A Final Look at the Garden

Around the middle of August we did a final planting. I always mean to do a late summer planting, and sometimes we manage it and sometimes we don't. Unfortunately one of the reasons we got around to it this year is because our harvest was so poor and so we were not spending our time picking and processing the way we should have been.

The bed above is a mess. It had lettuce going to seed so I planted a bunch of rapini, rutabaga (for greens), Ethiopian kale, and I don't know what exactly, around it. I did not keep good records, and I think things got washed down the slope before they germinated anyway. Once the lettuce got pulled it all looked very erratic.

I can tell you the stuff that is going to seed at the end is the rapini. We have the 40 day variety (Quarentina) and if you don't pick it when it is ready, too bad for you. I have left it for the bees, who are loving it. We might get enough seed to replace what we planted, if the weather holds nice for long enough (not too likely though).

Lettuce and spinach were planted at about the same time. The spinach is magnificent - a little too magnificent, some of it is bolting - and the lettuce is actually starting to go bitter. Temperatures have been higher than expected for the last 2 months, given how low they were through the main part of the summer. We were hoping these would be just babies, and we would cover them for the winter and harvest them in the spring. I guess we will still do that, at least the cover in winter part. How they look in the spring we shall see.

In the above bed we planted, from left to right: red radishes, winter radishes, Goldana turnips, and several kinds of beets. The red radishes are over, the turnips are being picked regularly, the winter radishes will be ready soon, and the beets seem a little behind. Not too bad, I guess.

The tomatoes are out, and the beds are empty except for the Golden Berries. Mr. Ferdzy can take down the trellises at any time, but he is still hauling gravel. I intend to hang one of the Golden Berries in the basement and so how it does for continuing to ripen.

Another view of the radishes and beets. Carrot tops behind them have not died down yet, but the potatoes are long out and in fact we are putting a dent in them. The onions ended up being very frustrating as about 40% of them never died down and all of them were rather small. This was the result of a fungal disease hitting them in mid summer. Peanuts and sweet potatoes are still under plastic but not for long - they will be dug as soon as we have the time.

Another week or two and the garden will be finished for the year. I'm looking forward to it and I think Mr. Ferdzy is too. We are both having a hard time being motivated to make that final push. But soon the forecast will be for cooler temperatures and we will have to jump to it.

Posted in: Ontario Food