Fall Salad Greens

I pulled the last of the big kale plants (they were getting kind of strong flavored).  In that bed (Bed 8) I moved several small lettuce plants that were eking along.  Now they look dead.  We'll see.

Then I sowed a four foot row of romaine lettuce, a row of 'Bloomsdale' spinach, and a row of 'Super Gourmet' lettuce, along with some roquette and mizuna.

Uncovering the Sweet Potatoes

I read somewhere that if you grow sweet potatoes under black plastic you need to remove it in early August or the gophers will eat all of them.  I don't think we have gophers, but I decided to uncover them just in case.  They are doing quite nicely.  In fact, they're starting to encroach on the second planting of squash.

The first planting of bush beans is finished, so David pulled them out.  I'm not sure what I'll put in that bed.  Maybe lettuce.

I pulled all the first planting beets and canned them.  I got 5 lbs, not counting three big lunkers that I decided not to can.  I'll make borscht.

First San Marzano Tomato

Today I picked the first ripe San Marzano tomato.  It has blossom end rot, but otherwise looks o.k.  It's pretty small.

The Red October tomatoes are starting to ripen.

Broccoli and Cauliflower

After cleaning out the onion bed a couple of days ago, I've now planted my broccoli and cauliflower starts in that bed.  I zip-tied two metal hoops together to make larger ones.  Then I covered it with bird netting, hoping to keep out the cabbage butterflies, and then shade cloth.

I also moved all the broccoli that I started from seeds a couple of weeks ago into 4" pots.  I have 24 pots.  About 8 of them are sprouting broccoli.  The rest is a blend of varieties.  I may have overdone it. 


Update:

Yesterday I found a white butterfly inside the netting.  So now it is covered entirely in the shade cloth.

Strawberry Thief

Several days ago we started finding strawberries with large bites taken out of them.  We assumed that the squirrels were back at it, so we put some bird netting over the berry bed.  Yesterday we took the netting off, and later we caught the real thief.  We are dogsitting Sarah, a black lab belonging to our friends, and we caught her in the act.  So now the netting is off.  We just have to keep an eye on Sarah.

Onion Harvest, the Sequel

Yesterday I pulled all the onions and shallots out.  They are now basking in the sun next to the compost bins and blueberries.  My plan is to freeze half of them and keep the rest for fresh use.

The yellow onions are huge.  I have 50 of them.  There are 14 red onions and 10 (very large) shallots.

First Cucumber

Yesterday we picked our first cucumber.  There are three others about the same size,  But then it looks like a long wait for the next round.   Who knows why.