What No Photos?

I rarely write a post without photos, but today is it. I wanted to take some photos without my landscapers around. They bring in their big trucks and block the driveway. It is hard enough to get my work done much less get to the right distance for a photo. Last night they were still around when I went to dance class. This morning they were here just before 7am. I think they are trying to get it finished before the weekend. So your fall update will be photoless. And I'll try to get some finished photos of the yard next week. The fencing still won't be up, but that will be weeks down the road from now.

On to the fall update. On Tuesday, I ripped out four more tomato plants. Two were just getting sick, Market Miracle and Principe Borghese. Two were in the way, Romeo and Amish Paste. The latter two were in the way of part of my fall garden. Yes I know it is the end of September, but I still wanted a little more space. What I put in there were thinnings from my other little fall garden patch. Plus I seeded some more radishes and Japanese turnips. The transplants were: Fun Jen, Chinese broccoli, tatsoi, and two types of small bok choy. I watered them in well. I was supposed to water them again yesterday, but the workers were always in the way of the hose yesterday so it didn't get done. This morning there they were again so I just worked around them. Yesterday I could see the Fun Jen wilting through the row cover. Its roots aren't fully established yet and it was hot on Wednesday.

I also watered the spinach patch. It has come up really spotty so far. I should have put a row cover over it, but haven't yet. The row cover really helps hold in the moisture and makes things germinate better.

Which brings me to another subject. Where is fall? We seem to have gotten a nice week or so of fall weather (but without the rain), but then summer came back. Wednesday was 86F and today and tomorrow are supposed to hit the low 80s too. I remember ages ago my son's birthday was the day that we turned on the heat in the house. His birthday has come and gone and it hasn't gotten below 72 in the house yet. Now it could be partly because we have a new house which means it is well insulated and tight. But according to Weather.com we haven't even gotten into the 40Fs at night yet. Weird.

And I really want my rain to come back for the fall (which might happen next week, if so I'll throw a celebration). When I pulled out the tomatoes I hand watered that spot for ages and ages and it still didn't get wet more than four inches down. The whole bed is dry as a bone. It just sucks up water. Kinda freaky for New England. We average about 4" (+/- 1/2" depending on the month) of precipitation a month all year long. Places that are on wells are on water restrictions. We aren't as our water comes from a huge reservoir and we had massive floods this spring.

OK enough whining. I'll leave you all on a good note. It may not be harvest Monday, but I had a really nice harvest the other day. When I transplanted I also thinned out the bok choy since it was way too close together. I had my first meal of fall Asian greens. I use the white stemmed bok choy and made a stir fry for dinner. Oh yum. Yum Yum Yum. I have missed them.

I also harvested some turnips and radishes. My SIL is coming to visit this weekend and has requested food from the garden. So the radishes will go into a cucumber and radish salad (both from the garden). Though I'll taste them first to make sure they aren't too strong from the warm weather. In addition there will be an orange and tomato salsa to garnish the spicy shrimp (with Cherokee Purple tomatoes). The black bean soup sadly those won't feature my black beans, but it will feature my home made salsa as I use a really easy recipe that is basically black beans, broth, salsa, and cumin. Really easy, especially if you are using canned beans like I am this time. And to be kind to my husband I'll make a Mexican rice that he likes (with my own tomato sauce). He won't eat anything else on the menu except the shrimp. So I need something for him. Hmm maybe I'll take photos of the meal for you. I haven't done a cooking post in quite a while. I was going to do a goodbye to the summer with photos of summer food I've taken. But I never got around to it. And really it still feels like summer.