This is the first time I am trying out a Fall & Winter organic garden and it's pretty exciting. Rather then having that feeling like life as I know it is about to end, it is a little bit like spring time all over again. I left all the bug repelling nasturtiums and marigolds growing (although they don't seem to repel squash bugs in the least), going around them to hoe the finished plots, then Bort lightly tilled in the dead stuff with the Mantis Tiller for me (thanks Bort!). I always use organic & companion planting methods for all my gardens - the veggie plants always grow huge and produce a large amount of food. The only real issue is with having enough pollinators lately, which I can only imagine is connected to the world's larger prob of pollution.Here is a list of what I am going to experiment with (based on my climate and my curiosity):
Red Russian Kale, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Mustard Greens, Lettuce, White Icicle Radishes, Beets, Carrots, and Green Onion. I also have some Green Bean volunteers which were planted by the hoeing and tilling of the dead ones.
Up above are my Kale plants sprouting - tons are coming up so I will have to thin them out a little. The Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Mustard Greens all are shaped the same as the kale when first poking out the ground- but each has it's own special coloration. Kale is probably the most suited for winter gardening, since frost and snow makes it taste sweeter then ever. (Or so I hear.)Pictured below is my precious little beet sprouts, with the pretty red stem. I really love eating beet greens more then beets themselves, but also I like to make paint, dye and make up with the beets! Root veggies also store very well, so it's always good to grow as many of them as possible.
This last pic is of my brave Green Bean volunteers, I am not sure how well they will do once it really starts geting cold but they seem to be loving this pre-fall weather of warm days and cool nights. I have more green bean sprouts then I can even handle! It'll be fun to watch the chilly crop mystery unravel. :)
XoXOoo
Have you considered planting in a garden box?
ReplyDeleteHey Erik!
ReplyDeleteA garden box is a really good idea, especially for the cold season, to make it all last longer. The one you linked to is kind of like a mini green house, since it looked as though it has glass on top. Seems like a fairly easy project to put together too. I wonder where a good place to get used glass for cheap would be??
The nasties are beautiful, Leslie. You're so lucky to be in a climate that will keep the hardy kales and BEETS. Yeh beets. Their stems and root tips are such good medicine for a toxifidifid liver. So, you grow them goodies Donkey Ridah.
ReplyDeleteMokihana
Hmm; I know about toxic livers, but I didn't know about beets as helpers, M&P. Too bad they're gross.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, and speaking of pickled livers, what's this I hear about farmers not being allowed to sell "acidified" items like pickles at local markets? And being forced to drop 500 bills for some crap course in Raleigh just to be able to sell at all? Hasn't 10,000 years of sharing bounty been enough time to prove it's pretty much okay? Govern this, government!
Oops, sorry, way off topic. My political hackles are up. I better go play with my dog.
Hey Mokihana!
ReplyDeleteI love that you called the nasturtiums "nasties" - cause honestly yesterday they were starting to smell 'nasty' - it got so strong with all those flowers, it was like someone had sprayed some spray paint with a little spicey sweet perfume. This is good though- maybe now the whole bug repelling thing might really kick in! :)
Gratu -
Beets will clean ya out - I always imagine if I eat them that my whole entire body is dyed red on the inside. I think of beet roots as more of a medicine then a regular veggie, that's why I don't eat it very often.
I use them in a carrot spaghetti sauce though to dye the carrots a more reddish color, so that it looks like tomato spaghetti sauce.
It can be made to taste really similar but always sweeter and without the acidic tang.
About the pickling thing --- that is why the government calls that whole sector the "FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION" , because they like to feed us shit food from huge corporations so that they can get plenty money for the pharma companies when everyone has chronic pain and illness from processed and chemicalized foods. This might not be thought through with evil intent, but the profits both the giant food companies and pharma companies are making off each other is what is driving the whole thing -> certainly a few blind eyes are being turned on purpose though. If small scale farmers could sell their food without having to pay for all kinds of BS then the larger food companies would lose some of their monopoly on the most basic necessity in life. Eating healthy.