regrowth

I have new dill plants! Just big enough to start eating again.

My spearmint has bounced back.

Yes there will be broccoli.

finally a full bowl

of cherry tomatoes! Just when the plants look about dead.

I might get a few nice broccoli heads though, especially if we have a long autumn season. You can tell it is too cold for caterpillars- newer leaves on my broccoli plants are so nice. The older foliage is completely in tatters.

We have eaten all the carrots- it was just two dinners' worth- and the green beans continue to be very slim pickings. I am thinking I will just not plant green beans next year- maybe whatever pest spreads this disease my plants will die out or move on. Bah.

I've hung soap to deter the deer. A friend told me they don't like the smell of 'irish spring' and it just so happens my husband uses that soap (I don't like it). I cut one soap bar into three chunks. Put each in a ziploc baggie with holes poked in the bottom (so smell would emit but enough rain stay out it doesn't dissolve quickly? that was my idea) and tied a string around the top. I hung one on my sad forsythia, another on a decor piece in the back garden (where a few plants look suspiciously bitten) and third in the garden right by the patch of swiss chard and beets. Whose tops had been getting nipped off by something. Now they appear to be growing more. Not sure if that's because weather is cooler, or because the forager is deterred- but just in case I'm leaving up the soap.

my scruffy garden

I really have not given it the attention it deserves, this year. Have pulled carrots twice, eaten handfuls of cherry tomatoes, there's a paltry amount of green beans now and then. Large tomatoes are still failing to ripen on the vine- but taste fantastic after a few days on the windowsill. Hoping for some good broccoli this fall, the plants look great in spite of caterpillar holes. Fresh herbs all the time- I seem to use that more than anything.

contrasts

from above- I thought this was a nice-looking combination of leaf hues and textures. Basil, marigold, broccoli- a bit of cosmos top left, too. Too bad the broccoli keeps sustaining holes from caterpillars munching.

I do have a few that are nice and clean, have starting picking bugs regularly again. Older leaves won't repair the insect damage but newer ones grow out clean. Lovely blues.

plant damage

My broccoli plants seem particularly hard-hit this year- with more leaf damage than others in the garden. Probably because I have not figured out and thwarted the pest, yet. Still picking occasional caterpillars from white cabbage butterflies, but this is something else.

There are pale squiggly lines and on the underside it's a raised edge, like a swollen vein. I think it is leaf-miner bugs...

planting

Yesterday I planted a good part of the garden.

Lettuces have done really poorly for me this year. I think perhaps my seed packets are finally too old.

I planted out these puny ones and sowed more seed in the ground, finishing off the packets. If I get any decent plants will save seed anew, but probably have to buy more next season. I've got a bit of simpson, some romaine and cesar. Didn't bother planting the bibb lettuce this year- it's just not a favorite.

Also sowed direct three varieties of beets, two of carrots, arugula and some swiss chard. I planted out seedlings from pots into the garden: leeks, marigolds, two kinds of broccoli, and five kinds of tomatoes.

Funny thing about my broccolis- I grew from a new seed packet this year and the seedlings look different in color and leaf shape

than ones from the older package. Both are Di Cicco variety, just from different seed companies.

Yes, I put in tomatoes and marigolds a month before the frost date. It just feels so mild. There is only one night of temps predicted to drop below 40° this week and I am putting plastic cloches over them overnight for protection. If they do get hurt by a frost, there's extras to replace with- I still have six marigolds and two of each tomato type still in pots.

The tomatoes are growing so fast.

I made a mistake, though. I meant to put carrots in one of the more established beds, which has deeper, richer soil built up- and to put lettuces in the new bed- their roots don't go as deep (and the cardboard I smothered grass with is probably still mostly intact under there). I forgot when I was busy working, and put the lettuces where I meant to do carrots, vice versa. Too late now. Will just have to see how they do. Also I meant to plant newer green onions next to the one survivor in the herb part of the bed- but they look just like the baby leeks. Green onions are still in the coldframe- they need more warmth- but when I was setting out the leeks I forgot and put them in right next to the one mature green onion. Oops.

