Winter rye, straw, tomatoes, URL for CNNJ newsletter

Judy told me yesterday that her winter rye has germinated. Oops! I haven't even scattered mine. Defensively, I thought, "But I'm not finished harvesting there yet!" I went out with two containers this afternoon. There were still plenty of little tomatoes to harvest. I dove under the pear tree, up which they are growing. The neighbor referred to my "tomato tree." I saw one worth eating. Not bad -- not like summer, but worth savoring for Thanksgiving. There's another! It was even better. There was one higher than I could reach. I pull the dead vine down. The tomato looked even better than the other two, but when I tasted it, it was overripe.

I may still have some peppers on the vine on Dec. 4 open garden. It pretends to be thriving where I ordinarily plant winter rye by now.

Winter rye, in case you aren't informed, is the third way to nourish your soil along with compost and mulch. It is available in any garden center.

It is also time to distribute straw over the strawberries. I've been getting lots more berries since I have been mulching in winter with straw -- as the name implies we should do.

The newsletter of the Cornucopia Network of New Jersey is now available, along with some old newsletters on the CNNJ website: http://cornucopianetwork.org/

Pat