I planted lettuce hoping for a harvest before life at the Jersey Shore got too cold and froze over. Boy do I have lettuce now! When I plant it in spring it bolts so fast, but this lettuce has been going strong for weeks now.
I’ve had a few salads from these beds already and, though I love the organic fresh lettuce, I have gotten at least one crunchy brown fall leaf shredded into my salad each time without fail. Why is it that I have no problem pulling weeds out of my garden, but removing the fall leaves is a pain in my butt?
We’ve got asparagus ferning out up there next to the greenhouse. Very exciting because in the spring, the third for those plants, I’ll be able to harvest my first asparagus from that bed. I haven’t been picking the chard from this bed in the back yard for a few weeks now because the chard from the keyhole garden has been much prettier. Some dark spots have been happening on this batch and I think I should just cut this down and put the garden to bed. Don’t know what the black spots are so I should probably trash it instead of composting it.
The broccoli raab is young and tender and delicious. I should have planted that in succession all season because I love it so much just as it is right now.
The bok choi in the little round bed has flowered so if the seed pods dry out before it freezes I’ll be able to save the seed for next year.
Speaking of the keyhole garden… it’s still looking pretty green. When should I dig out the finished compost from the middle basket to start refilling it with fresh ingredients again?
This is the driveway garden with kale, dill and some self seeded purple tansy flowers down in front. I tried companion planting those with the summer squash/zucchini in early summer to keep the squash vine borers away. I didn’t see a noticeable difference though. I think I’ll try wrapping the stems in tin foil next year. The purple tansies are pretty flowers though. As the flowers bloom they kind of unfurl like one of those New Years noise makers you blow into. As they unravel, they push out tiny bright purple blooms along the flower. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Another view of the driveway garden with lemon balm, more kale, astragalus and yarrow.
This is a piece of clean pipe I’ve staked into the ground around my tiny pomegranate seedling. I filled it with leaves and I’m hoping it will be enough insulation to help it survive the winter. My only fear? The ring will fill with snow and freeze solid. I hope it doesn’t, but I’ve never done this before, so we’ll see.
The entry garden has such a pretty kale, marjoram, magic carpet spirea and lavender.
If you are reading this blog, has this ever happened to you? 