Extra bit: my thyme looks just fantastic. It's in the first picture- the green mound in the background (top just left of center). Here's a closeup. I'm really hoping I can detect whitefly or whatever pest shows up earlier this year and keep them at bay.

all the plants

ready to go outside for the day. Prior three nights too darn cold, but tonight it's supposed to be above fifty so I tucked all the baby tomatoes, peppers, nasturtiums, herbs and all into the coldframe house. Got to plant beans, peas and all the rest soon.

unrelated notes

Window tank test results this morning: no Ammonia, higher Nitrites at 2.0 it's getting somewhere!

Chilly today with lower temps. I only put out the leeks, broccoli and lettuce seedlings in the coldhouse, and they came in midday when it started snowing a bit. I have an outdoor-sown tray of simpson lettuce that came up last night, cesar and romaine haven't yet. Will get to that soon.

Sifted out my worm bin this past week. I'm getting more efficient: it only took two sittings. Probably helped that I had left the bin unfed for several weeks so the worms processed more of the bedding and it also dried out some. Which made the stuff more crumbly and easy to sift. But the worms suffered, their bodies short, tacky and slow. I got an entire five-gallon bucket full of vermicompost. Started the new bin with three or four inches of damp coardboard chips on the bottom and all the picked-out worms and old unfinished bedding pieces, topped off with more fresh cardboard and it's almost full again.

The surprise was when I investigated a slight odor from the bucket a day later- lidded so it wouldn't dry up but waiting to get applied on the lawn and garden. I wasn't as meticulous this time about picking out every single worm and bedding fragment that made it through the sifter, so I knew there were some worms in the bucket- I don't mind sacrificing them to the garden. But when I opened the lid again found a good two or three dozen worms up the one bare inch of bucket side above the compost, trying to escape. Of course, heavy waste material toxic to them. I'd never seen them all crawl out like this before. Returned them to the home bin- may be too late for many of them though.

Time to spread richness on the garden. And then my next big task is to turn the outside compost pile and start feeding plants around the yard. Rhubarb is up! under a plastic cloche now to shelter against the chill- I haven't bothered to cover any other plants...

in the garden

Things that survived the winter.

Broccoli!

I've even taken a second cutting of small heads.

Swiss chard is ready to eat again.

One green onion. Planning for more.

Five sage plants- three are in the garden and two in pots. While the potted ones are larger, those in the ground are in much better condition.

Several bunches of parsley, going into their second year. I'll probably start more.

Deep in the heart of dry stems, Oregano is resprouting.

Thyme looks great! I wish I could maintain it this way, keep the bugs off... Maybe I will start washing dishes by hand all summer, just to have soapy water to regularly throw on the plants, haha.

One borage plant. Got more coming from seed. I am planning to have this all over the garden this year, and see if my hunch is right that it deters the squirrels.

And what makes me happiest: rosemary! Thrilled this one made it. The little plant I grew from cuttings.

outside seed

Finally sowed some trays and outside jugs today. Dismayed to find I seem to have thrown away most of my winter-sowing jugs last year- probably they were getting dirty and scuffed, but through the year I quit buying that kind of milk- now I usually get it in cartons- so I never replenished my supply of empty jugs! I only found one jug, plus two bottom trays which I covered with misfit upended plastic containers. So had to change my seed-starting plans a little bit.

Outside I've got started broccoli, borage, three kinds of lettuce and arugula (new for me this year). I finally used up the last of my store-bought simpson lettuce seed- it was from 2010.  I have a packet of saved seed from the same year, but will have to start drying and saving more for future gardens this season or next. More to come.

tiny heads

A little handful of broccoli out of the garden! I cut it just before some predicted colder weather- in case the plants actually die. So far only the two smallest have been killed by freeze- the others still alive. This little bit I just steamed lightly and used as a garnish on top of a pasta dish. It was small but yum.

riches of dead leaves

I have finished processing all the dead leaves in the yard (well, eighty to ninety percent- our maple tree is still holding onto some that might come down later, and the neighbors' sycamore tree keeps dropping leaves into our yard too) for mulch and composting.

It is quite a task, but a very satisfying way to wrap up the gardening season. I have a leaf-eating machine; my husband bought it several years ago and this is the third season I have used it. I've gotten more efficient at shredding the leaves up. This is a chore with very particular timing- it doesn't work well if the leaves are wet, it's annoying to do if windy (leaf dust blown in my face) and I don't like to do it when the children are around- very loud, kicks random bits of bark or twig out that I miss when sifting the leaves- I wear protective goggles but have gotten my cheek nicked a few times- plus I'm afraid a curious child might throw something in there to see what the machine will eat, and really it can only handle leaves- I have to sift each handful to pull out small twigs, even the heavier petioles of sycamore leaves will snarl it up.

