Growing still!

The little broccoli featured November 7th grew into a nice sized head that was eaten this week. There was enough for two adults.  Lovely sweet-tart steamed, in the microwave, broccoli with lemon juice.

We have also been having salads for the past two weeks. Amish, an heirloom Bibb is the star but there are some lovely Oak Leaf and blousy, pale green Grand Rapid lettuces in the bowl. Arugula planted in October adds a peppery bite. I planted peas really close together in a little spot by the spinach bed after reading an article reminding me that it will grow during these warm Fall days. Snipped shoots will add to the beauty and flavor of our salads. Yesterday I picked a handful of Clementine salad tomatoes, probably the last of those.

Cold nights are coming so I will be harvesting broccoli and maybe all the salad. There are still peppers, jalapeño, bell and banana, that need picking too. No worries. I need a bed to plant more garlic and maybe just a handful more of peas for stir-fried pea shoots. Mustard greens do not tolerate a hard freeze so they may need to come out as well. We'll see. It takes courage to wait out temperatures that may get down to 32 degrees, but may not.

The kale is, like, wow! this year. And maybe we will have Brussels. Maybe. If not the sprouts, we'll have the greens. That's be beauty for brassicas if they don't perform as advertised we eat the greens.

Rainiest Fall Ever?

The South has had a long, wet 2015 Fall. Very wet. South Carolina's wet was epic, history making, wet. Up here in North Carolina we watched the new feeds and were grateful it wasn't us. The rain we got from Hurricane  Joaquin here was more than enough to ruin crops unharvested, like cotton. Somehow our garden survived. Other gardeners in town reported their seedlings we pummeled to death by the rain. Twice. Between rain showers I rush out and garden. Last  weekend we put down weed suppressing wheat straw on all the beds. It looks so much better now.
I did a spot check this morning. Six of the nine broccoli have formed heads. We may get three cabbage heads if I stay on top of the caterpillars. Kale is robust. We ate it in a frittata this week. Nom. Mustard, lettuce, arugula and chard are all good. We've had a few salads, yay! We might get a few beets. Carrots have beautiful, ferny tops. Herbs are great. We still have a basil. Which leads me to peppers. All the pepper plants are still producing! Amazing.

Getting bigger every day!