Winding Down and Ramping Up

      For many things in the garden, the five plus inches of rain from Hurricane Sandy was the final straw.  Some tomato plants that were hanging in late in the season have wilted from too much water.  The sweet potato tops that survived the frost have now collapsed.  I pulled the zucchini plants shown in the following picture because the fruits have just stopped growing. 

Pulled the zucchini,  November 2nd,  2012

      The squash needed to come out to be able to refurbish that bed for getting the cold frames back in action.  In the back yard garden, I cleaned up a frame that had also had squash plants, to plant some starts that have been waiting in six packs.

      This frame has Four Seasons Lettuce, volunteer Frisee, Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce, and a few shallot starts that might give me some bulbs in the spring to divide and regrow.  That big empty space in the front beckons to be a seed bed for some new cold weather crops to sprout for later transplanting.  Even as the summer garden needs to be pulled, the winter garden activity is just beginning.

Nice Fall Harvest

      Monday afternoon's harvest included a great big Icicle radish:

      Earlier in the summer, I had hung radish stalks heavy with seed upside down over this bed.  They must have been from white Icicle radishes, because I now have several growing.  This was the largest one, so I figured it needed to be pulled.

Huge Icicle radish, October 22nd,  2012

      A radish is a great addition to a salad, so I picked some of his friends to add to the harvest:

      A very nice haul.  The big radish, some Egyptian walking onions, a wonderful late Dr. Wyche yellow tomato, a black krim tomato, black seeded Simpson lettuce, four seasons lettuce, tatsoi, arugula, purple onions, a bell pepper, golden treasure peppers, and banana peppers.  I am hankerin for salad again just thinking about it.

Goings and Comings

      Early October is a time of transition for gardens here in Delaware.  While some tomato plants and cukes and peppers are still hanging on, they certainly are not thriving in these shorter days of fall.  There just isn't enough solar power to keep them going.  But as they peter out, the salad greens and cole crops should come into their glory in the cooler temperatures.

Unnamed small cherry tomato still thriving,  October 8,  2012

Even the tomato foliage is still thriving

While some tomatoes may ripen, these plants have given up

Summer flowers still look pretty good, summer veggies fading fast

Pick me and pull me

      Most of the tomatoes that were put out early in May are done, having run out of gas even if they were indeterminate plants.  However, some of the plants that were started from cuttings in June or early July are still looking alright, particularly two Chocolate Cherry plants over at the park.

Still going, and going.....

        The most productive single plant this season was a volunteer squash plant that I hoped might be a white Caspar pumpkin from where it popped up.  So against the advice of garden writers (squash plants are notorious cross breeders), I left it alone.  Turned out to be a true Patty Pan squash, and it produced over 40 squash during the season.  The plant is looking pretty beat up now, though there are still baby squash setting!

Single Patty Pan squash plant,  October 8,  2012

Malabar,  October 8,  2012

      This is the one malabar spinach plant that I put out this summer.  I had started some cuttings last September, and after giving away three starts, this is the single one I had left.  It is a tropical plant, and will melt into a mess with the first frost.  I will be taking some cuttings soon to root for the beginnings of a new crop for next year.  So although this vine looks fine at the moment, its end is soon in sight.
       So as the summer crops are going, the fall crops are coming in stronger and stronger.

Four Seasons lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson, Arugula

Purple Top Turnip

Fedco Tendergreens, and kale to the right

      The cold frames will soon need to be put back together, and repaired where necessary.  I scavenged wood and glass over the last few months, so I expect there will even be newer and better cold frames in the near future.  I am potting up any volunteers that I find to develop good roots for transplant to one of the many cold frames.
      From one season to the next, with no big pause in sight.

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

       Sustainable Seed Company writes of this lettuce:

Lactuca Sativa
Black Seeded Simpson (45 days)

An old reliable lettuce that is heat resistant, slow to bolt and very dependable. Leaves are large, but lightly crispy and ruffled.  Excellent for spring, early summer and fall planting.  I remember my grandmother growing this variety.  She was a practical German woman, so it was one of her favorite for its consistent yields...when the rabbits didn't find it!

1885 James J.H. Seed Co. says..
"An improvement on the Simpson, being finer in many respects."


      Luckily for me, it is Lou Gallo's favorite lettuce, so he often over plants when starting his fall crop.  And I often benefit, as Lou is quite willing to share.

Lou's Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce,  September 20,  2012

      This is a picture of Lou's seed bed of Black Seeded Simpson.  He seeded it heavily in August, and transplants it to other areas of his garden.  I dug out some plants this morning, leaving some space between the newly created rows.  The left side of this picture illustrates the current stocking of his bed.

My box of transplants

      I had started some Black Seeded Simpson earlier, but only a few came up in the middle of this bed.  The arugula to the right did much better, and the Four Seasons Lettuce with the coppery color to the left did passably.  I took some of the new transplants, and filled in the Black Seeded Simpson swath.

Four Seasons, Black Seeded, and Arugula,  September 20,  2012

      Although the transplants looked great in the photo above, they had some major wilt by the time I left the park.  They should show pretty good recovery in two or three days.  With that wilt in mind, I took the rest of the transplants home to plant them in cell packs and put them in the shade.  They should develop a decent root system in a week.  Then they will go in the ground as needed.

Sitting in the shade