This time of year the garden is usually a crispy wasteland and my gardening mojo is long gone. But, with our mild weather and my haphazard and relaxed approach to planting this year it's a whole new look out there.
I grew up in Southern California where you can grow many crops year-round. Even here in Northern California cool season crops like broccoli are harvested all winter and the Farmer's Market is open 12 months a year. Still, I have never grown a winter garden. My dad is from Iowa and I seem to recall growing up that his very impressive garden was a summer activity.
But see those little beet seedlings? I actually planted a second crop of carrots, beets and chard in the spaces where beans and the first crop of chard used to live.
In late June (or early July?) I finally planted the little squash and cucumber plants I had in pots from Oscar's birthday party. Lo and behold the butternut squash is going crazy. This one grows a visible amount every day. And it's one of at least 6 squashes out there. The cucumbers are growing and flowering and setting exactly zero cucumbers.
The tomato plants look great but the crop isn't great at all. Lots of yellow cherry tomatoes. A decent crop of shady ladies and then a bunch of foliage without a lot a fruit. I think too much shade in this bed--tomatoes will be moving next year.
I threw some potatoes in the ground. This one came up. In unphotographed areas the raspberry plants I was thinking of ripping out finally produced some delicious raspberries. The grapes have a bit of powdery mildew and we didn't really harvest them. The strawberries are going to be ripped out and the artichokes are done and brown but I'm not sure if they're perrinial. Maybe they will come back in the Spring?
And last time Biscuit visited Grammy she planted a bunch more winter crop seeds so this garden just might keep going until spring. Or until I get sick of it :)
It occurred to me to document the garden after reading Amanda's weekly garden notes all summer. It really is fun to see different gardens in different climates.
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