After a dry August here, rains returned in September with over 3 inches falling throughout the month. That made the fall plantings grow, and we are reaping the bounty now in early October. The broccoli is heading up nicely, and I cut about 24 ounces of it this past weekend. I made some Broccoli and Walnut Salad with part of it, and we steamed the rest. Most of that in the below photo is the Apollo variety, which has longer and more tender stems than the typical broccoli. I think it is better raw than many of the other broccoli I grow.
Apollo and Packman broccoli
Steaming the broccoli gave me a chance to use our new All-Clad steamer. We have really been enjoying using this new cookware, and I am so glad we finally got it.
broccoli in steamer
I harvested one more of the yellow squash Enterprise. It looked lonely all by itself on the cutting board, so I added a few late setting Rattlesnake beans for it to hang out with. I will need to pull up the last of the summer squash vines soon so I can prepare that bed for planting garlic later this month.
Enterprise squash and Rattlesnake beans
Kale is a star performer here this fall. We had some of the Red Ursa one night in a kale and potato hash dish. I need to post the recipe for this creation, as it turned into a really good side dish. This fall and winter I’m looking forward to making favorite kale dishes like bean and kale soup along with trying new ways to fix this tasty and nutritious green.
Kale and Potato Hash
Some of the Wild Garden Kale Mix wound up in Kale Chips. That is one of my all time favorite things to do with kale!
kale cutup for chips
kale chips
I am trying to clean out the last of the lettuce in the cold frame to make room for a new planting. This is the Sierra variety, a Batavian type that holds up well to heat. It has a nice crispy rib that reminds me of romaine types. It’s interesting that while the lettuce has remained free of slugs, in the bed next door the kohlrabi is getting eaten up by them. The lettuce made for a nice salad. Now I need to get the new lettuce planted once I can work some compost in that bed.
head of Sierra lettuce
Last and definitely not least I am harvesting some figs finally. They are always late to ripen here. I have the Brown Turkey and Conadria varieties ripening, with Hardy Chicago still not ready yet. They will keep on coming until we get a hard freeze, so they should have a few weeks left to ripen. I have been enjoying the figs on my breakfast muesli and for snacks.
Brown Turkey figs
And don’t forget, you still have time to get in on the cookbook giveaway. Just leave a comment on the post New Cookware and a Book Giveaway to be eligible. I will do the ‘drawing’ on Wednesday. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from HA!
Kale and potato hash sounds very interesting, creative way to use kale, I am looking forward to the recipe. Are your fig trees planted the ground? My one container grown fig tree has finished bearing for the year and will be ready for winter storage soon.
The figs are planted in the ground Norma, on the south side of our out building.
Do you need to do special winter protection? My Italian neighbor has his in the ground and must bury it every winter, it is a big production that’s why I have only one plant in a container and wheel it into the garage to overwinter.
I don’t do anything to protect the figs. In our climate, they have done fine the last few years.
I had given up on my figs and then my townhouse mates told me that some were ripening (their car is parked right next to the plants). So I went out and looked and one was over ripe and rotting. I was so sad. It looks like two other are starting to ripen. I hope they have time. It would be the first figs from the trees.
I have lost quite a few figs due to insect and rainy conditions. I think they prefer it warm and dry when they ripen.
I was just commenting elsewhere that I am not tuned in yet to when to plant things… you plant lettuce now, is that right? And do you protect it from winter weather in any way, or just leave it out exposed? I really want to get a good crop going for next year, and even made my own seed tapes!
Yes, I will be planting lettuce now, and it will be protected by a cold frame. That way it will keep growing until really cold weather hits, whenever that might be. I will also plant some unprotected at the Impact community garden. Lettuce can take quite a bit of cold and frost, especially if it is protected from the wind and frost. Row covers also work well for covering lettuce.
Have you ever had green beans turn into beans that look like your rattlesnake beans? I planted blue lake pole beans this year. One of the vines produced beans with very thin and sporadic purple stripes. It only produced a few pods so I am letting them go to seed. It will be interesting to see if the seed color is the standard blue lake white.
That is interesting. I am thinking the seeds got cross pollinated when grown for seed.