Monday, September 14, 2009

The Fall Garden

The fall garden is really starting to come into its own.  Every year I try to do a little more for the fall garden.  I never really understood before how much I could grow in my garden.  Its amazing what a little planning and more than one planting will do for the amount of produce you can get out of a small space.  Above are some of the leeks.  This is my first year planting them and so far I'm very happy with them.  I think I'll harvest one this week, just to see what it looks like.
 
The tomatoes  are really dead this time.  But now, its not quite as bothersome.  We're just a few weeks from frost, so its not as big a deal.  They'll be pulled out on Friday and the chickens will clean up the leftovers.  


 The peppers are getting big though and I'm waiting for a few of them to put on their color.
The swiss chard has also still been doing well.  We've cut and eaten lots and still have plenty to go.
 
This is some of the lettuce I planted for the cold frames.  It was supposed to be romaine, but it looks like some red leaf lettuce snuck  in there as well.  Its a happy mistake.
There are also some beets looking a little anemic here.  They are also for the cold frame, although they may not make it that far.  This is my first year trying out the cold frames and I'm very excited to see how it goes.  If things go as well as hoped, I'll be adding more cold frame space to the beds.  The next major project is adding several more beds outside the main garden area as raised beds.  I hope to have them all built, filled with soil and ready to go before the first snowflakes start to fall.

3 comments:

kitsapFG said...

You will be enjoying fresh garden food long into the fall and early winter. Fall gardens are well worth the effort and forward planning.

The Mom said...

Kitsap, I hope to someday have as much going in my fall garden as you do. You are an inspiration.

Laurel said...

What a great blog and photos. You do a wonderful job! I kind of related to you, so I had to tell you about this self-contained strawberry garden I just got. I have this favorite online nursery because I live so far from everything that I hate to drive all around to buy plants, which can be upwards of 100 miles. So, I shop online. This garden is tiered and has a built in sprinkler, but the coolest thing is that you can buy a frame to fit it and put a net over the frame to keep the chickens out of the berries. I don't know about yours, but if they aren't eating them, they're scratching in the bed. This works so great. Check out GardenHarvestSupply.com