...one last tomato plant, my lone bell pepper, and a whole row of okra, all of which survived our first frost. Amazingly we haven't had a second yet, so I'm hoping to get more tomatoes and peppers. The peppers are getting to be a pretty good size and the plant is still flowering. I have about 10 or 12 marble to golf ball size green tomatoes too, with loads more flowers on the plant. The okra however, is all show and no pods.The fall garden is doing fair to middlin'. As you will see, much of it still needs to be mulched.
Carrots and garlic appear to be doing well. This is the store bought garlic that several of you mentioned not having good success with. Well see.
The cabbages haven't grown much since I've planted them though.
Broccoli heads are small, but oh so tasty!
Beets are camouflaged by the leaf mulch.
Loads of turnips. The greens are doing well but I'm not sure what's going on at the other end.TURNIP UPDATE: 21 Nov. 2009, 4:28 PM ....
My Romaine lettuces have been very slow. Not a whole lot of them came up either.
My outrageously expensive onion sets are doing okay. The spinach they are companioned with, less so.Still, it's one of the best fall gardens I've ever had.
Happily, the annual rye is coming up in next year's garden....
And no more deer tracks to report. You can see the beginnings of our zig zag fence in the background. We're still waiting on the fruit trees, but have their new homes well prepared.Most recently, DH tilled the first two herb beds for the beginnings of my herb gardens.
I've been removing the grass roots and seed heads. I'll work in some sand into the front one, as this will be for lavender and compatible culinary herbs. The one on the other side of the stepping stones will be for echinacea and whatever else I decide. After I finish weeding I'll mulch them both well until next spring.For once in my gardening life I feel on top of things.
11 comments:
lucky you - I haven't been able to do anything outside for weeks:(( we had a sunny and dry day yesterday, but we had to do all our shopping, rubbish etc. during that day - and when we had done everything that needed to be done - dust came and another day over:(( guess what - we then had another night with high winds and extremely heavy rainfall:(( but (thinking positive:)) - no frost so far!
Being a slacker gardener, I don't think I've ever in my life actually felt on top of my garden. Congrats to you on reaching that enviable state!
Just seeing those garden pictures makes me think of warmer greener times. It's amazing how much changes outdoors in the last couple of months!
The herb garden will be beautiful.
Sue
seeing your garden makes me wish we lived in a better climate. I'm so sad that the pumpkin harvest was so poor this year...I really wanted to make my pumpkin pies from fresh pumpkins. sigh...I guess it will be canned this year.
I wish I had your determination to get out there and work so hard on the garden. I also wish my neighbor's dogs would shut up and accept the fact that I live here.
sorry, I meant dusk of course and not dust:)) no dust storms in this weather!!
My father loved his garden and in East San Diego County, could produce absolutely anything. Our table groaned with the weight of the produce which I took for granted. After I married and moved away, I as stunned at the wimpy wilted produce in grocery stores. It was even worse when I was a military wife overseas. I appreciate and envy your art.
You are so inspiring! How you do all that as well as home remodel and fiber arts is beyond me!
Your Fall garden looks really good! We don't attempt it here. The garden is quite muddy these days! I can here the rain right now!
You will enjoy your winter harvest and we will be dreaming of what may come next Spring.
Bettina both weather and length of days are such big factors in gardening. I don't think folks realize that unless they actually do garden. When do you usually expect your first frost?
Sue, I think this is a once in a lifetime moment. And actually, since the fall garden still isn't entirely mulched, I guess I'm not quite there!
Renee, I'm with you about fresh pumpkin pie. I was terribly disappointed that my pumpkins did so poorly. That's one of the things on my list to research and take precautions for next year.
Sharon, that's interesting. If it had been the other way around, you probably wouldn't have appreciated the garden produce as much.
Michelle, thanks, but I have to confess that not much fiber activity is getting done!
Flower, thank you. I feel really fortunate to have such a long growing season. Of course, spring and fall can be iffy. In the spring, the fruit trees blossom only to lose most of the crop due to late frosts. I reckon each gardening climate has it's own challenges.
I'll say you are on top of things! Still getting tomatoes? Lucky you! We've had several killing frosts and there is nothing left. Can't wait until spring!!
Those beet tops are such a beautiful colour. Are they a particular kind? I've only ever grown beets with green tops with a red stem/spine, yours look almost bronze.
Benita, I'm waiting with baited breath for those tomatoes on the vine to ripen. The last frost, I had to pick all the green one and we're down to the last few small ones which are turning red. Hopefully I'll get some vine ripened ones still, but if not, I've got my eye out for our next forecast for frost.
Heather, they're Detroit Reds. The tops are both green and red, so yes I suppose they do have a bronzey look to them. I just picked beets that I knew were heirloom. I don't usually have much luck with them, but I have high hopes for a few from these.
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