September 30, 2012 - The End of September Garden

 The east garden, with carrots, cabbages and peas.  All of the bush beans have been harvested, and the plants pulled.


 The remaining cabbages are so chewed up, I doubt they'll ever see a harvest.  None of the other cabbages were damaged like this, even those in the row on the other side of these carrots were perfect. 


Most of the good  cabbages have been harvested, I think there might be two small ones left.  I cut some of them off rather than pulling them out.  If you do this, leaving a few of the bottom leaves on the plant, they will grow a bunch of mini-heads!  This one has developed about six little heads in the 2-3 weeks since it was cut.  Each head is about golf ball sized so far.


 The first blossom on the fall peas.  My fingers are crossed that I'll get even a small harvest from them.


 The Brussels sprouts plants are 3-4' tall, but the sprouts are tiny.  About the size of a pencil eraser!  Grandpa Ott morning glories have nearly obliterated the bench.  They don't blossom as well in the kennel garden as they do behind the garden shed.  I think it's just too shady for them.   Nasturtiums and alyssum carpet the inside, barely leaving me enough room to walk back to the bench.


 The last planting of Fortex pole beans climbs the outside of the kennel fence.  That's a pot of oregano in the foreground.  I never did pick any of it, I just let the bees enjoy it all summer.  I actually picked so few herbs this year, I stopped keeping a weight tally early on.  I still had several jars of dried herbs from last year, so I only used a few sprigs of fresh parsley, basil and chives as needed for cooking this year.


 YUK!  Bermuda grass has grown where the squash vines once lived.  I have a lot of digging to do before it takes over the entire garden!


 Speaking of digging, look at this broccoli stump I'll be digging out.  That was the plant that was giving me most of those broccoli side shoots, right up until I chopped it down.  It was almost five feet high!


 Not much going on in the north garden now.  Peppers, a few tomato plants, a stray celery or two, and the strawberry bed.  Even the marigolds are looking worn out.


This volunteer Cherokee Purple tomato plant has been our main source of slicing tomatoes this year.


 The zucchini plants are covered with powdery mildew, but still blossoming and fruiting.  The ladder is finally free of its cantaloupe vines.  A few pots of peppers are still alive and blooming, but not very productive.


 The volunteer cosmos were very well behaved this year, unlike the ugly "trees" I grew last year.  They were probably the prettiest flower in the garden.


Mr. Granny's favorite was Grandpa Ott morning glory.  This one, behind the garden shed, blossoms most of the day.  This photo was taken around 3:30 in the afternoon!

Our first frost will probably happen in about two weeks, so I'd like to get as much garden cleanup done as possible before the weather gets cold.  It's always sad to see the end of the gardening season approaching, but I think I'm just about ready for a long winter's rest!


19 comments:

  1. oh how i love a walk through granny's garden! i have cosmos just like yours and i've been pressing them.

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    1. Kelli, last year they got 10' high and had maybe 3 blossoms! I almost pulled all of the volunteers, so I'm glad I gave some of them a second chance.

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  2. is it really time for frost already?
    ps- that broccoli plant is huge!

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    1. Megan, it's getting close. I think it was around October 10 last year, and the forecast is for 35 next week so it won't be much longer.

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  3. Still looks like you have a lot left in your garden to me! And so clean and neat! Don't remind me about the frost coming. Too soon to suit me! Nancy

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    1. LOL, Nancy, I didn't take a picture of the messy middle of the garden, where I just pulled out the squash vines! I have a couple of big piles raked up that need to be disposed of.

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  4. Even when you say it's almost spent, your garden looks beautiful. I don't know how you do it -- and house painting, too! Seems like two or three weeks ago that you were posting about your garden plan, and now it's end of harvest. Where does the time go?

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    1. Dianefaith, isn't that the truth? My mind says it's still gardening time, but my body tells me winter is setting in! I still have some trim left to paint and rain gutters to install, and I just can't seem to get enthused about it.

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  5. 'Grandpa Ott' is looking good. Be careful as it seeds like crazy!

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    1. Ed, it can reseed all it wants behind the shed, but I might give up trying to grow them on the kennel. Odd that it was completely opposite with Heavenly Blue, which blossomed at the kennel but was too late and froze before blooming behind the shed!

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  6. I had cosmos that got some awful powdery mildew. They grew 4' high and never bloomed. They had thick beautiful foliage until the mildew took them down. I wish cosmos would be more consistent. Some years it is so pretty and some year so not so.

    My brussels sprouts will never give me anything. I knew I shouldn't have planted them. It was way too late. I've yet to plant a brussels sprout and get anything for one reason or another. I think they are cursed in my garden. Usually they don't even make it to planting before their death. This year they have gotten farther than before. They have little purple nubs, but I'd need to be in a much warmer zone for them to live long enough to produce.

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    1. Daphne, I planted those sprouts in April, from seedlings that were started in March! Nearly seven months from seed seems like plenty of time to me. I only grew them one other time, and the plants were much smaller (tall but skinny) and they ripened in mid-summer. Those were covered with aphid and inedible, so I never tried them again until this year. I doubt that I'll give them another chance.

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    2. I keep trying every couple of years. I really love them. I just can't seem to grow them.

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  7. Your garden still looks beautiful! I love the flowers, they are just so colorful and lovely looking. Last year our first killing frost was October 31, late, I know. It won't be long now, unfortunately.

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    1. Nutmeg, The Weather Channel isn't predicting an early frost, but our local TV station says it will happen on Thursday.

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  8. Looks great! I don't have the energy to deal with those cabbage & broccoli worms this year so I'll be gardening vicariously through you, I'm just sticking to putting garlic in the ground LOL

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    1. Erin, I haven't had worms in the broccoli in years! I've seen lots of little white butterflies, but they only got to those few late cabbages. They didn't even get the early or mid season cabbages. I can't find where I put my spinach seed, so that didn't get planted. It looks like garlic will be the only thing to go into the garden now.

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  9. It did go quickly didn't it. I apologize I'm backed up on my reading.... I wonder why the sprouts are so vigorous but have small sprouts...

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    1. David, it does look like some sprouts are finally beginning to size up a bit. I have no idea why they took so long! One of the three plants has grown to five feet high. I wonder why I grew such gigantic broccoli and sprouts this year, nothing special was added to the soil and we had a really hot summer with many days over 100F. You wouldn't think that would be conducive to growing huge cole crops. I'm sure the broccoli would still be producing if I hadn't tired of it and ripped it all out.

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