In the Garden Year 1 - September and October

It's the end of the first summer in our raised bed vegetable garden. Check out what's still growing in September and October as the summer winds down. Find all the garden fresh produce harvests and recipes to use them!

Giant Sunflower in our raised bed garden with the blue sky behind.

The End of a Beautiful Garden Season

Our first year in the garden is coming to a close. October is starting to feel pretty cold and some nights in the 30's are ending the garden season. I pulled all the peppers, some ripened to red and orange but many I picked green.

Bell peppers ripening from green to orange on the vine.

I sliced a bag for the freezer and am eating them as we can. I love having the frozen peppers to throw on Homemade Pizza, toss some in with taco meat, Jambalaya, or into breakfast omelettes.

A ziploc bag of sliced green bell peppers for the freezer.

The Swiss chard seems to be handling the cold and there are a few pumpkins on the vine.

Raised Bed vegetable garden with vining pumpkins nearing the end of the season.

The End Of the Autumn Harvest

Some very rainy weather in September ended our tomato season. We got a ton of tomatoes, but also had to throw many away that rotted instead of ripened.

I made big batches of Freezer Marinara Sauce and plenty of Cherry Tomato Pico de Gallo.

Garden Fresh Produce on the kitchen counter, pumpkin, cucumber, tomato, broccoli, beans.

Raised Bed Gardens at end of summer as some beds are still producing and some are done.

We still have enough kale outside to last until Christmas. We're eating lots of Parmesan Kale Chips and Bacon Kale Spaghetti! Also throwing extra into this Italian Sausage Bolognese.

The cucumbers were also a big success and we made some refrigerator pickles and have just been eating through the rest. Lots have gone into my favorite Panzanella Bread Salad!

A bowl of garden fresh produce, bell pepper, cucumber and green beans.

The green beans grew all summer until October and we made Green Bean Salad many times. The broccoli is slowing down but still alive and sending out a few florets.

Two bowls of broccoli and green beans harvested from the garden.

I've frozen some for making Tuna Broccoli Pasta Bake and Cheesy Broccoli Zucchini Soup as the weather cools down. We are pulling a carrot out of the ground here and there but next year I'll plant more.

Broccoli plants with a bowl of harvested broccoli.

Plans for Next Year

Overall, it was a successful first year, we absolutely loved it and grew an amazing amount of garden fresh produce. A few lessons and plans for next year:

less kale, less green beans
give the tomatoes more room, 6 plants to a bed instead of 8
more carrots
try asparagus, onions, Brussels sprouts
when cauliflower looks ready, cut it, it goes bad fast

Garden bed with Swiss Chard, a cucumber trellis and winter squash.

The kids love finding the little animals that make our garden their home like this little frog!

A little green frog found on a Swiss Chard leaf.

The sunflowers are starting to droop telling us fall is here.

Droopy sunflowers in the garden as the season ends.

We pack our dinners with whatever we harvest! This is a steak variation of my Chopped Dinner Salad with Roasted Potatoes with green beans, corn, tomato, bell pepper, onions, cucumber and avocado.

Garden fresh salad topped with sliced steak.

I picked the last of the bell peppers before the weekend got too cold for them. Wish we could have let them ripen longer, but still happy with the amount!