I probably say this every year, but I really enjoy the slower pace of the garden when fall arrives. By then I’m ready for a break from the heavy-duty chores of spring and summer, but not quite ready for the hibernation of winter! It’s a different mix of veggies that are showing up in the harvest basket lately. Like the Seminole winter squash in the below photo. The two big ones each weighed a bit over three pounds, while the smaller one weighed a little over one pound. This is my second year growing this C. moschata cultivar. It’s a rampant grower that has vined all over the fencing around the main garden area.
Seminole winter squash
I’ll let the Seminole squash sit for a while before we start eating them, since I think the taste of most moschata varieties improves with storage. The Bush Delicata I harvested back in August is more than ready to eat though. Saturday I cut a couple of them into slices, tossed with olive oil, salt and homemade paprika, then roasted until tender and starting to get browned. That is my favorite way to eat the Delicatas, and since they typically aren’t the best keepers they are usually the first winter squash we eat every year, skin and all.
roasted Delicata squash
In other news, lots of peppers are getting ripe now. That’s the first of the Corno di Toro Rosso peppers in the below photo, and they wound up on the grill, including the one on the right which had BER. I’ve grown this one in the past and it was a shy producer, so I am hoping the one plant will ripen up a few more peppers before the end of the season. They were almost as sweet as the Jimmy Nardello peppers after grilling, and considerably larger, though not nearly as early to ripen.
Corno di Toro Rosso peppers
I shelled out the first of the Sacaton Brown tepary beans. It looks like they won’t produce quite as much as the Blue Speckled variety, but they are doing well enough I will give them a try next year. Planting tepary beans was really a last-minute decision this year. Next year they will be in the plan and I won’t have to be scrambling to find a place to plant them.
Sacaton Brown tepary beans
After getting more than average rainfall earlier this year, we haven’t had a significant rain here in over a month now. So I’ve been irrigating the garden with weeper/soaker hoses. The fall brassicas have responded with lush growth. I set out plants in two adjacent beds, so it’s an area about 8×30 feet in size. I planted a little bit of broccoli, cabbage and kohlrabi and a whole lot of kale.
fall planting of brassicas
That’s Coalition Mix kale in the below photo. It’s ready to harvest whenever we want some of it. The big flat leaves look a bit like collards, but the taste is all kale. I set out 16 plants so there should be plenty to eat!
Coalition Mix kale
And the Kossak kohlrabi are starting to bulb up already. We love kohlrabi here so I am looking forward to future harvests in about a month or so.
Kossak kohlrabi
That’s a look at a bit of what’s happening here. To see what other gardeners are harvesting and cooking up, visit Daphne’s Dandelions where Daphne hosts Harvest Mondays. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from HA.
Love your simple treatment of the delicata squash, it is one of my favorite winter squashes, what temperature did you use to roast them?
I roasted them at 400°F for about 25-30 minutes.
We haven’t had much rain either. I checked this morning and we have had only 3/4″ in the last month. And September is usually our wettest month. And we have no rain in the forecast. I watered the gardens over the weekend, but I’m wondering if I ought to water the apple trees in the landscaping.
I think I may try Seminole, based on your results. I’m always on the lookout for moschata varieties. Also good to know they improve with storage; I did not know that, or forgot it if I did. Looks like you will have plenty of healthful kale. Do you think the broccoli will size up in time? Mine looks about like yours, and I’m wondering if there’s enough time before it gets really cold.
I checked yesterday and there was no sign of heads on the broccoli, but we have a month before our usual first frost and I believe they will head up in time. As for the Seminole, I only got one last year but it was quite tasty. I am looking forward to more taste-testing this year. I will say that it is quite the viner, as much so as the Thai squash that is taking over mine and Daphne’s gardens!
We’re winding down too — after a few big weeks of processing veg I’m kind of relieved that the workload lightens until next spring.
Your brassicas are looking nice. The Coalition kale is intriguing. Since it is a grex, how many plants are you growing and what variations do you see? I only have room for about 4 plants so wonder if it is worth trying.
13 of the 16 plants are surprisingly uniform, with large and mostly flat leaves (like the one in the photo). The other 3 have more curly leaves, similar to a Red Russian, which is not listed as being in the gene pool. So in my two years of growing it, it hasn’t been as diverse as the catalog listing might suggest, but that isn’t a bad thing since I like what I’ve been getting! I don’t have a clue to how hardy they might be though.
I’ve harvested one delicata squash to try but the rest of them are still on the vine. I’m still waiting a bit before I roast it. I’m looking at it even now, sitting on the counter daring me to try it…
I wonder if your dry weather has anything to do with the monster El Niño that is warming things up around here. We’re hoping it will bring us a wet winter, but I seem to recall that it can cause drought in the eastern half of the country.
The brassicas all look so healthy! My fall planting of brassicas has been nibbled by too many pests (I didn’t bother to cover them up, so my own fault). I think I’ve said this before, but you’ve inspired me to try new varieties of kale next year.
Your brassicas look fantastic. How early do you start them? You always grow such beautiful winter squash. I’ve only had good luck growing cushaw squash.
Thanks Phuong! I started the brassica seeds indoors in late June, then set the plants outside on August 5th.
Your winter squash makes me smile warmly and I love the simplicity of your dish. I have a couple of squashes growing in the garden, but that is all. I hope to roast them simply too when time comes to harvest them.
I’m with you on the slower pace in the fall – I actually look forward to putting each bed “to bed”, so to speak. Beautiful harvests; I definitely want to try delicata squash. I hear so much about it but have never actually eaten it.