Monday, September 23, 2013

[ gardening ] :: fall has arrived!

It's fall! My favorite season has arrived, and my cool-weather crops are finally deciding to grow.


I was feeling especially farmer-ish on Saturday with the cooler weather we're having here in Georgia. We got a ton of rain that afternoon (that I got to drive through on the interstate...not fun), so I decided it would be the perfect time to check up on my sugar snap peas and plant some radishes.


It's completely amazing how quickly these things germinate. I got these seeds from Botanical Interests, and let me tell you - it's worth the extra $1 to buy from them instead of the crap seeds they carry at the home improvement stores. I may need to transplant some of these to another container since I overplanted the containers...I honestly was not expecting such a high germination rate!



I'm doing a little experiment with my peas this fall to see which type of trellis they will grow on best. I used bailing twine (polypropylene) and tomato cages as a basis of support. We'll see how it goes!



 I got some Swiss Chard from a garden center last week, and it's doing remarkably well considering it got smooshed in the back of my care with a 50-lb bag of dirt. This stuff is indestructible...



...and gorgeous! I planted it fairly close together since I plan on harvesting and eating the leaves when they are smaller (think baby spinach). Like most greens, they get tougher and more bitter the longer they are on the plant. The smaller leaves will be delicious as salad greens, but once they get more bumpy and tough I'll wilt and saute them.


My Purple Dragon carrots finally germinated! If you squint really hard, you can see them in the top bucket. The middle bucket has Red Chantenay carrots, and the bottom has Scarlet Nantes carrots. I'll need to thin the bottom bucket soon, and then I can use the carrot tops in a recipe. Did you know they are edible? They taste a bit like parsley.


More pictures coming soon! I'll be finishing up my newest garden bed soon.

- Maggie White

No comments:

Post a Comment