Harvest Monday

I need to pinch myself.  Is it really the end of November and I just ate a fresh salad from my garden?  Or maybe I should kick myself for not planting a fall/winter garden sooner!

This week in the garden I pulled some turnips that I roasted.  The turnip greens are sitting in the fridge awaiting that fabulous recipe that's going to make me love them!

I cut some lettuce for salad- it's a mix of green leaf, romaine and a mesclun mix.  I'm so use to my lettuce getting bitter that I nibble the ends before adding.  Very nice to have bitter free lettuce!  And yes, the strawberries are still producing at the end of November.

I also pulled the first radishes from the fall garden.

I think fall/ winter gardening is now my favorite- no 100 degree weather, 100% humidity, mosquitoes, chiggers, overabundant pests or rampant weeds! 

To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday

I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week!  This is my first time planting a fall garden, so it's exciting to have harvests in November.  This week I pulled my first turnips.  I like turnips, but I'm still searching for a turnip green recipe I like.  I tried to take the turnip leaves and turn them into chips like kale chips.... well, I'm still searching for a turnip green recipe I like!  Suggestions are welcome.

I also picked a bowl of peas.

And I finally cleared out the pepper bed.  It got down to 25oF one night and I decided to take the row cover from the peppers and cover the fall bed. 

The strawberries are still producing a little bit, but they didn't survive long enough for a photo.  

To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday

Peanuts have dried and I picked them, dusted off the dirt, and weighed them (in the shells).  The brown basket and the bowl of shelled peanuts are from the front bed.  Some of the peanuts are huge!  Biggest peanuts I've grown!  The white basket is from the back bed.  Both beds were 4'x6' and the front bed produced twice as much.

Front Bed : 5 lbs, 4 oz
Back Bed:  2 lbs, 8 oz

Total: 7 lbs, 12 oz

Out of curiosity, I checked out prices for organic peanuts and found that they go for $3.49/ lb.  Putting my harvest at a value of $27.  I don't remember the exact price of the peanut seeds, but they weren't more than $3 for all the seeds.  Not bad!  Luckily Jeff loves peanuts and has done most of the shelling and at this moment that bowl of peanuts is roasting in the oven.

Also from the garden are the peppers that have been hiding under a row cover.

 

This bell and banana pepper went onto a homemade pizza.

These two went into burritos.  The peppers have been very slow to ripen with the cold even under a cover.  Parting with the peppers may finally make it to my to do list next weekend.

There's lots of pea pods in the garden, but they haven't filled in yet.  Here's a few that were ready and were rapidly eaten.

Finally, the strawberries have slowed down, but keep on producing despite the cold nights.

 

I hope everyone had a Happy Harvest Monday!  To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

Fall Colors

This weekend has been perfect autumn weather with blue skies and beautiful colors on the trees.  Here are some of the pretty colors I found in the backyard and beyond..

A kaleidoscope of colors on an oak leaf:

 

Vivid dogwoods against the blue sky:

Focusing on a single dogwood leaf- such amazing colors:

Then there are the yellows, like this American beech:

Looking up through the layer of leaves:

Thought it looked nifty to blur the leaves into a jumble of color:

 

Back into focus is a view of the woods and the bird feeder through the leaves:

And finally, we took the canoe to the Catawba River and here's Domino checking out the autumn leaves on the bank:

There is such beauty in every season, but autumn wins for colors.. well, until spring flowers come!  I suppose the lesson is to enjoy of the beauty of the moment. 

Garden Goals: November

The days are getting shorter and the leaves are falling from the trees.  Normally I would be done with the garden after the first frost, but this year I'm trying to extend my season.  So, here's November's gardening goals:

• Clean up garden: I need to pull the eggplants and clean up the herb garden.
• Add manure to beds as they are cleaned up.
• Mulch: rake up leaves, get Jeff to mow them and add to beds
• Plant the winter garden: This is my experimental garden because I have no clue if seeds are going to germinate this late in the year, much less grow and mature.  I guess I will find out!
• Cover beds: since I ended up getting much more row cover than I originally needed, I'm going to make a cold frame for the broccoli.  The broccoli seem to be taking their time and I don't know if they are going to make it before it gets too cold.  I may make another frame for one of the fall beds too.
• Harvest and eat fall veggies!

Well, I guess this means I should get moving and get off the couch.  Happy November gardening!

Funky Spider

A beautiful autumn afternoon lured me to the garden with my camera.

Among the cabbage plants I found the craziest looking spider.

It had such vivid colorings and the biggest abdomen I've seen on a spider!

Its a marbled orbweaver and I'm hoping its working on eating the cabbage worms that have been munching away on my cabbage.

She is a welcome and colorful and addition to my garden!