It’s another one of those transitional times of year, as we go from warm weather to cool, long days to shorter ones, and gardening chores slowly start winding down for the year. Last week I cut a few more herbs to dry for tea. Even though they aren’t hardy here, I planted one lemon verbena in the ground this spring, and it has gotten pretty large by now. I cut quite a few of the stems the other day, and stripped the leaves off before drying in the dehydrator. The dried leaves will be nice for teas this winter.
lemon verbena for drying
You can see some of the lemon verbena in the above photo. I wound up with enough dried leaves to fill two loosely packed quart jars. While I was at it I cut some mint to dry for tea. I want to harvest what I can of the mints before freezing weather comes. I also have a couple of containers of mint that I started in the greenhouse, plus containers of lemongrass and lemon verbena that I will bring indoors for the winter. It is nice to have a few fresh leaves if possible to add to the dried ones for tea. The mints in the greenhouse will eventually freeze down, but they will also leaf out early next spring and give me a jump on the season before the ones outside get going.
calendula flowers for drying
I’m also still cutting calendula flowers for drying. The calendula plants seem to have perked up a bit with cooler weather, but they have still bloomed pretty much nonstop all summer and fall. These are calendulas selected for their high resin content, and we use them mainly for infusions. They do attract a few insects too, and there are always a few bees and other pollinators on them when I do the cutting.
Diplomat broccoli
The fall broccoli is coming on now. That is Diplomat in the above photo. It had a little browning on one of the heads, which I am thinking was caused by the fact it rained ten straight days in a row as it was heading up. It didn’t hurt the broccoli any, and I have surely been enjoying eating fresh broccoli lately. Arcadia should be the last broccoli to head up here. I am not sure if growing a late variety like it makes sense here in the fall, but we will see.
white turnips and Striata d’Italia zucchini
Last year Striata d’Italia was the last squash to produce for me, and it looks like that will be true for 2014 as well. It’s hanging out with some Hakurei and Oasis turnips in the above photo. The turnips have some slug damage, since I neglected to spread Sluggo in that bed. I usually peel them anyway, so I really don’t mind as long as they leave most of the turnip for me!
Kolibri kohlrabi
I harvested a few of the kohlrabi last week. That’s Kolibri in the above photo. I left the rest to size up a bit more. I am looking forward to making some kohlrabi kraut later on. I am almost out of the cabbage and kohlrabi kraut I made from the spring veggies, and I want to make some more to eat on this winter. You can see a bit of slug damage on the kohlrabi too, even though I did spread Sluggo in that bed. Slugs are really a problem here in the garden.
Red Ursa kale
I was hungry for kale last week so I harvested some of the Red Ursa leaves. This is an o/p variety from Wild Garden that I really like. It’s a cross between Red Russian and Siberian kales, with semi curly leaves that have a reddish tinge like its Red Russian parent. It has a great flavor, and I used it to make a kale and cannellini bean dish we had for lunch one day.
cooked Runner Cannellini beans
The beans I used were some dried Runner Cannellini beans I got from SSE. This variety is much larger than your usual cannellini bean, and cooked up into huge beans that were smooth in texture and quite tasty. I would love to try growing them but I am not sure they would be worth the effort or the space, since dried beans are always a challenge with our hot and humid weather.
sweet potato vines headed for compost
The next big gardening event I see coming up is planting garlic. It’s going in where the sweet potatoes grew, so I cleared out the vines left after I dug the sweet potatoes a couple of weeks ago. The vines all went on the compost pile, where hopefully by next spring they will have turned into compost to go back on the garden. In the meantime, I still have two Okinawa plants growing in that bed, and they will have to come out next week. They will have had 140 days to grow, and with cooler weather I doubt they will be doing much more underground growing anyway. Last year I planted the garlic on 10/29, and I will plan on getting it in somewhere around that date this year.
houseplants on front porch
It’s also time to start the annual migration of houseplants. A few of them have been spending the summer out on the front porch, and it is time to bring them back in. Some of them get a little bath in the shower first, to clean them up a bit and to wash off any bugs that might be hiding out on the leaves.
That’s a look at what’s happening here at HA. To see what others are harvesting and doing in the garden, visit Daphne’s Dandelions where Daphne hosts Harvest Mondays.
I, unfortunately, lost my Red Ursa kale to critters. I am still trying to decide whether to invest in a dehydrator or not.
Very beautiful harvests, Dave. I’m impressed with the Diplomat broccoli. Wish I had some! I grew a lemon verbena plant a few years ago, and was amazed at how big it got. I brought it indoors to the sunroom, and it did well for awhile there, but then I think it dried out too much and was no more. I was sad!
I have lost lemon verbena before also, more than once. It doesn’t seem to like being dried out for sure. I have better luck keeping it in our basement, where at least I see it occasionally and can remember to water it.
That’s beautiful broccoli. I didn’t do a fall planting so none for me. My turnips also get some damage on them but I always assumed it was wire worms. Can slugs damage a bulb below soil level?
I don’t know if slugs do damage below the ground or not. All of my damage is above ground on the turnips and kohlrabi.
Those calendula flowers are so pretty! It will be nice to use those in the middle of winter for tea. I’m impressed you are still harvesting zucchini. I’m also impressed that you are already harvesting your fall broccoli, mine is still very small.
Your lemon verbena produces such lovely large leaves! My plant got to be pretty big but the leaves stayed on the small side. I love to add a couple of leaves to my chamomile tea. I think I should dry some for the winter, the plants go dormant here or die if we get a hard enough freeze, so it would be nice to have a stash. Runner Cannellinis are good. I used to buy them from Rancho Gordo but they don’t carry them any more so it’s good to know there’s another source.
I had a bit of browning on some of my broccoli too but wasn’t sure what caused it – now I see that it is caused by too much rain, which we certainly have had a lot of lately. Your kohlrabi are downright huge! And that brown section on the kohlrabi looks a lot like the brown bits on mine – I thought it meant they were going woody, but it must be slug damage. I learned a lot in this post, Dave!
According to my research, the browning can be caused by several things, including boron difficiency. But I believe the water standing on the head while it was sizing up is what caused this. On the kohlrabi, I think if the slugs eat on the skin while the kohlrabi is smaller, then as it grows it turns into a scab/scar. Sometimes they eat on it after it gets big and then it can leave a hole/indentation, which is what the turnips looked like. In both cases, the damage is only to the skin, so I don’t suspect wireworms, which usually aren’t a problem for me here. That is my story and I’m sticking to it for the moment! 😀
Those harvests look wonderful and I especially love the broccoli. I didn’t get any this week. I’m hoping a head will be ready when I get back from vacation.
The calendula are lovely! I’ve only discovered kohlrabi (last week at my mom’s!) but assumed it was always green. Interesting to see a red variety. Must have had a lot of sweet potatoes from all those vines?!
Wow Dave, looking great!! My fall harvest is going to be a flop this year. Too many pests and too much weird weather! Thanks for reminding me that I need to get my garlic in!!