September 23, 2007

first day of autumn

A sad good-bye to summer… Something about the fall garden isn’t the same as the spring and summer one. I notice I’m not heading out there as much. I have fewer vegetable garden pictures to show. Instead I’m playing with my photos today.

September 22, 2007

oxheart carrots

Oxheart is an old heirloom variety that grows enormous – short, fat roots up to 1 lb or more. I harvested a nice bunch of these last night for dinner. They tasted great. Daucus carota

September 21, 2007

fall sowing

My fall seeds are all in the ground now. I guess these are the last seeds I’ll plant this year (except for the garlic). Sad. I planted Sparkler and Round Black Spanish radish seeds. Also, shell peas and snap peas (probably too late for these). And lettuce (Bibb, Black-Seeded Simpson, Merveille de Four Seasons, Quattro Stagione, and Prizehead) and escarole (Natacha, Blonda, and Full Heart Batavian). S&P

September 20, 2007

autumnal equinox

I thought fall would begin on September 21 this year, but I was wrong. I’ve corrected my sidebar count down meter. The equinox is at about 9:30 am on September 23. That means an extra 2 days of summer that I didn’t know about. Three cheers!

September 19, 2007

fall lettuce bed

Here’s the bed I prepared for my fall lettuce. I hope to get out there to seed and transplant this evening. I plan to sow the lettuce very dense. Soon there will be lots of space to transplant it to as the summer crops are finishing up.

September 19, 2007

bigger not always better

Here’s an article I found at Kitchen Gardener’s about high yield commercial vegetable varieties that are getting bigger and less healthy. A recent study they cite found that “the more a tomato weighs, the lower its concentration of lycopene, a natural anti-cancer chemical that makes tomatoes red. There is also less vitamin C and beta carotene, a nutrient linked to vitamin A.” Also, “higher-yield crops decrease the concentrations of cancer-fighting chemicals and anti-toxins — known as phytonutrients or phytochemicals.” Well, I’m growing some really tiny veggies: carrots, garlic, etc. But…

September 19, 2007

end of the summer

With only two days left to summer, here’s a late afternoon shot of my garden from the upstairs window. Today I removed the row covers from the broccoli and kale since I haven’t seen any white butterflies around in a while. The plants look pretty good. The extra broccoli seedlings that I didn’t cover were eaten almost to nothing. I’ll eventually post photos of these two. Also today, I got out my hoe and prepared some soil for my fall lettuce. I have some seedlings I planted several weeks ago.…

September 17, 2007

dill seeds

Time for seed collecting. I have some little plastic baggies I’m saving them in. So far I’ve collected: morning glories, watermelon, Capucijner peas, three types of beans, garlic cloves and several types of wildflowers seeds. I have a few rows of lettuce that are starting to bloom now and I’ll see if I can find their seeds later. S&Pculinary herbs

September 15, 2007

Dad’s pumpkin

My parents have a beautiful pumpkin ripening in their garden. A real nice one! The vine is crawling out across the lawn and my dad carefully mows around it. It looks like they will be able to make a nice jack-o-lantern for Halloween. Or a pumpkin pie. I have bad news about my pumpkin flower – it did not set. Oh well. 🙁 (My little Olympus Stylus 720SW camera has a lot of trouble with the combination of orange and green – pumpkin and grass. It does great with the…

September 14, 2007

tgif

Happy Friday!!! Nothing like a nice garden martini to end the week. Its a good way to use up all those extra tiny tomatoes. Also the cukes you don’t know what to do with. Cheers! Topic: martini!

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

first day of autumn

oxheart carrots

fall sowing

autumnal equinox

fall lettuce bed

bigger not always better

end of the summer

dill seeds

Dad’s pumpkin

tgif

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Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!

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My garden this week

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17 years of archives!

Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!

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