The Garden On December 2, 2009 - Part II

Across the main path from the former tomato bed are the lingering winter squash plants. Here's a Berrettina Piacentina squash that I'm waiting for (blue-green) and a very late Magdalena Big Cheese. The vines look pretty dead here.

But, further up the fence...

There's enough life left in the vines to make me wait to see what happens with the squash.

The vine that produced the first Magadalena Big Cheese squashes has been pulled and put in the compost. I've planted Olive Leaf Rapini in their place. They were started in paper pots and then planted out. The nursery flats are protecting the seedlings from the birds. I've got some thinning to do.

The cucumbers need to be pulled out, but I imagine the chickens will appreciate the seeds in those big bruisers. Yeah right, I've just been too lazy to get around to yanking them.

The beets are finally getting large enough to start harvesting. There's one Burpee's Golden hiding in there. I've had an incredibly difficult time getting that variety to germinate, much less grow. I love golden beets and haven't yet found a variety that I either like (forget the Golden Grex from Fedco, only the skin is golden and it doesn't taste good) or can grow (Burpee's just doesn't like me). Anyone have any suggestions for a sweet all golden beet?

And over here, a star performer this year, the Pimento de Padron peppers.

The beginning of December and there are delicious pods waiting to be picked! I'm not sure how many pounds of pods these plants produced this year. At the height of the season I was picking 2 to 3 pounds each week.

Aji Panca baccatum chiles. These are just starting to ripen. I picked the first ones yesterday and have started another post about tasting the baccatum chiles that I'm harvesting.

Here's a shot of the backside of the pepper bed. Most of the red peppers you see there are more baccatum chiles, Aji Angelo and Christmas Bell. The Amaranth looms in the next bed beyond.

At this point in the photo shoot, the fog started to make its dramatic exit.

Here's a couple of close ups of the amaranth seed heads.

The sweet alyssum growing along the back of the bean trellises is happy. This variety is "Summer Peaches" from Renee's Seeds. I encourage alyssum to grow all around the vegetable garden because it attracts a lot of beneficial insects and doesn't get pushy around the veggies, and it's pretty!

Petaluma Gold Rush beans drying on the vine. I very happy that I've managed to save enough seeds to grow these out next year and hopefully harvest enough for eating.

And next, Tarbais beans. If I'm really lucky some of these will dry so that I can try again next year.

There's plenty of parsley to fill my cooking needs, a few plants have started to bolt, I hope the rest holds off for a couple more months.

Carrots, full of ants and aphids on their crowns, but they seem to be doing ok anyway. They will be happier when I pull down the amaranth that is shading them for half the day.

Celery root, a new crop for me. They have taken forever to grow. There's one Diamante, the sole survivor, that's getting large enough to harvest. I dug up one clump of Dolvi seedlings, separated them and replanted them. The replanted ones seem to be ok. I'm not sure if they will size up before they bolt in the spring. I'll just have to keep trying until I figure out how to grow it, it's one of my favorite vegetables.

Scallions, big scallions, or perhaps small onions. For some reason I didn't harvest them when they were small. I pulled a couple of them recently and they were still tasty.

Golden Chard under a protective bottomless water bottle cloche. I usually plant chard earlier in the season so that I have mature plants to harvest from at this time of year. Actually, I did have plants in the garden this summer but they got attacked by powdery mildew and aphids, neither of which I did anything about. They were so yucky that I pulled them out and then didn't start new plants until it was a bit late. These plants would also appreciate it if I would chop down the amaranth.

And finally, ripening coriander seeds, another favorite seasoning. This is also a favorite plant for attracting beneficial insects. Some of these seeds will be scattered around the garden to become volunteers in the war against the bad bugs.