We're having that slice of almost perfect weather that we often get in early Fall. It gets pleasantly warm in the day, and cool enough at night to snuggle up with blankets. I got the backyard pretty much all squared away. The beans are out of row 1 and greens are taking their place. There are transplants in the front (set in 9-20) and direct seeded stuff (seeded 9-24) in the back. Row 2 is broccoli and cabbage that went in on 9-1.
The last Friday, 10-11, I cleaned up row 3, taking out all the tomatoes, but leaving the peppers for now. I got it planted with Continuity Butterhead lettuce, Winter Red kale, a tiny strip of Surrey arugula (saved seed), then French Red shallots. Also on Friday, I put some of our saved Spanish Roja garlic in row 4 back, and row 5 back is the garlic that sprouted, only the biggest ones, transplanted on 9-1. I could probably take out the cherry and Borg tomatoes now, but they're still producing a little, and I'm not in a hurry.
The backyard is in pretty good shape. At the farm however, I'm behind on getting the garlic in. I decided to put it in sector 3, because it's almost ready, and it hasn't had garlic or onions there recently. The chickens are lending a hand... or a wing? Mostly a foot, as they scratch and scratch up the dirt. We did lose one chicken so we're down to 10. Since this shot, I've finished digging up the whole area. I just need to rake it into rows and put down straw on the paths.
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Weather Note
Sector 3 became suddenly much easier to dig when it rained on Saturday night. It wasn't even that cloudy, but we had a brief downpour. We all took shelter in the bar, and waited it out. I was glad I'd gotten row 4 planted.
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This is row 4, newly planted in crimson clover for a cover crop/forage row. I'll keep planting as I keep taking out tomatoes and peppers.
We're still getting peppers!
The broccoli is doing well. We've had some aphids, but I've washed them off. We have six rows of broccoli. (One row not shown here). The cabbages that were set in on 7-22 are already done and harvested! I'm going to put lettuce behind them.
The broccoli are producing well. The Packmans in row 5 are already on side shoots, and they were maybe planted just a tiny bit early. On the other hand, it was nice to have them.
This flat of lettuce is doing well. Since this was taken, I thinned/transplanted them, and I have 49 plants.
We're seeing lots of these on the broccoli. We don't know if they are eating the aphids or the brocs! I'm going to try to identify it.
This row of greens should keep us fed for a while. There's lettuce, chard, kale, win choi, and violetta pak choi.
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What We're Eating
Pickings are a little slim but... with the last few tomatoes, a zucchini, a pepper or two, some green garlic, and fresh oregano.
I was able to scrape up a pizza's worth of veg. I sliced the zucchini, salted it and let it sit while I prepped the rest. Then I rinsed and dried it. A lot of liquid came out from that, so it didn't make my pizza soggy.
The pizza was fantastic.
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