Saturday, September 13, 2008

Garden Update, Extending the Harvest and *oh deer* a new garden friend

Today I harvested 2 Scarlett Runner beans, about 10#s of Patty Pan squash, 10 or so fat, sunny colored Lemon Cucumbers, a handful of Cherry tomatoes, and a bunch of misc. herbs. My 3 volunteer Swiss Chard plants need a trim too.

The seeds that I planted a couple of weeks ago (Kale, Swiss Chard, Parsley, Cilantro, strange lettuce blends etc) are all up and going nuts.
It's still in the 80s here most days so the fall garden is as happy as a lark.

My plan is to get the artichokes, onions, garlic, leeks, carrots, beets etc etc all in tomorrow. I'm probably nuts, but what the heck.

Next year I resolve to weigh my harvest, but with the success of the potatoes and summer squash so far this year we have to be near 50#. We also have a ton of unharvested red potatoes still in the ground. Also some Artichokes coming on. A loaded Cayenne pepper, some more summer squash, more cucumbers, and all those lusciously loaded tomato plants. Add to that all the winter plants and we are sitting pretty right about now.

I love how each day is a learning experience with mental notes made (ie space tomatoes further apart) for next year on so many things that I will barely be able to remember all of them!

Next up will also be a tunnel for the tomatoes...it will break my heart if the rain destroys those beauties.

How's your 4 season garden coming along?

PS I forgot the *deer* part - we have a new guest who is eating the tips of my tomatoes and deleafing my beans. She's been by a few other times, but now she is starting to take bigger bites. GRR!!

6 comments:

Danni said...

Hey, I enjoyed this post. I am just now (always, always late) getting my fall garden in (broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, lettuce). We'll see how successful it will be.

...Thanks for your nice comment on my recent blog post! You've got a great blog yourself. Even if you're "stuck in the city", it sounds like you've got room to grow stuff, which will hopefully keep you from going completely insane! :-) Do you have plans to move to a more rural place?
By the way... I'm purposely vague about my precise location...one can't be too cautious about internet crazies, you know? :-)
(I'm about 40 minutes outside of PDX.)
I'll be back to read more. -dk

Secret Garden Supper Club said...

I agree that you can't be too careful with your location online :)

Currently we live 10 mins out of Portland in the 'burbs. But my parents have a farm 40 mins out of Portland (towards the coast in wine country)...
I am thinking very hard about stepping out of the rat race and living a simple life on that 22 acre slice of heaven. I have a baby who would love to have his mommy at home!

Have you read the Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman? It's such a great book!

Oh and I am sooo jealous of your chickens.

;O)

Danni said...

I have not read that book - thanks for the recommendation, I will add it to my list! Is it specifically Pacific NW focused? I don't have row covers, a hoophouse or a greenhouse, and last winter was a really, really rough one out here (and everywhere, I think), so I'm not counting on a lot, but I'm willing to at least give it a shot, you know?

Have you read the book "Peace at Heart" by Barbara Drake? It's a wonderful story about a woman (local) who sells her NW Portland house and moves to a farm (22 acres) out in Yamhill County (wine country) to raise sheep. Not only is it a story for people (like us) who love country life and wonderful animals, but it's soooo well written, even people just looking for a good read will enjoy it.

Secret Garden Supper Club said...

4 Season Harvest is not PNW focused so his greenhouse systems are more focused on avoiding snow than rain (which is what we have to worry about in OR for the most part)...but the basic premise of the book is fantastic and very helpful.

I have not heard of the book you mentioned but I definitely want to read it. How funny about the 22 acres in wine country...is she living on my parent's farm and we don't know it? hehe

Danni said...

Barbara Drake is actually the mom of Monica Drake, who wrote the novel "Clown Girl" a few years back (that was nominated for the Oregon Book Awards). Very cool family. :-)

Anonymous said...

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades in pretty informative. I live in Las Vegas but in hopes of one day moving closer to where you are--a place where my children can know what clouds are--I bought this book and read it cover to cover before.

It actually helped me realize how much I can grow where I am.

I have three weeks until my first frost date. My fall garden is finally coming up, hopefully in time; it's been in the 90s here and everything I planted before wouldn't come up because it was too hot.