Garden in the Fall

We're still gardening!

My beets (above), turnips & radishes are almost ready to harvest. We tried a few radishes over the weekend & they were ready. I just want to savor looking out the window at the greenery for a little longer.

Speaking of beets, we bought our first fresh juice at the Palmyra Real Food Emporium. It was made with raw beets, apples & carrots. We loved it! It was a pretty purple, lightly sweet & had just the right combination of flavors. I think I'm going to try to recreate it at home once I harvest our beets.

The purple peppers are doing well. The Bup had to prop up one of the plants with a stick because the peppers are so heavy!

We would like to save the seeds from one or two of the peppers because they're really nice. They're super crunchy & thick walled, which is great for eating & storing in the fridge.

Mom said that to save the seeds, we should let one of them turn red before we pick it so that they are fully mature. Once we pick the pepper, we'll lay out the seeds on paper & let them dry. Then we can put them in an envelope & try planting them next year. I'm excited to try this!

Can you guess what this is?

Mini eggplants!

I thought the plants were going to die because they got severly eaten by bugs during July & August. They must like the cooler weather, though, because now they're thriving. I can't wait to taste one once they ripen.

The kale just won't stop growing. It's a mini forest in our garden! I love the homegrown variety versus the store bought because it's a lot heartier and sturdy, making it perfect for kale chips. We started using Old Bay on the kale instead of sea salt - try it! It adds a little kick.

My lettuce is loving the fall weather, too. I planted 1.5 rows each of mixed greens & spinach. Both are thriving, and the Bup is going to put out our lettuce greenhouse soon so that it survives the first frost.

A sneaky tomato plant somehow made it's way into the lettuce patch. They're poking up everywhere! Meanwhile, all the mature tomato plants are dying.

And then there's the swiss chard. This stuff is out of control! I haven't picked any lately because it looks so pretty popping up among all the strawberry plants.

The first frost will be coming soon, so I better get picking!