I won't have much of a fall garden this year, but I wanted something. Since there was no space available, I decided to make some. The tomatillos were starting to yellow and I had plenty of the little fruits to make more than enough salsa verde for the year. So out they came.
Basil Roots
I also pulled all but two of my parsley plants and one of my basil plants. I have enough preserved for the year. I just need some for fresh eating and those ought to be enough. I'm throwing out more basil than I'm using right now. The basil has been amazing this year. Those stems you see are close to 3/4" wide. Their roots went a couple of feet out into the bed and through the chard. I'm guessing the chard will be happier now that they are gone.
Still in the bed from left to right: basil, chard, parsley, bunching onions
I had gotten my seeds out from the fridge, but forgot to get the lettuce seeds, so right now they are getting to room temperature while all the rest are planted. In the back I planted a row of dwarf curly kale. Then some Tokyo turnips (from Mac) and some Oasis turnips. The next row was for radishes. The Munich Bier radishes (from Jody) got one side of the row and the French Breakfast (from Jane) got the other. The next two rows will be Red Sails and Deer Tongue in the front as soon as I can open my seed container.
The weather has been very hot and dry up here. I wish I could have some of last year's rain right about now. It took forever to get the soil moist enough to plant in. I figured the poor seeds needed a head start so I put some cardboard over most of it. I hope that is enough to keep it at least a bit cool and moist.
The radishes and turnips are a trial. They may not work out. In my old garden I needed a row cover over them to get them to bulb up. I'm not putting one over them right now so it is a gamble. But this garden has different insects than the last one. So maybe I'll be OK. I'll never know unless I try.
New bugs mean new challenges, and i'm hoping you won't have any of the really bad ones.....I'm thinking small fall planting too.
ReplyDeleteYou keep seeds in the fridge? Does that make them last longer?
ReplyDeleteI wish I had enough basil to be throwing away! Those stems are huge!
Those basil roots look impressive! You must have a good soil.
ReplyDeleteNice basil. I'm not eating as much as I'm growing this year, either. Maybe it's time to clear out a bit more of the garden. . .
ReplyDeleteWhy do you have seeds in the fridge and what kind? If those are your basil roots, I'm shocked. My tomato roots look like that :-) Basil stems are pencil thin!!
ReplyDeleteEG, I hope so too. The groundhog is bad enough. So far so good though.
ReplyDeletePrairie Cat and Random Gardener, yes I keep my seeds in the fridge in an air tight container. I keep all of them in there. They take up way too much space but I do it anyway. They store longer there, but you have to be really careful when you take the out. If you open the container before they warm up the humidity will condense on them and make their life shorter.
Helen Lewis, and heat. Usually we don't have that, but it has been a hot summer and they are right next to the rock wall.
Stefaneener, I needed some space for fall veggies. I won't get much from this space, but maybe something. I might be a bit late in planting though. We will see.
Wow, you're actually pulling out basil. My basil did so poorly in the garden this year that when I saw some nice big organically grown potted basil plants at the grocery store I bought a couple and put them into some larger pots. Now I finally have enough to put on my tomatoes but not enough for pesto. And I haven't put in much for the fall/winter garden because the vole/mole/gopher whatever rodent pest it is (they are) is still churning the open garden bed. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteOh it's so hard start fall planting when the summer garden is at its peak of production.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have space for the up coming starter plants so I stuck them into containers for now, some can be transplanted later, but the root crop cannot so they have to stay in pots, hopefully it'll work out.
Last year I barely got any basil at all, but this year it was just taking over. It was shading out my chard so I'm happy for it to go.
ReplyDeletemac, I wish I had started some plants inside. Like my bok choy. I just didn't have my act together enough to do that this year. My plant nursery area is still not put together.
Oh wow, that is some roots you have there on your basil. It's like a tree!
ReplyDelete