GRO4US

Though the official date is twenty days away yet, the season has arrived. Sunday afternoon I could feel the difference in just a few short hours: the humidity was gone, and the temperature had lowered. I have always loved Fall! The last few days of early Fall have been wonderful.

In keeping with the time of year, I’ve planted my first bed of fall crops. In my top bed I’ve planted 21 beets, 12 “Russian Red” Kale (the ragged sort you might find in a store), and have started Broccoli and another Cucumber in pots. Depending on what goes on with my tomato bed I may wind up with a whole other bed to use.

My oddball roma/cherry tomato plant has produced, seemingly by a miracle, some two pounds of fruit over the last week and a half. Yes, virtually all the tomatoes on the plant ripened at the exact same time. Err, I take that back (since I just weighed them to see)… the basket I gathered yesterday was 1lb 5oz in weight, and we had over 10oz already indoors. I think there are several pounds of ripening tomatoes still on the plant!

It’s getting late enough that I’m hoping that my lone pepper plant will fruit; it is almost the size for flowers. Out of nearly six attempts to start the plants from seeds, only one bore a tiny sprout and that was almost by accident. So, it’s been a very slow two months while I await peppers; it would seem that most other gardeners, and farmers here, have had trouble with peppers this year.

What have you planted in your garden for your autumn planting?

Well, it’s that time of year when we need to plant indoors, fix up the beds, and remove the dead and dying plants from the garden. Even my little garden is thinning out and needing a good once-over before I plant again. Most my cucumber plants have yellowed and slowed their production, the tomato plants look like they’re dying, and I’ve got to rip out the rest of my much-too-old lettuce.

And yet things are still going well.

The three bush beans that I planted have furnished nearly a full serving for six adults over a week’s time. The carrots that have been ever so doubtful are growing decently, and even my beets have thrived.

The last month or so feels like it has flown. All of a sudden my well maintained garden looks like a nightmare, and the weeds on the border have crept in nearly three or more inches. What doesn’t help is that the last cucumber that I planted has grown to massive proportions, with some four vines almost five feet long. (And they claim you can put a cucumber plant in a three-foot by three-foot space, hah!)

Of course, while I do have to work I also have to start things like broccoli indoors while I prepare my garden for the next plantings. I feel almost like Damocles, except that it feels like a big sack of flour is dangling over my head. It would help if I didn’t have to amend my soil and add more compost thanks to the hefty rains this year (by the account of one long-time gardener, this wasn’t a good year for a new gardener) but such is life.

At least I’ve seen the worst water can do in my region!