Autumn, already

On an early autumn morning, a spider works her magic

And just like that (snaps fingers) … autumn is here. Just one month ago we were inundated with fresh produce and scrambling to find ways to consume or preserve it. Today’s garden is a different story.

The beginning of the end

Tired tomatoes

Our main season vegetable beds look downright tired. I’ve been pruning the tomatoes regularly to expose the ripening fruit to sun and air, and keep them from sending off too many new branches. Now there’s not much left, and soon we will remove the vines to make room for garlic. The potatoes have a similar ragged look; their foliage has completely dried up. The spuds are okay though, just hanging out in their containers to be harvested as we need them. The cut flower beds look horrendous, but the bees and butterflies are still having a grand time, so we’re letting them stand for a while. Still, it’s not a pretty sight, and I have to resist the temptation to start cleaning up the entire garden. 

The spring and summer growing season was a lot of fun, especially after a few years away from vegetable gardening. It never ceases to amaze me how you put these little seeds in the ground and after some period of weeks or months, you have food. From late spring through late summer we tended, harvested, and consumed lettuce, beets, carrots, tomatoes, basil, and chili peppers. The shallots have been harvested and stored for use until this time next year. Over winter we can enjoy tomato sauce and pesto, and thaw frozen tomatoes and peppers to use in our cooking. 

In which I have more questions than answers …

Leekzilla

There were bound to be failures. Something went wrong with the leeks, and a few plants look positively bizarre. Most look more like scallions instead of the expected 1” stalks. We were left with three or four usable leeks that will grace our kitchen table this week, and that’s the leeks done and dusted. 

Our squash and cantaloupe were also disappointing. The Butternut Baby squash was supposed to be a smaller version of the classic Butternut, but the fruits were so small they would not have been worth the time and effort to peel and cook. Melons were attacked by varmints who seized each moment of perfect ripeness, made a giant hole in the fruit, and scooped out delicious pulp. We got ahead of them about three times and enjoyed those melons, but we need a new plan for next year. 

… but hope springs eternal

Two sowings of carrots & beets, two weeks apart

We still have fall crops to look forward to. Or at least I hope we do … we’ll wait until after the first frost to harvest parsnips sown in the spring, and hope our August sowing is ready by the end of the year. The lettuce is growing, albeit more slowly than in spring and summer. The beets and carrots look pretty good so far. The kale seems … okay? I don’t know, really—we haven’t grown kale before so I’m not sure what to expect. 

I challenge you to find the white in the White Garden

The White Garden is once again showing more green than white, as some of our late-blooming perennials run their course. Creating year-round color presents an ongoing challenge, but a fun one. Meanwhile, it is a very peaceful spot much-loved by birds, and the chipmunks seem to have forgiven us for cutting off their corn supply.