Cauliflower!!

Today I picked my first cauliflower.  It was one of the 'Snow Crowns.'  Because the bed is planted so densely, and the sun is on the south side, while this plant is on the north, I didn't have to bother to cover it to blanch it.  It was delicious.

More Cleanup

With the rain and cooler weather, the tomatoes were looking sad, so I've pulled them out.  I also pulled the peppers and aubergines.  And the old strawberry bed has also been cleaned out.  I dug in a bag of dry leaves in each one.  Those are the only beds that are empty right now.

The Beckyberries were already becoming too dense, so I trimmed all side shoots up to the where they were tied to the wires.  At some point I'll have to let a few new shoots develop.

We decided that we were not really enjoying the various blackberries out in front, so those have been removed.  The raspberries are still there.

The spinach that I planted a week ago is up.  I hope it has time to grow before it gets really cold.

Garlic Time

Today I planted a row of garlic, after fertilizing the whole bed.  Later there will also be onions and leeks.

I've also planted some Olympia spinach in the old green bean bed.  It's pretty late, but with the weather still being warm (83 today!) I decided to give it a try.

The stink bugs are out in force again.  I've mentioned them to several other gardeners, and I'm beginning to think that they have been drawn to my vegetables. 

Autumnal Equinox

Today is the equinox, and appropriately enough it has turned cool.  We even have a prediction of heavy rain in a couple of days.  So I'm really in a clean up mood.

I trimmed all the strawberry plants on the side of the house and weeded the whole area.  Then David extended the retaining board so I could put in six more strawberry plants.  I took them out of the other bed in the main garden, which is dying rapidly.

Next I cleaned out the bed with the fruit trees and beneficial flowers.  I've decided to widen the path along that area, because the berries are already hanging over and making it hard to walk.  We'll get some more wood chips to put down.

Pepper Harvest

I've picked a lot of peppers, but I hardly made a dent.  Unfortunately, the stink bugs have gotten to a lot of the peppers and really made a mess of them.  Most are still useable, but some are not.  Good thing I planted lots.

This is what the stink bug damage looks like.

Next year I plan to grow fewer peppers and cover them with netting. 

More Winter Stuff

Today I sowed a row of Pac Choi and four rows of mache in the bed where the dry beans had been.  I also sowed some more carrots, romaine lettuce, chard and kale.  The squirrels have been very busy burying nuts in every open spot of soil, so I covered both beds with some bird netting.  Hopefully, it will discourage the squirrels from digging in the nice soft soil.

The brassicas are looking really good.  I've caught a couple of white butterflies inside the netting, so I'll have to watch for caterpillars.

Beginning of the End

The blueberry harvest is officially over.  We picked the last handful yesterday.  The most impressive bush was the Legacy.  It started fairly early, and has been the only one still producing for the last three weeks or so.


I've pulled out the dried bean patch.  I ended up with six pounds of dry beans.  They're pretty, and they'll be great in soup, but probably not worth the water and (tedious) work shelling them.