Garden Update 10/13/2013

We worked hard during the month of September to get the Fall/Winter Garden in and at the time we planted, we showed you some of the photos.  It's about time for a garden progress report.  Here goes. Since we've been receiving some rains, the sweet potatoes are really vining out and growing.  During the summer drought they didn't hardly grow at all, but they are making up for lost time now and have taken over the garden.

Sweet Potato vines

Here is a pretty bloom on one of the sweet potato vines.

Sweet Potato Bloom

The cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts all look about the same right now, so I didn't take pictures, but they are about five inches tall.  The bugs and worms were giving them fits but the damage seems to be tapering off now. 

Sometimes things don't work out.  It's just the way it goes.  Shortly after planting the Bull's Blood Beets, Golden Beets, and Rainbow Swiss Chard, we got 3 inches of rain that (I think) packed the soil and made it difficult for the seeds to break through the soil.  As a result we had to replant all the beets and chard. Hopefully we'll be successful this time.

Here are some of the lettuce that are just coming up with the light rain that we got last night.  We have the following lettuce varieties planted: Mesclun mix, Black Seeded Simpson, Oak Leaf lettuce, and Rocky top mix. 

Lettuce sprouts

Many of the garlic cloves are shooting up right now.  Here is one popping up.  As soon as a few more come up I'll put a couple of inches of mulch around them to discourage weed growth.

Garlic Sprouts

This is a tenacious yellow squash plant loaded with baby squash.  It produced great during the Spring, but when the hot, dry summer commenced it kind of went dormant.  Now that somewhat cooler, wetter conditions are here, it is producing again.

Baby yellow squash

This is a patch of bok choy that is really healthy and lush.  We'll start eating these soon.  They are so good stir fried.

Bok choy

And another zoomed in photo of bok choy:

The peppers are producing like crazy right now.  This is a beautiful red cayenne pepper.

Cayenne pepper

We have 4 rows of carrots planted, including Berlicum carrots, Cosmic Purple carrots, Atomic Red carrots, and Parisienne carrot.  They all look the same at this point.

Carrots

Here is some kale.  We have a full row of kale planted.  Kale is a powerhouse of nutrients and is so good for you.

Kale

The green beans are blooming with a fury.  I can't wait for some fresh green beans again.  We hadn't had any since our Spring harvest back in May.  It is hard to beat fresh green beans cooked with new potatoes and butter.

Blooming Beans

Close-up

And finally, you can see how the Purple Hull Pea got its name.

Purple Hull Peas

We have many other crops planted.  We also have many other items that we'll be putting in the ground shortly, like radishes, turnips, and mustard.  I'll keep you posted with progress reports on their growth as well as their harvest and what we do with them after we harvest them.  Fresh, homegrown food is hard to beat.