September 20–October 3, 2021
MOUNT WASHINGTON — The autumnal equinox arrives at 3:21 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 22. As summer turns to autumn, gardeners reach up high to grasp and pluck trellised climbers. A myriad of hanging edibles are now maturing above our heads on flowering, climbing vines. Many vining plants are adaptable to growing vertically or running along the surface of the ground. Moving through the garden, we reach down to harvest vegetables — many are, botanically, fruits — that grow along trailing stems. With a view toward planning next year’s gardens, below you will find still-producing, especially flavorful and nutritious varieties. Remarkable flowers appear along the way.
Climbers in the photograph, above, are Trionfo Violetto and Aunt Ada beans. Mostly matured beyond the slender snap bean stage, colorful pods are plumping and then drying. Fully formed beans removed from moist, maturing pods and cooked, are creamy and delicious. Steam hard-to-open pods to eat the beans as you would edamame. Commonly, bean pods are left to dry on the vine and then harvested and the shelled beans soaked for use in winter dishes and for seed.
Lemon and pickling cucumbers, found rising on another 9-foot-tall trellis, provide fresh salad and fruit for pickling. Delicata and Hokkaido squash grow alongside the cucumbers. Edible scarlet-red Spitfire Nasturtiums stand out among yellow star-like flowers that dot ribbon-like cucumber vines. Lavender-hued Trionfo Violetta blossoms are still vibrant on their purple rope-like vines. Clusters of Scarlet Runner Bean flowers and dangling beans reach out beyond the lush foliage on yet another plant support device, Bob Keating’s Space Needle.
Tomatoes are reaching far beyond the bounds of their 5-foot-tall enclosures. Heirloom Striped German, Red and Yellow Brandywine and Amish paste tomatoes far exceed hybrids in flavor. Sungold and large red Juliet cherry tomatoes are trained on trellises or encircled in heavy gauge wire cylinders.
At our feet, Styrian pumpkins and butternut squash cure. Styrian pumpkins produce pepitas, i.e. a specific hull-less pumpkin seed.
Prolific, purple velvet-petaled Grandpa Ott and Star of Yelta morning glories, in their prime, weigh down their supporting 6 feet tall framework. Most captivating of all, night blooming Moonflowers, Ipomoea alba, lure this gardener and her friends into the garden during the time between dusk and just before sunrise. Moonflower’s 5- to 6-inch-wide white disk is a beacon in the dark landscape. Tonight, it will be mirrored by the Full Harvest Moon. Within 2 feet of the flower, its perfume excites one’s nose as if inhaling a rainbow in fragrance form.
