Autumn in New York

The weather has been absolutely exquisite this fall.  The days warm up in the 60s with low humidity, and blue skies.  You might get a light breeze.  Working in the sun is shirt sleeve weather.  You can even lounge about comfortably with long sleeves. 

Each day the trees get a little more brilliant.  We are expecting rain tomorrow which will knock leaves off so we are at our color prime right this very moment.

It has been good weather for campfires.

Some of the remaining flowers are coming out in weird shades, affected by the cool temperatures.  This lemon yellow dahlia should be an apple blossom pink.  I'm mostly done storing dahlia tubers.  I have more than three dozen washed, trimmed and packed away and I have eleven plants still to lift but they are blooming nicely and have not been threatened by frost so I'll leave that chore for another mild day.

We have had frost though.  Last week's Monday the 4th we awoke to a heavy frost all over the lawns and buildings.  Still it only lightly tinged the Dahlias and Marigolds.  Sometimes the frost damage isn't immediately apparent.  The next day I noticed that the sweet potato vines had gotten a bit burned.  They say this damage can work down into the tubers and spoil them or reduce their storage life.  So I went ahead and started digging taters.

Yup, they're ready,

They came out of the ground like bunches of bananas.

The sweet potatoes are pretty much done with their hot curing now and will need to be washed off and dried in a cool area, then will be individually wrapped in paper and stored in a box in the basement.  I have been eating one every few days this past week to track their progress.  The first one I tried had only been out of the ground a day and was mildly sweet but needed some help so I dressed it with garlic aioli sauce (also good on regular potatoes) The texture was just to die for. No stringiness. Not at all dry. I softened it in the microwave, then split it, buttered it, wrapped in in foil and put it on the grill with steaks. OMG it was like silk.  I also did some baked potatoes and sweet potatoes in the campfire coals which turned out well.  

Yesterday I made Chowder from my sweet corn, potatoes and carrots plus my own fresh thyme and chives. I did not add the cream yet as I was planning to freeze it. I can finish each portion with cream as I use it. Even without the cream it was heavenly. I’m going to have some for lunch again today. This Recipe plus carrots.  As always, I am wrapping up summer gardening activities well fattened for winter.