Friday, September 10, 2010

Fall Garden Update

Fall Garden 2010
I thought I'd do a post on how my fall garden is coming along. There's still quite a bit of work to do but I'm hoping to get all of my seeds planted within the next week or two. In no particular order:

Fall Garden 2
The 8 broccoli plants I started back in July are doing rather well despite being assaulted by little green worms. Regular applications of Dipel Dust seem to help. I'm hoping they will begin to form heads within the next couple of weeks. To the left of them are my mini Napa cabbages.

Fall Garden 1
The Tuscan kale desperately needs to be picked. The tops are getting a bit heavy at this point. I'm sure all of them will need proper staking in the near future.

Fall Beets
My fall beets are growing rather slowly. Germination was good but then I lost quite a few at the seedling stage. Many of them damped off seemingly overnight. I really should check the PH of my soil.

Fall Garden 3
The winter carrots are growing steadily. I only have one bed of carrots this year but had planted the seeds closer together. I'm also experimenting with growing my half-long Nantes carrots in buckets that had been used for growing potatoes. My spring carrots were a dismal failure, partly because our soil is so heavy. I'm interested to see how carrots fair when grown in containers. Hopefully the roots grow long and straight.

Fall Lettuce
It's nice to have some lettuce to harvest again. These will have to hold us over until the Mesclun mix I just planted is ready.

Fall Garden 4
The spinach is growing comfortably under row cover. Without it, the plants would have been toast by now.

Fall Garden 5
I'm really surprised by how quickly the Red Russian kale has grown. These were started at the beginning of August. I should be able to harvest a few leaves in a week or two. In the same bed is some white stem chard. Hopefully, these will fair as well this winter as they did last year. To the left of this bed, I have some Watermelon and Daikon radish growing alongside the leeks.

Fall Snow Peas
Finally, not only are the snow peas up but some of the plants are already staring to flower. Boy that was quick. Despite the high temperatures of late August, they seem to be comfortable in the shadier part of the garden. To the right of the snow peas are Asian greens, including Tokyo Market turnips. Thanks again Winnie for the seeds!

14 comments:

  1. Nice pictures! My snow peas are about the same time, but I have actually picked a couple of snow peas already. Caleb likes to eat them right off of the vine.

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  2. Wow, I am so envious of your garden! Everything is always so nicely weeded and cared for!

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  3. Talk about a picture perfect garden, it looks great...especially for this time of year.

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  4. You need to go rescue that poor garden gnome! That picture (7th one down from the top) should have a balloon caption coming from him that says - "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"

    The garden looks great - that Tuscan Kale in particular is beautiful. I think I may grow some of that variety next year - because it turns out my chickens adore kale (and cabbage and broccoli) and they are using my current patch as fast as it grows! The Tuscan Kale looks like it would provide more poundage for the square foot of space used.

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  5. Your garden looks so neat and orderly. It's such an inspiration. I showed your pictures to Keith and said, THIS is what I want my garden to look like, eventually.

    I'm glad to hear that your Red Russian kale is growing fast. I sowed my seeds about three weeks ago, and although they seem to be growing okay, I don't think mine will be as big as yours in another three weeks. I can always hope, though!

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  6. Your garden is an inspiration and I really enjoyed being updated on what is growing and how the plants were doing. The Tuscan Kale should get through the winter do you think?..and make baby greens on the stem in the spring..mine did in Zone 6.

    We were later than you planting our peas, Asian greens and other fall crops but it is amazing how they are taking off.

    Great garden Thomas.

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  7. This is such an amazing garden! Could go straight to a magazine in my opinion. It's very organized and a pleasure to look at. All the planning you do for the winter, I think, is gonna pay off very soon.

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  8. I hate broccoli worms! Last year even after drowning the heads and being refrigerated there were still some in there, not looking forward to it, but of course I'm growing in anyways LOL. Your lettuce looks wonderful!

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  9. I wish I had such a nice fall garden. I've got two tiny patches from things I've ripped out but the main garden won't be up until too late.

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  10. Your fall garden looks lovely Thomas....but, poor Mr. Pippin!!

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  11. hahahaha...poor Mr. Pippin indeed. Not to worry, he's been righted.

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  12. Thomas, everything looks so lush and green. I always enjoy a tour of your garden. Looks like you will have some great looking greens this fall. Enjoy!

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  13. What a beautiful backyard garden. I would be so proud of this!

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  14. Hi Thomas!! It's been forever since I "stopped by" but had to comment on the Tuscan Kale...it looks prehistoric! And your little garden gnome looks a bit tired...or is he frustrated? Either way...the garden looks great...so much inspiration you share...thank you.

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