Fall is here

The leaves are starting to turn, going to plant garlic and other bulbs soon.  Hoping the giant mustard starts to get bigger, still too small!  Not sure if it is too late to start Brussels sprouts from seed but will try anyway.  Wish me luck on growing winter/fall vegetables.

Garden Shed

Finally I have a new door and steps to garden shed!  Here it is!

Well fall is on its way and I am raring to go with the fall veggies.  I may actually get some carrots from my planting in late July.  Soon I will plant garlic, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, red kale, more mustard and all sorts of other stuff.  But first I have to finish off the green beans, okra and zucchini.  I have a killer recipe for vegetable gumbo (vegan and non-vegan).  Finally, i had someone add real steps to my garden shed.  Now I am in less danger of breaking a leg when I go in and out of the shed.  Miss Maddie, my terrier-corgi-fox-rabbit-woodland creature-dog, can manage the steps too.  I have learned a lot about when to plant stuff this year.  They were mainly negative lessons, but I am learning. I am adding more garden beds and berries.  Next year I hope to add a couple of fruit trees too.

I cannot express how much joy I feel when I look at my garden.  Thanks to my generous parents and family I am living my dream of my own piece of Eden.I am one of the luckiest people in the world.  Now if I could just get those nasty insects to leave my melons alone...

It's suddenly August 19th and I am already planting carrots, mustard and lettuces, plus a few other fall crops.  It feels like the summer is already over and I haven't had a very good crop of tomatoes or any melons yet.  I will have to start everything earlier next year.  Plus I am going back to growing tomatoes from seed. The last two years I have bought plants from "reputable" garden centers.  But the plants do not do well.  My theory is  that I buy the plants in June because that is the best time to plant outside, but these plants were probably ready to be planted in the ground much earlier and they have experienced stresses from being out in all sorts of temperatures, they may have been watered unevenly and I have no idea how many chemicals they have been subjected to.  Another possibility is to purchase from organic sources of plants online.  We shall see in January if I am ready for growing my own seedlings or not. Of course looking at seed catalogs I will no doubt succumb to their seductive descriptions of rare heirlooms and old time favorites.

It is raining now as I write (of course, I watered this morning!).  It feels a bit fall-ish today and I am planning a harvest party.  But that doesn't mean the garden is being neglected, at least in my mind it is being planted with fall crops and the blueberries are about to be put in their new raised bed. Remember, dreaming is a form of planning ahead.

Isn't this just the cutest thing? And doesn't it look like a fairy is about to come out of the little door! from BBB Seeds(www.bbbseeds.com)

Hoping to grow cucumbers this year. I had a few lemon cukes make it last year but the Japanese long, killed by bacterial wilt caused by cucumber beetle. I hate cucumber beetles. Never have been able to grow cucumbers successfully, this year I hope it works. Going to cover the little plants until they are large enough to fend off said beetle and bacteria. Hope it works. Also, the Swiss chard did well, unfortunately I don't like it that much so I probably won't grow it next year although it is pretty and healthy (it comes in various colors). I really loved the bok choi I grew this year, but I can't remember the name of it. Am I the person who always tells you to write everything down?

Sorry I haven't posted in soooo long.  Health issues have kept me preoccupied.  However I am still gardening and things are looking better.  The strawberries were awesome this year and it looks like I will have blueberries from the lone blueberry bush in pot!  Snow peas, "Norli" from Park seeds were a hit as seedlings and the peapods are now coming in and they are prolific and tasty.  Can't say enough great things about them.  As for lettuce I have tried Jericho, also from Park seeds, a miniature romaine.  Delish, and survived a large dog (and one small one) running through the patch.  As always, I am impressed with the lettuce seed "Marvel of the Four Season's " (my translation from the French, my French spelling is even worse then my English spelling).  resists bolting and seems to taste good at any size.

Seed Exchange

This past Sunday I was fortunate enough to take part in a seed exchange with some avid vegetable gardeners.  I learned so much and got a bunch of seeds that I was about to order from catalogs, thus saving a few bucks.  I was a bit embarrassed because these people have been gardening  a while and were very organized. I am still at the "keep all of the seeds in a large tin container" stage.  I am starting to think I need to get file boxes.  In my defense this is the second year with my new raised beds and I didn't need to file anything before because I didn't have anything to file yet!  But this is the time to get organized since once the growing season gets underway one is less likely to take time to organize seeds (or other things.)  I am so glad I wrote down the names of all of the seeds and which company they were from.  Now re-ordering or exchanging seeds is so much easier because I know what I want and also, what I do not want.

In addition to vegetable seeds and some flower seeds too, I learned a lot from the other gardeners.  This group has been a Meetup group called the Northern Virginia Garden Ninjas but we are about to merge with another Meetup group, I will keep you posted.