san marzano tomatoes
What I like about the garden, I think, is that it encourages me to be actively present with all of my senses. At any other point in the day, my head is either in the past or the future-- I'm busy worrying about some mistake I made two days ago, or planning what to make for dinner after work. But when I'm in the garden, I'm aware of the chirping of birds in the cherry tree overhead, the feel of the breeze, the scent of cedar mulch, the quality of the light, and the dirt under my fingernails, to the exclusion of everything else.
the last pattypan of the season
Autumn, in particular, is magic for a vegetable garden. Something about the diminished sunlight makes my awareness of things more piquant. Maybe it's the realization that summer's apex has come and gone, and that every remaining moment before frost needs to be cherished. I mean, sure, I can spend my winter browsing seed catalogs, but it's not the same thing as standing in the warmth in my flip-flops under ten-foot sunflowers as yellow petals flutter to rest on the strawberries. Know what I mean?
compare to last year at this time
Anyway-- the garden's doing as well as can be expected at this time of the year. The cucumbers and squash, deprived of the long days of sunlight that they need, are starting to yellow and fall prey to powdery mildew. This past week, I cut back some of the sad-looking foliage to help the last squash ripen better.
In the herb patch, the parsley's starting to bolt. This should probably make me sad, but the flowerheads are tall and lacy and beautiful, so I really don't mind. I loved growing parsley this year-- it was so convenient to have it on hand. It's definitely going in again next year.
De Morges Braun romaine lettuce... much prettier in person
Some lettuce planted mid-summer is starting to take off, including a couple of heads of De Morges Braun, an heirloom romaine type. I fell in love with this variety in Territorial Seeds' catalog-- the photo doesn't do it justice. The leaves have a gorgeous coppery burgundy shimmer to them-- it's my favorite thing in the garden at the moment.
I'm beginning to think that I may have planted fall crops too late, after all. There's some loose-leaf lettuce, bok choy, and arugula coming up (along with chard and beets from an earlier planting), but everything else is suffering from low germination rates, including the carrots, radishes, mache, radicchio, and buttercrunch lettuce. I probably haven't been watering well enough. Maybe things will start popping up later in the month, in time to be cloched for frost-- I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
compare to the way they looked on July 27
And here's that promised update on the free tomatoes: they're putting out some nice green growth and developing baby fruit. I hope there's still time for them to ripen, but either way, at least they look happier!
Now it's back to the garden with me... I have a new bed to dig ;-)