So sometimes it's hard to find the time to grind the leaves. This year I made the effort to gather them as often as I could, into huge piles the kids like jumping in, and also into my wheelbarrow and plastic bins, which I stored under the deck and some old carpeting to stay relatively dry until it was time to shred them. Unfortunately I think I burned out the motor of the shredder. I was just finishing up the last leaf pile and it started to make a high pitched whine and a terrible smell. I shut it down and just bagged the remainder of the leaves, let the motor rest for the day but I'm not sure if it will work again. It's possible there was too much dirt and thatch in the last lot of leaves I raked off the lawn, which has been too dry this year...

Have a good dozen bags of leaf mulch saved under the deck now, for composting throughout the coming year. I applied a lot more to the yard immediately- around all the trees, all plants in the beds, mailbox spot, new shrubs- rhodies, summersweet and hydrangeas got an extra thick layer. Two or three inches thick across all the veggie beds. You can see there is still some green life- broccoli on the left, a few herbs (parsley, thyme, oregano, sage) on the right and some swiss chard. In the upper picture, borage is still making a statement, and my tiny rosemary is still alive. Speaking of what's still green, there is argyranthemum making green lacy shapes, hellebores nice dark green, and sage pretty blue-green in their various spots and containers. I am seriously considering planting a lot of sage next year, just to have more greenery in the yard when it gets cold, and spreading the argyranthemum if I can. Hellebores grow slowly, it will be longer before I have more of them.

end of season

Here's what was still growing end of last month, in my garden.

Peppers. I had already potted up a second bell pepper to bring into the house for winter, simply because it was growing straighter than the other one I kept in a pot on the deck all summer. That one was leaning crooked, looked funny.

Then I saw this plant making narrow, long peppers- which must be jalapeños or serranos, either one of which I'd love for cooking beans and lentils. So I potted up one of that, too. Now I have four peppers overwintering in the house, and that's the limit.

Some herbs came back with a flush of new green after the heat waned: thyme

oregano

here a sage plant next to a young pepper- which is now dead, but the sage still thrives.

In fact sage stays green and nice-looking so long into the coolness of fall, I'm starting to think I should use it in the landscape- I've got so much seed. And I love the blue hues in its foliage.

Parsley looks like nothing- because we have been eating it!

Now that many bugs have died from cold- no more attacks of whitefly, and the caterpillars that plagued my broccoli are all gone- the plants are growing new leaves

and some are even forming tiny heads.

And now that I don't really need its services anymore- driving away problematic bugs- the marigolds have taken off and produced tons of blooms.

Especially the red one, which is my least-favorite. Of course.

Without much care is the swiss chard. Soon I will eat it again.

I planted more chard from seed, they are just coming up. But the soil around them keeps getting loosened by digging rodents (grrrr) so I don't know if they will grow well.

And here's a tiny thing I'm happy to see is still green- the rosemary I started from a cutting. Go, rosemary! you can make it through the coming winter I will bury you in leaf mulch above your head.

cleanup

Starting to clean up the garden. I have cut a few bunches of herbs to dry (more on that later) and took out all the green bean plants today. It is a relief not to see sickly plants in that area anymore. I don't want to eat any more of my green beans anyway, they don't look good. Curled and mottled pale ugh.

Waited for a cool night so I could get the plants into a trash bag with most of the whitefly still resting on them. Cleaned up all the leaf litter from around the plants too, as it is probably full of disease the insects have spread. Either the cool weather or my hand-removal is helping- I found less whitefly on the broccoli plants than before. I wiped undersides of the foliage again and found fewer whitefly eggs/larvae than before, and only four caterpillars. Also some white specks on the yellow traps, so maybe that helped some too. I'm going to rinse them off and re-apply the sticky stuff.

Pit that the chrysalis of the white cabbage butterfly is a pretty thing -I squished it.

I am going to smother this plot (where the green beans were) with shredded cardboard, compost and leaf mulch, and hope for better luck next year. At least the soil looks good- rich, black and crumbly- and there's lots of worms. I disturbed at least half a dozen this morning. They look healthy. Crawl away quicker than you'd think a worm can move.