After our cold snap, the temperatures have been holding steady in the “warmer” end of the spectrum. We even flirted with 80* a few days, and that’s just wrong at this point. While it has made committing to cozy clothes more difficult, the garden is actually loving the combination of lingering warmth + coolish nights. {It has also extended the life of my experimental zinnias: they’ve been so pretty! I can’t wait to grow more next summer}. We’ve also finally had some rain {and thunder!}, and anyone who has grown anything knows a drop of rainwater makes a bigger difference than gallons of hose-watering.
After weeks and weeks of not much happening, I was incredibly surprised to discover a couple huge radishes one evening while watering! After sampling, and discovering they’re delicious, we went spelunking and found some more. There are still many that haven’t bulbed out at all, but we’re hoping that with these out of the way there’ll be more room for the others to keep growing.
As the green beans were fizzling out over the summer, some of them dried on the vine and self-sowed {we also managed to save many for next year’s crop}. Some of those dropped beans germinated and it’s been so fun to watch the vines climb beyond the top of the panel and then start blooming, and now: tiny beans!
Mr. told me they probably would not make in time to eat any before the weather turned too cold, but over the weekend I was able to find a handful that were ready and we cooked them for lunch. Yes, it was a small serving, especially shared between two people, but they tasted so good. I may have to purposefully plant some late beans next summer …
We’re still waiting on the cabbages and broccoli, but you can almost see them grow day-by-day, and I don’t think it will be long now.
After a weird start, the lettuces are finally starting to do something. Like the cabbages, you can almost see the daily growth, and over the weekend we cut our first salad. Y’all, nothing tastes like homegrown lettuce: it is so fresh and tender and you know that it’s not gonna give you the lettuce poisoning, ha. The benefit of growing “loose leaf” type lettuces is as you remove leaves from the outer edges, they keep producing. We should be able to get more salads before it gets too cold. Hopefully.
We might be harvesting less than during the summer {we actually still get some peppers!}, but I love that we’ve been able to keep eating from our garden as the season changes. I will savor these flavors as long as possible, and then move on to the next fresh delight … before we know it, it will be time to start tomatoes and peppers again, and the whole cycle continues.
Do you have a fall garden? What’s the weather doing where you are – is everyone having a weird warm streak, or is it just North Carolina? They’re calling for tonight to be in the 36* range, and the next few days will be chilly and damp … November weather may finally be arriving.
Your veggies are so beautiful. Nothing like home grown produce! We’ve been quite warm here in Southern Ohio the past few days also. No fall garden here, unless you count my garden of leaves lol.
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Well the leaves do nurture the soil, so it can count! 😉 hehe … And thank you. Yes, nothing tastes as good as what you grow ❤
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Thats definitely a big radish. I’m glad you’re still finding delicious fresh vegetables in your garden at this time of year. The last few days have been a bit colder here but I think we had the warmest dry Bonfire night that I can remember. The weather seems to have been all over the place all year tbh.
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The weather is definitely wacky! Today it’s all drizzly rainy and maybe will hit 51 … definitely November weather now! And it’s so much fun finding veggies still – I go another handful of green beans yesterday 😀
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I have not had a garden in years and I feel bad. I have a perfect space for it and my dad and son made garden boxes for me and then bailed on it because I didn’t keep up on the garden like I should.
I love that you are still able to have a fall garden. We are getting cold temps here now – finally – so growing seasons is over.
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Well, outside growing season that is.
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Hopefully you’ll be able to have one again, even if a tiny little spot – I didn’t know how much I’d love it until we got married. {I’d always had a few things, but nothing like the scale Mr. is used to, lol} 🙂
Yes, the end of the week is forecast to flirt with freezing (!!!), so our season may be very close to ending …
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What beautiful output from your garden! I hope to start a garden of my own next spring. And the little beans are so adorable!
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I hope you’re able to start your own! It’s so much fun 🙂 And yes, I absolutely love watching the little beans grow: so cute 🥰
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We have raised beds at my house, so I won’t even have to kneel down to garden. And nothing tastes better than homegrown produce – store-bought doesn’t compare.
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Raised beds are awesome! We use grow bags, so slightly elevated 👌
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My mom has the greenest thumb ever, and so did my dad. So I figured maybe I can turn it around and not kill any plant I go near 🤣
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I love your garden – and yes- it’s been a weird fall. We had thunder and lightning last night. I think our first real cold snap is coming tomorrow, so I assume all my flowers that are still blooming will come to an end. I still have geraniums! I love that your fall garden is still going. We had one sad tomato left and I love that your beans are still producing. It’s crazy to think that it’s November!
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We had thunder last week and it was entirely shocking! Meanwhile there’s a FREEZE watch for tonight, so … No-Guess-November? LOL!
I have one little pot of geraniums left, but not sure they’ll make it beyond tonight … good thing I’ve got pansies/violas! 😀
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[…] been a whirlwind of a month, with weirdly warm days and a hard freeze that finally ended the lingering summer garden. The season of woodwalking is returning {carefully, of course, since it is also deer season}, and […]
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