September 1st almost always signals the beginning of the end of gardening season in the Yukon. Yes, there’ll still be a few weeks of good eating. But the growing slows to a crawling pace and early morning frosts take their toll (a frost Saturday morning left my potato plants looking sad indeed).

That said, it’s time to start thinking about next year’s garden. Yesterday Joe, Jamie and I went to a friend’s horse farm and collected 14 bags of composted manure. It, along with a substantial compost pile, will hopefully keep next year’s plants happy.

This is also ‘putting by’ time. I love that term ‘putting by’. This morning I picked, blanched and froze some carrots, placing them alongside the broccoli and zuccini that is taking up a corner of my freezer. Unfortunately I don’t have a root cellar so this is the best way to overwinter produce for now. I do, however, plan to put a thermometer in my crawl space this winter to see if it might be suitable for root vegetables.

Remnants of the ‘old’ garden. Bags of manure in lower right corner. Below is what remains of the ‘new’ garden, including some sad looking potato plants.