A Quick Garden Stroll

Yesterday we looked at the three rows of carrots in the garden and talked about the surprise of finding some tomatoes growing up from seed in 'volunteer' fashion and transplanting them.  Today we'll peek in at the other items in the garden.

First off, I must tell you that the fall garden this year is very disappointing.  The very wet months of August, September, and October meant that things that I planted succumbed, and any of the things that I did manage to plant was planted two months late.  Better late than never, I suppose.  After that gloomy introduction, let's look at something bright and cheery.  Some of our Lemon Girl sunflowers sprouted up from seed that had fallen from some of the flowers from this summer.  Their blooms confirmed the resiliency of nature and at the same time was humbling.  How is it that you work so hard to plant things... and fail due to weather, and yet, some things just come up on their own and thrive?  I stopped to admire the flowers just opening and saw that a honeybee had arrived to enjoy the sunflower along with me.

This row of Russian Red Kale is coated with a thick coating of morning dew.  Kale, the ubiquitous hipster vegetable, gained such notoriety in the last several years.  We like it and grow it each year, but I must admit, for greens, I like Swiss Chard, mustard, and bok choy a little better.

This year has been a bad year for Romaine Lettuce.  Romaine grown in mostly Yuma, Arizona, was linked to an outbreak of E. Coli that sickened many people and caused a recall of romaine from supermarkets across the country.  We'll be enjoying some homegrown Red Romaine lettuce soon, hopefully without e. coli!

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce is always a favorite in the garden because it grows great, big, leafy heads and is beautifully green colored and tasty. 

The young lettuce patch is planted for aesthetics as well as taste.  I like to alternate the reds and greens.  Tricia did warn me that we needed to pick the lettuce earlier this year as we find that lettuce that we allow to get too big is bitter to the taste.

At this point, the cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage all pretty much looks the same.  We've been fortunate so far to not have much damage at all from pests.  We'll keep our eyes open, though, as caterpillars love feasting on their leaves almost as much as we do.

We'll begin harvesting some items from the fall garden soon.  I was reminded by a seed catalog coming in the mail on Saturday that it isn't too early to begin thinking about the spring garden.  Why, I'll be planting tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant from seed in about three weeks.