Before winter's little "visit" on October 29th, the garden was still rockin'. Here is a shot of veggies I harvested because a little bird told me it was going to snow and possibly freeze. I tried to harvest a lot of the flowers while leaving some zinnias (part of the sunflower family) for the warblers and small finches. My Filipino neighbors love sweet pepper leaves. They got the harvest of those and they put them into soups and meat dishes. I'll have to try this sometime. Right now the Kale and Chard are still standing with a little lettuce. These plants do well in the cold and even snow as long as it's not a hard freeze.
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I never take winter lying down so next week I'll show you some pix of the indoor garden along with the aerogardens that were started up a few weeks ago. It's also time to turn the square foot garden box into a cold frame by using some translucent heavy gauge plastic.
Well, the snowstorm totally blind-sided almost everyone! I listened to the weather reports and got an uneasy feeling on Friday. So, I proceeded to pick all the peppers, tomatoes, herbs, flowers etc in a real rush. I left in the chard, cale, lettuce since they don't really mind the cold.
I just put up this quick video clip of the garden this past summer. Enjoy. I love growing things and the garden requires a lot of work but the rewards are great.
There's no denying it now. The temperatures are colder at night and leaves are starting to fall. There are plenty of peppers, herbs, kale and a few tomatoes and chard plants left.
The Square Foot Garden Box in the Fall.
Nothing beats the aroma of fresh basil from the garden!
Stay tuned next week for the indoor growing season. Herbs like Rosemary, Sage and greens along with tiny tomatoes! Forcing of Amarylis Bulbs too!
Meanwhile, here is the Queen of the Evening - The Moonflower.
Here are a few shots of some typical harvests from the garden. Veggies and greens are usually picked right before meal prep. These are from the 6' by 4' garden box.
As the summer draws to a close, I'm spending as much time outside as possible. Soon it will be time to plant the bulbs for next spring. Another idea is to start planning ideas for next spring. If you are a city dweller and are starved for some green, take a good look at what space you do have. We've built a sort of urban grotto/patio in front of our urban row house. When we bought our place the front yard was a grass and glass strewn hump of land. We cleared the bushes and weeds out of the area next to our stoop and put a bench under the grape arbor we put in. We put in slate and created a little path and this mini patio. A climbing honeysuckle vine and Asian Lilac make it is pretty private. With the addition of a water garden and a fountain, you’ve got a formula for urban serenity.
With a sharp eye, survey your urban space and you might be able to carve out your own little quiet spot. Try putting up a lattice against a bare wall and hanging pots of flowers, small veggies or herbs. You could move or consolidate trash cans and yard tools into a storage container thus turning what had been an eyesore into space you can reclaim for yourself. If you've got a balcony check out Citydiggity.com or lifeonthebalcony.com to see some ideas on what can be done with a balcony. Check out the links page here for links to more urban garden space ideas.
Gardening in the City Blog
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