Posts Tagged Harvest
Harvesting Your Vegetables
As the fall gardening season comes to an end, it’s definitely time to think about processing and storing the harvest. From roasted pumpkins/squash, steaming kale, to making delicious soups and stews, you’ll probably have plenty of delicious vegetables to keep you busy processing and freezing for weeks to come. Here are some tips from DK Landscaping on harvesting and storing those vegetables you grew this summer and fall:
Pumpkins and Squash – These vegetables are best harvested when the vine has dried up. If you’re threatened by frost, be sure to cover the vegetables with a blanket overnight. They’re delicious in soups, desserts and main entrees, and they can be processed immediately or stored in a cool, dry, dark environment for up to 8 months.
Leafy Vegetables – Kale, spinach, collard greens and cabbage are great growers during the fall months and often will survive a light frost. Pick the leaves when they’re young and tender, as they’ll taste better. Serve immediately or store in a cool setting for up to a week. Cabbage can be steamed and frozen or pickled for serving later in the year.
Root Vegetables – If you planted a second crop of radishes, carrots, beets or parsnips this fall, you can keep them in the ground until they reach the size you desire for eating. They’ll survive until the ground freezes hard, but typically are picked before then because they’re not as tasty when overgrown. These vegetables will keep in the refrigerator for a week, so be sure to plan them into your weekly menus shortly after picking them.
If you are already thinking ahead to your harvest for next summer, this is the perfect time to plant garlic. Wait until the first frost has passed, because you want the soil to be a bit cooler. The bulbs will thrive in the winter and produce beautiful large bulbs to be picked in the summer.
For more information about your harvest, contact DK Landscaping.
Fall Landscaping Tips and Tricks
Sonoma County embraces the fall season as temperatures begin to dip and daylight begins to wane. It marks a time of change when our summer perennials and annuals die back, the leaves fall from the trees, and our irrigation systems get turned down.
Fall is an opportune time when we should welcome a change in landscape by dressing up your yard with some of fall’s favorites like mums, gourd’s, pumpkins! They are everywhere, in a variety of colors, from yellow to deep red.
MUMS are inexpensive and can be purchased just about everywhere. They make for great boarders, or can be planted in mass for a striking display. And the best thing, they are hardy perennials and can withstand low temperatures and frost. If planted early enough they will come back next spring. As an alternative to mums, you can use Coleus, Sedum, Firethorn, Snap Dragons, and Pansies to add stunning beauty to your landscape. Throw a few pumpkins in the mix and you’ve got a gorgeous garden display.
TREES are another way to spruce up your landscaping. They are not only beautiful but require less work than your summer-time trees. DK Landscaping recommends Hickory, redbud, sugar maples, and birch trees create marvelous landscapes of fall color. 
Lastly, don’t forget to incorporate hay bales, pine straw, pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks and potted plants – all that the harvest season has to offer!
Just following these simple fall tips and tricks will make your landscape pop with color, and keep your landscape looking beautiful and colorful all season long. It will make your home extra inviting for visitors including some little ghosts and goblins on Halloween night.
DK Landscaping is your Northern California’s premier’s landscaping company. For more information and/or a free consultation how we can add a little color to your fall life, please give us call (707) 280-3632.
