The Garden On October 7, 2009

I like to photograph the whole garden at times so that I can go back and see the progression over time and I haven't done so in a while so here goes. It's a long post with lots of photos.

The beans are climbing their trellises but are not as vigorous as I would have expected. I think that the oak trees are sending their roots into this bed and sucking up a lot of nutrients, this bed has been requiring more water than the other beds as well.


One of the pole beans is Petaluma Gold Rush, chosen by Slow Food for its Ark of Taste. I planted out the last of my beans this summer and fortunately it looks like the plants will produce enough beans to save for planting next year. I got my original seeds through the Seed Savers Exchange but the member who offered the seeds is no longer offering seeds through the exchange and these seeds do not seem to be available anywhere now.


There is a pot with two chiles in it at this end of the bed. Those little yellow chiles are Pimento de Chiero. They are quite hot and have a wonderful fruity aroma. Most of the heat is in the ribs and I found that I can remove the ribs to reduce the heat but not lose the wonderful flavor and aroma.


Sharing space in the pot with the Pimento de Chiero is a Datil pepper. Slow Food has added this pepper to their Ark of Taste also. None of my peppers have ripened yet.


Also at this end of the bed are a few bush beans, Rolande filet beans and a tricolor mix from Renee's seeds. These plants are also not very vigorous. There are a few beans setting so I might get a handful one of these days.


The Red Florence fennel is nearly done blooming and has tons of seeds. The Vida Verde amaranth mix is towering above the fennel now and is even getting taller than the bean trellises.


Here's one of the amaranth flower heads.


Carrots are growing at the base of the amaranth. I pulled all of them after I photographed them, the crowns were full of aphids being attended by ants, yuck. The aphids don't damage the carrot roots but I just don't want that kind of infestation in the garden.


Scallions, some of them are getting a bit big.


Carrot seedlings growing under the protection of overturned nursery flats. I seem to have to protect the seedlings of everything these days.


My only surviving Diamante celery root.


On to the pepper/squash/eggplant bed. The brown stuff in back is the tomato bed.


Looking down at the pepper and tomato beds. You can see how some of the tomato plants are getting crispy, the leaves rustle in the breeze... But there's still lots of tomatoes left on the greener plants.


The Magadalena Big Cheese and Berrettina Piacentina squashes are running rampant in one corner of the garden. You can see them climbing up the garden fence.


Magadalena Big Cheese squash. I wonder if this is true to type, the photo on the Native Seeds Search site shows a larger more round squash.


Berrettina Piacentina squash.


The Berrettina Piacentina female blossoms are huge.


A few close ups of peppers. This is Piment Doux Long des Landes, a sweet pepper from France.


Marconi Purple sweet peppers. They start purple and ripen to red.


Aji Angelo, a baccatum chile with medium heat. I've only tasted one so far and it seems like it would be good in salsa.


The Palace King cucumbers have grown to the top of their trellis. They seem to be slowing down a bit now and I've seen the first spots of powdery mildew on a few leaves.


Pancalieri a Costa Bianca frisee nestled in near the squash.


And next to the frisee are a few beets that survived the rats. I'm trying to get a few more going under the nursery flats. There's Chioggia and Dewings Early Blood Turnip shown. The Burpee's Golden beets that I've been trying to grow just don't seem to make it. I think one surviving plant is hidden in there somewhere.


Diamond Eggplant. This variety is from the Ukraine and is great for cool or short season areas. It is one of the best eggplant I've ever grown, not only because it does well in my cool climate but because it is delicious. Even the mature eggplant that I've picked have had few seeds and have not been at all bitter. I'll be growing these again next year.


The plants are a bit scruffy looking and had a lot of the lower leaves chewed off by rabbits, but they are still producing a lot of good quality fruits. There were some spider mites on the leaves earlier but they don't seem to have done too much damage to the plants. I've also noticed powdery mildew on the caps of some of the fruits, but that also doesn't seem to be problematic.


The Thai Round Petch Parisa plants are huge, covered with flowers and fruits. My husband announced to me one day that he wasn't really crazy about those little eggplant... There's only just so much eggplant curry that I can eat. Oh well.


I'm skipping a closer look at the tomato bed this time around. There are plenty of photos of tomatoes on my harvest posts and you get a good idea of the state of things from the big view.

The snow and snap peas are getting going. I managed to protect them as seedlings with a light weight row cover. It's still rolled up around the base of the plants just in case... The Opal Creek Golden Snap are in the foreground, they are larger plants than the Kefe Beinwil snow peas.


Although, the Kefe Beinwils are already starting to bloom.


The kales pretty much survived the summer aphid infestation. One of the Cavolo Laciniato plants has started to bolt. I cut the top off and have been harvesting side shoots for the chickens. They do love kale.


The Piracicaba broccoli is still pumping out the side shoots.


I'm trying a new kale this winter, Cavolo Laciniato (Smooth Leaf Kale).


And I'm still trying to get a Romanesco broccoli plant going. I don't think I'll be getting anything like the harvest I got last winter.


And here's some chervil sprouting that I sowed at the base of the kale plants.



And now I have to get back to tomato preserving. Come back Monday for the harvest post to see my treasure trove of tomatoes!