I picked parsley and the tiny volunteer chard this morning, digging them out from under the snow. Unless the parsley keeps growing, the garden is now entirely done for the season.
Better late than never was also the motto of the Nebraska wedding tomato I bought from someone at work. After barely growing all summer, it took off like mad in September and produced lots of green tomatoes that never had a chance to get ripe. Good job, plant.
When that plant started growing, it sprawled over the eggplant that didn’t do anything. I thought the eggplant had died until I took the tomato out. But it was still there, with its three leaves, wishing it had more sun.
Hot peppers, unlike eggplant and tomatoes, love me and want to show me how much by showering me with hundreds of peppers. We passed some on to neighbors and coworkers and still have huge bags in the freezer.
Did I ever post about the fennel? I kept picking big green, black, and yellow caterpillars off of it. Then I looked them up, discovered they were black swallowtails, and let them have the fennel. So pretty.
This fall (late Aug? Early Sept? This is why I’m supposed to update more often.), I planted more kale, cabbage, and beets. Most of them sprouted and then were dug up by squirrels. But the volunteer chard kept growing – it even came back after being chomped to the ground by a rabbit. That’s the plant I picked today. It’ll go in the turkey soup.
Next year:
* Plant beets again in back, because they grew well and made good greens, if not roots.
* Plant spinach in back (Ferry-Morse Teton hybrid did well).
* No green beans in back. Three beans a year isn’t worth it. Try them in the front again, also zucchini, even though neither sprouted there at all this year.
* We get to eat a little bit of the rhubarb I planted this year.
* Put in another rhubarb.
* Consider walking onions.
* See if the parsley comes back and if not, plant more.
* Try a fall garden again with extra squirrel deterrents.
* Put the tomatoes in pots by the driveway, there’s a bit more sun there.
* Put mint in the front flowerbed and encourage it to take over.
* Plant leafy fennel with the tomatoes to attract caterpillar-eating wasps (and black swallowtails), and plant some bulb fennel to eat.
* Try eggplant again (third time’s the charm?) over with the tomatoes.
* Moving the tomatoes will free up space in the front garden for native wildflowers and more bell peppers
* Only one hot pepper plant. Sorry, J.