November 2009's Veggie Garden Update

Tina and Skeeter, from In the Garden do a vegetable garden update on the 20th of the month. I have been participating since July. I didn't think I'd have a November update, but lots of things survived the early cold temps, and like many of you, we've had a mild fall after all.

The green tomatoes that were picked when we had the first cold weather ripened, and even though some spoiled, we have been eating them almost every day up until this week. There are still some hanging in there, but it's time for another sort, and then we'll need to hurry up and eat what's left. This is the latest I can recall having tomatoes from the garden. We still have onions and garlic, but I didn't get the garlic put downstairs, so some of it has dried out. I'll have to get some down there yet and see how it does.

I took the first photo on the 17th, when I harvested some greens from across the street, lettuce, and my last 3 radishes. The rest of the photos were taken today.

I'm still using parsley, chives, and sage from the herb garden. The salad burnet on the right is pretty big, and I always forget whether it can be used after it has bloomed, so I end up not cooking with it much. (I noticed frost on the chives when I looked out this morning.)

The Nero Toscana kale is continuing to do well. There are some holes from insects, but it's still fine to eat. I use the chopped or torn up leaves of this and the other kind of kale in soups and salads. Sometimes, I'll pick a leaf of either kind and eat it for the calcium.

This is the kale from last year that bloomed this year. I keep it there hoping the rabbits will eat it, but I really have more kale than we need. The verbena bonariensis in the left part of the photo still looks good, even after it has gone to seed. I should have lots more for the butterflies next year.

This is the kale I planted this year, with lettuce across the path. I have a little stick pile in front of the compost fence for the butterflies to shelter in. In the spring, garlic will grow along the fence. I didn't get the bulbs planted that I meant to, but there has been garlic here since before we moved in, and I know I didn't get it all harvested.

There is still plenty of lettuce even after I harvested a big bowl full. I'm thinking I planted it the last week of August. It probably would be bigger if I'd been watering it.

I don't have as many leaves on the compost pile as usual. A neighbor who used to put her leaves there moved, and I haven't gotten to know the new neighbors. I need to see about getting some more.

The view from the compost area:

I'm not finished cleaning up my garden across the street, but I have made some progress. I sure wish there weren't so many trees to shade it.

Most of the strawberries that a friend gave me from her yard seem to have survived, even though I neglected them after the first few waterings.

I need to ask the neighbors if they'll eat some kale. That's parsley in the sun.

I wish I had enough compost to spread throughout this garden. I may add some bags of composted manure. I'm thinking about planting a whole lot of peas next year to add nitrogen to the soil. I wonder if the rabbits would leave some of them alone, or eat them all. I guess I'd have to cover them until they grow a bit.

The rabbits have eaten this lettuce more than what's in my home garden.

I never saw any caterpillars on this fennel or flat or curled parsley. Maybe next year, they will eat them.

In my July update, I was letting the salad mix go to seed, and was pleased that the seeds of some of the plants sprouted the same season. I wish I hadn't thrown the package away, because I can't remember what all was in it. There was some lettuce, but that seed hasn't come up. I looked up "salad greens" and from what I found, believe the ones on the left are mizuna, I couldn't find what the long green plants are, and I think the ones on the right are red mustard. They have popped up in several other places.

Birds or some other critters shredded the onions this summer, and the bulbs didn't grow much, but now they are sending up more green. I'll have to see if the neighbors want some green onions. There is a larger red mustard plant to the right.

Jeff, the property owner, put leaves in the area I was going to have Larry till for asparagus. I'm either going to put them on the compost pile to the right, or choose a different spot for asparagus. Or, maybe Larry could mow them, then till them in. I'll have to get him over there this weekend. I need to research what kind of asparagus would do well in Nebraska. Do you have a variety of asparagus you like to grow? Larry likes thick stems.

Have a great weekend!