and quite an honor. I am a food writer and blogger based in Baltimore, which is just within 100 miles of Philadelphia. I plan to occasionally post about food, places and events in my area.

-Rachel Rappaport