Halloween Resurrection

      Ghosts and goblins were not the only things to find a new life on Halloween.  Many of my charges who looked so poorly after the Mischief Night frost made miraculous recoveries.  Some such as the nasturtium, did not rise again.

Nasturtium, there is always next year

      But on to some of the snap backs, the little planter of lettuce looks much better,

      And the Tango lettuce has recovered to fight another day.  It certainly looked bad just yesterday morning.

      The cardoon pictured below also bounced back.  Still presenting me the problem of what to do with it.  I did bring a stem home yesterday to try to figure some way to cook it.  Still figuring.

      The bed of greens next to the cardoon look fine.  They should not have looked so bad after the frost.  Maybe they will acclimate to the weather as we have more frequent frosts.

      The beds that I had protected with glass look great.  There are spots where leaves are burned that touched the glass and froze.  I am working now to make the cold frames taller and sturdier.  It is turning out to be a project.

      And lastly, remember the chinese cabbage?  The one I look at longingly every day?  Well, I am still looking at it longingly, as it still looks marvelous.  Will be simply scrumptious.  Unless the deer.....

After the Nor'easter

      We dodged another hyped storm here in Wilmington.  A very good thing in my estimation.  Areas in Maryland and Pennsylvania got over two feet, and there are massive power outages caused by fully leaved trees being toppled due to the heavy sticky snow.  We got maybe an inch in places, but I still wondered what may have happened to my gardens.  After breakfast, I headed out back.

      Above is the recently constructed cold frame cozily covered by a layer of snow.  I just planted some of this frame a week ago, and it contains some flats of veggie starts not yet in the ground.  The snow should melt off, as we are expecting a high of 50 today.

      This a cold frame with various lettuces.  It will be ready for harvesting in a few days.

      Here are some tomatoes that I might pick today.  Daughter Emily has a recipe for green tomatoes that she likes.  Maybe this is the opportune time to try it.

      The trip over to the park revealed beds in pretty good shape.  Shown above are two stacks of glass panels that I coulda, woulda, shoulda have put down two days ago before the storm.  Duh.  And yet I thought that the forecast low of 32 degrees would not hurt any of these fall crops, and I was right.  Lucky, as it would have been a really big dumb moment to find a scene of mass destruction this morning.

      The cardoon on the right survived much better than I had expected.  I was prepared to see the plants totally broken and knocked over.  Only a leaf or two were broken.  I have still to get the inspiration to cut the cardoon and cook it.  Any suggestions appreciated.
      The nasturtium in the background was quite a pleasant surprise.  It is very frost sensitive and goes to mush when iced.  I better pick it today or find a way to cover it as tonight is supposed to be sub freezing.  The onions on the left are Egyptian walking onions.  They are eaten as green onions or scallions, and are just now ready for picking.  Emily, do you see those yummies?

      On the left above is a patch of arugula, and on the right the patch of tatsoi.  Both are pretty cold tolerant, and neither seemed to suffer at all.  Both could use some thinning of plants to move to other cold frames.  Any interest out there?

      Above are mixed greens, lettuces, garlic, and more arugula.  Everybody quite happy after the storm.  All should survive temperatures above 28 degrees.

      A closer look at the nasturtium, with an artichoke nestled in.

      A closer shot of the cardoon.  Cardoon and artichokes are closely related, both being in the thistle family.

      The chinese cabbage is looking better and better.  I pray thet some deer doesn't think so too.

      Nasturtium, artichoke, black seeded simpson and a red lettuce all happily crowded together with a dusting of snow.

       And to say goodbye for the moment, a second generation volunteer sunflower for the season.  This plant sprouted from seed dropped from a volunteer early in the summer.  This is the first bloom, and maybe the last.  Perhaps this plant should have waited until next year to sprout.  But yet a pleasant way to start a snowy morning

Ah, Fall Gardening

      At last the fall gardening season is upon us.  Cooler temperatures enjoyed by both the plants and the gardeners.  Still a thousand things to do.  Construct new cold frames, thin and move the fall veggie starts, haul more mushroom soil, then haul more wood chips.  Keeps me out of trouble.
      I was over to the park garden early yesterday, shortly after the sun was brightening the sky at 7:30 AM.  By 8:30, the sun was just peeking over the tops of the oak trees and dappling beautiful splashes of color on the veggies.

      The light green lettuce in the middle above is Winter Marvel Bibb Lettuce by Fedco seeds.  It makes beautiful little head lettuce for a single salad.  Almost too beautiful to eat.  The germination was pretty spotty, so I need to separate and replant the ones that did come up.

      This beauty above is a chinese cabbage, also known as napa cabbage.  It is just beginning to form the tight interior head.  It will have a very mild flavor, much lighter than head cabbage.  This is one of several volunteers around the garden, hopefully the Tenderheart Hybrid from Territorial seeds.

      Above is Tah Tsai, a chinese green.  Lots of Tah Tsai.  Soon enough to pick as the main ingredient in a nice salad.

      Only a couple of nasturtium plants survived germination and transplanting early in the year.  But these thrived.  They need to be harvested for their peppery leaves.  Quite a kick.  But soon, as they are very frost sensitive, turning into a sloppy mess in even a light frost.

      The block to the right above is arugula.  I am harvesting some of the small leaves now.  Have been thinking about installing motion activated cameras to protect the crop from two legged varmints like my two daughters.

      The light green lettuce is Tango, by Fedco.  Absolutely gorgeous, quite cold tolerant.
      Simply Scrumptious.