Fall garden is growing and coming along!
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| Bibb Lettuce |
This is the Bibb lettuce (one of eight).
Looking great, perky and doing well. Not sure when we harvest them but I might cut one this coming weekend...
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| Collard Greens |
Collard greens, they are growing and getting big leaves...
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| Curley Kale |
Curly leaf kale...we LOVE kale, can't wait for this to get bigger and we get to harvest it and enjoy it for dinner...
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| Mustard Greens |
Here are the mustard greens. I'll be honest, we don't have a lot of experience in cooking with them but we're willing to try. They are supposed to grow well here, and indeed they are, so we'll see...
One tomato plant survived, the other died. Too late to start another but this one is the "better boy" tomato plant and it has blossoms on it!
Maybe we'll get some Fall tomatoes after all...
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| Napa Cabbage |
Here is one of the Chinese (Napa) cabbage plants. They are all doing great. They look beautiful and since it's our first time, we're just going to see how this all comes out. I think we can eat the leaves at this point but I'd like to see if we can get the center "cabbage" portion to develop...
Here is the one yellow squash plant.
It is covered in blossoms and of course those in turn gave us...
...our first real Fall harvest.
OK, so it's only three squash but hey, we'll take them. They had a bit of green scale looking spots on them but I read they can be cut off and are safe. The bumpiness, also from what I've read, means that we left them on the vine too long but I bet they will still be delicious!
Live and learn. And that's the whole purpose of this scaled back Fall garden, to lean what does well for us and allow us to plan accordingly for next year.
Any advice on the above veggies?
RE: Mustard Greens
ReplyDeleteWash and dry the leaves - saute in olive oil and a little garlic - Salt & Pepper to taste. Sprinkle with crispy chopped bacon if you have some - Divine! They are very bitter/sharp before cooking.
Fall garden looks Great.
ReplyDeleteYou can harvest leaf lettuce from the outside of the plant, leaving the central bud to grow more leaves, or you can cut the entire plant at the base. Leaf lettuce is ready to eat at just about any size, and you can pick the baby leaves for tender salads. Romaine lettuce forms its characteristic mid-rib before harvest; at full size it makes an upright leafy clump. Bibb types such as Buttercrunch form a loose head; you can harvest anytime, but for the classic Bibb rosette, wait until the lettuce is nearly full size (6 to 8 inches in diameter) and cut it at the soil line. (info taken from Bonnie Plant site)
Growing and caring for lettuce: http://www.harvesttotable.com/2009/02/how_to_grow_lettuce/
How nice to have a fall garden. Stir fry with garlic and butter or olive oil. It will all taste delicious. I usually pick the outer and largest leave and in no time, there are more to replace them. I bet you can harvest the greens for quite a long time still.
ReplyDeleteYou can cook the mustard greens just like turnip greens or any greens. If the ribs are tough, pull them out or cut the ribs out. I really hate the bumpy squash! It all looks good, but don't let the lettuces go to seed.
ReplyDeletepparsimony
As Colleen said so long as you don't disturb the roots the lettuce will keep growing. I'd slice off just at the ground level one head of bibb and it would grow again. I think you can harvest outer leaves of kale and mustard greens as it grows.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I missed planting the fall garden, but since it is still in the high 80's daily maybe I still have time!
ReplyDeleteLooking great!
ReplyDelete1st Man,
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to see your garden is doing so well. It sure looks like you're going to have all kinds of vegetables to harvest soon!!!
Beautiful vegetables! Congrats on having squash and tomatoes at this time of year.
ReplyDeleteHere’s an easy way that I use to cook all my greens (you’ll like this because it has bacon!). Fry a few pieces of bacon, then sauté some shallots or onions and garlic, toss in the green and cook for a few minutes until tender-crisp. Salt and pepper.
Definitely harvest some lettuce and greens now. Use scissors or a sharp knife to cut the outer leaves. I grow lettuce for a couple of months in the spring by just harvesting the outer leaves from each plant. The middle keeps growing.
ReplyDeletewhen I came back to blogging last week I knew something was missing and it was your blog,, it wasn't coming up! I am so glad I found you again,, I have some catching up to do,, any harvest is a great harvest small or big, everything you're grown looks great!
ReplyDeleteLike several others have said, I never cut the entire lettuce plant. I go through pinching off the largest leaves from every plant until I have the quantity that I want. In 5 days you won't be able to tell you were even in there.
ReplyDeleteAre your tomato plants growing in containers? I have never had good luck growing them in any container I have ever tried. I have learned over the years that it is important to decide upfront if your plant is going to be tall or wide, and prune accordingly. I take out the suckers and let them get tall for best production, but they do start a little later than ones that are allowed to go wide. Eggshells or powdered milk in the soil helps prevent blossom end rot and when the plants are big, I almost never water, unless it's especially dry. For insect control I spray with soapy/oily water and for disease control I cut off the bottom branches so that there is no soil splashed onto the foliage. I know you probably already know all these things.. :) I just hate to see sad tomato plants... but this time of year I think they all start looking sad. Best wishes! I am really enjoying your blog.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say that there is a funny video on youtube about spanking your tomato plants. Haha.. the man says he gets a better yield from plants that he smacks at the base with a rolled up section of newspaper. Tomato growing can be so interesting when you go looking for advice. :)
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