Sixty degrees at Christmas?!?

This is the first time I've watered my Missouri garden at Christmas time.  I don't want what's still growing - which is a lot of things - to die by wilting (it was very dry all fall, and still is), because I'm afraid even the perennials won't come back if that happens.

I'm still harvesting cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, arugula, tatsoi, celery and broccoli.

The weather forecast for January looks more like normal, so I hope things can go ahead and shut down.

The maché (corn salad - Valeriana) I planted mid-July is still teeny.  Large enough to see now!  Surely it's not getting something it needs.  They wouldn't be offering seed as a food crop if it doesn't get any bigger than this.  Would they?

Happy holidays!

Mild weather mid-October

The temperature is holding in a beautiful pattern of 70s in the day and 40s at night,  tree leaves are still green, and the garden hasn't turned ugly yet.

I've harvested a couple green cabbages ('Primo Vantage') already, and the purple ones ('Omero') are getting close.

The broccoli finally has started making heads.

The fall peas did nothing after they came up and grew an inch or two.  Zip.  I don't see any dates in the Missouri planting time recommendations for fall peas, so maybe I'm just wasting time and material trying to grow them in the fall.  I have trouble in the spring keeping the deer and rabbits from eating my crops, but I'm loathe to give up.  I love fresh garden peas.  It may take a fence, and I'm not willing to put one up.

One of the free seed packets I got from Baker Creek was maché - or corn salad.  I've never planted it before, and if it grows this slowly, I won't be planting it again.  I wanted to try it, so I planted some seeds on the 29th of July.  This is how big they are now:

When I planted them, they were shaded quite a bit by plants on either side, and the weather was dry, so I thought that was holding them back.  I started watering them, and when I cleared out the basil and thinned the kale a couple weeks ago, it opened them up to more sun.   It's rained nicely a few times recently, but they just don't seem to be doing anything.

I was overloaded with the yellow pear cherry tomatoes, and so I pulled up several of the plants.  Check out the roots on these puppies:

Very healthy.  And so white!

There are still a few 'German Johnson' full-size tomatoes on the plants that I hope will ripen before frost.  If not, I'm going to try something I read recently: wrapping green tomatoes in newsprint until they ripen.  And I'll probably make some sweet corn and green tomato fritters, as well.

I picked the last of the green beans from the second planting, and the lettuce and arugula have bolted. 'Cardinal' basil is still harvestable, but the other varieties have all gone to seed.  The rhubarb never fully recovered from the spring flooding.  I hope it comes back better next spring.

The lemon grass plant - as has always been the case with lemon grass - has grown large and full.  I've made tea from the blades in the past, but this year, I think I'm going to actually harvest and freeze the stems for use in cooking.

Peppers are still going strong.  Hopefully the poblanos will get to turn red before frost, but if not, I'll go ahead and pick them green (which I've been using already) and dry them.  I've been picking the red jalapeños for several weeks and refrigerating them, so I can process them into jelly all at once.

Over in the flower beds, new this year are the football mums.  I've pinched side buds off to get the largest blooms possible, and they have not disappointed.

'Homecoming'

The little 'Profusion Apricot' zinnias (Mexican zinnia - Z. angustifolia x elegans) turned out to be a lovely surprise, and they bloomed from the first of July until just now, when I pulled out the remaining dying plants.

I've been battling the rose aphids for weeks!  Such a disappointing and frustrating deal.  I don't like to use chemicals, but for several weeks, I was spraying them with toxic Sevin, alternating with neem oil and sometimes pyrethrin.  They persisted, coming out by the scores with every bit of new growth so that they seemed to be a part of the plant.  I finally started cutting off the terminal ends, thereby destroying any blossom opportunity.  Eventually, I was both spraying and cutting off several inches of the stems.  

Maybe if I had cut them down to only a few inches early on, they would have come out better. But I had no idea it would be so hard to control the aphids. Aphids are normally pretty easy to knock out. Next year, I may have to get some systemic insecticide and keep them treated if I have as much trouble.  Sorry, bees.  So sorry.  The aphids haven't been bad in past years, so maybe (hopefully) this was just a fluke year.

A few buds have been able once again to make it to maturity.

'Neptune'

'Razzle Dazzle'

There probably won't be many posts going forward until next spring, but until next time, whenever that is, enjoy the nice autumn days.

'Cheerleader' chrysanthemum, purple verbena, and

carmine gomphrena (globe amaranth)

Summer harvest and fall crops

 It's still hot here, but the early mornings and late evenings are nice.  Nice enough to work in the garden and enjoy it.

I've been seeing a lot of these wasps the past couple of weeks, most often in swarms hovering just above the grass in the yard.  Their black wings look metallic navy in the sunlight.  I used Google Lens to identify them as blue wing wasps (Scolia dubia).  They're non-aggressive, and an article I read said they are parasites of beetle grubs, including June beetles and Japanese beetles (hooray!)

The Japanese beetle population was low this  year, and maybe these guys had something to do with that.

My 'Winter Luxury' pie pumpkin and daisy gourd patch is delivering.  I've already processed some pumpkins for pies and eaten a couple of those.  They're quite yummy.  I've got about a dozen of varying sizes harvested and awaiting processing or gifting, and there are still quite a few green and growing on the vines.

I thought I only had one gourd vine, but found another - or maybe another branch of the one.  I've cut three and found as they age, they turn from lime green daisies to yellow.  They may go to gold or orange.  We'll see.

Charentais cantaloupes are appearing on the vines.

Unfortunately, the marigolds I planted around them didn't fool the raccoons.  They've already gotten two.  This is what they do to them:

If you're going to spoil them, I think you should eat the whole thing.

All varieties of peppers I planted are now harvestable.  The jalapeño peppers are turning red, so I'm collecting for jelly.  Unfortunately, I only got three plants going, so there won't be much jelly this year.

Chili peppers

Pablano peppers

Snack peppers, pablanos, red bells, and 'Quadrato D'Asti Giallo' red/gold bells

The 'German Johnson' pink tomatoes are just starting to ripen.  

'German Johnson' tomato

The cucumbers are going strong, and the 'Calima' bush beans I planted for a fall crop are already producing.

'Calima'

The 'Red Swan' green beans are flowering, so I'll be watching for some red green beans (!) soon.

'Red Swan' bush bean

A friend gave me three broccoli plants.  This is my first year planting broccoli.  If it goes well, it may not be my last.  I don't know what variety these are.  They're in a cage for now because I've been watering them separately until they take hold, and the raccoons are famous for digging up newly planted seedlings that are getting special watering.

Fall cabbages are slowly gaining ground.  Surprisingly, I haven't lost any, so I may have to thin them.  Or just have small heads.  That wouldn't be bad.

Until next time...

'Redman' super cactus zinnia