Reflecting back on 2018, planning for 2019

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Now is the time to reflect back on the last edible garden season to capture what went well and what did not.  What you planted too much of and what you didn't plant enough of.  Make sure to include the names of varieties that did well and those that didn't so you have them for future reference.   

Here are my reflections on this year's garden............

Overall

In general, the garden did pretty good.  There were high points and not so great turn outs for the season.  Just your typical edible garden season!  

The good

The cultivated dandelions, cilantro, sage, rosemary, lettuce, corn salad, sorrel, tarragon, garlic, onions, basil, rosemary, sage, tarragon, spaghetti squash did fabulous!

The okay

The eggplants did pretty well.  I planted 2 varieties this year "White Star" and one that is advertised to stay sweet, even in the heat "AO Daimaru".  They both did stay sweet even during the sauna summer and early fall.  The white eggplant was super attractive to the flea beetles.  Insecticidal soap or diatomaceous earth will get them under control.  The green beans got ate by the groundhog so we didn't get many for ourselves this year.

The peppers and tomatoes did well.  I got a bumper crop of tomatoes this year.  The tomatoes and peppers did get fruitworms and stinkbugs in the middle of the summer that I had to use BT on (bacillus thuringiensis) to get rid of them.  I will definitely throw away all these plants and not compost to be sure the eggs don't survive through the winter compost pile.  Will also clear out the garden and not leave until spring.

The garlic did pretty well.  There were some cloves that did not make it; most did.  The ones that did gave nice bulbs.  I pickled 4 or 5 quarts of garlic.  This will be plenty for what we will use.  This is my favorite way to preserve garlic as it keeps for years.  Quick tip-”peeling” garlic

The chard had something eating on it until the temps chilled down.  They have recovered and doing great again.  For year round steamed greens, grow chard!

For some reason my chives did not expand much.  They are perennials so will come back every year.  Add chives to your garden

The bad

So my kale, sprouting broccoli and cabbage all get attacked by pests this year.  They are all in the same family.  I said I wasn't going to grow any this year to break the cycle, but had some volunteers that I didn't have the heart to yank out.  I started spraying with insecticidal soap to get them healthy again.  The key to these veggies is to harvest them early in the season before the pests set in.  Next year, I will be strong and wait until fall to get them going after the pests have moved on.

The stevia plant I purchased from a local greenhouse got infected with mealybugs.  These are common on indoor plants or greenhouse grown plants.  They can be treated with alcohol or neem oil.  This is one of the risks when purchasing bedding plants that they will have some type of pest that you bring into your own garden.  Late in the season, these spread to my potted peppers.

I didn't have the best luck in getting my fall spinach sprouted this fall for winter harvesting.  Hopeful the spinach still has time to get going in the portable greenhouse.  Otherwise, I'll have a jump start on spring!

The groundhog also feasted on the summer squash so we got very few for ourselves.  That was okay as we had a bumper crop last year and still have plenty in the freezer.  The vines looked healthy and put on lots of babies for the hungry critter.

I also did not plant okra this year as I have tons left in the freezer. 

Tomatoes

I tried some new tomato varieties and also planted my standbys.  Most of the new varieties did not pan out the best, but a couple I will add to next year's garden.  

-Tried Indigo Pear Drops this year.  It has fun colored fruits.  The vine grows very tall on its own.  I planted late in the season to keep the harvest going through fall.  I did get quite a few fruits.  If I plant again, I would plant earlier and pinch back the vine to keep it more compact.

-Cherokee Purple did well as usual.  Nice slicers.  This is one that always does well in our garden.  Will keep in the garden next year.

-Italian Red Pear an heirloom paste had a health vine, but ripened late and took a long time.  I planted it in full sun this year, but late in the season because the first plant got cut off at the ground by something.  This was too late to get many fruits.  Next year, I'll plant in full sun again, early in the season and 2 plants instead of just 1.  Adding these to sauce makes a smooth, creamy sauce.  

-I had Amish Paste in the garden this year.  I have tried it before and did not get many from the plant.  This time it did well, giving paste tomatoes much sooner than the Italian Red Pear.  The Amish Paste fruits are smaller so don't take as long to form.  I'll keep it in the garden next year.  I try to put at least some paste tomatoes in each bag of sliced tomatoes that I freeze.

-Tried 2 Brandywines this year, the traditional pink and True Black.  The True Black did the best of the two.

-Tried Black Krim a second time.  It did decent in our garden.  The fruits were huge.  

-Other new varieties did okay, but will not try them again because they didn't thrive in the garden-Box Car Willie, Costoluto Genovese, and San Marzano.

-I planted a couple of black tomatoes that I had seed for, but was too late in the season to really get going.

-Lastly, I grew Boronia in a pot as it is an heirloom compact type.  It did decent until late in the season.  Its fruits are more like paste tomatoes.

Next season what I'd like to add to the garden is more meaty medium size chocolate tomato.  Typically, smaller tomatoes get started sooner than the large tomatoes.  
Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow great tomatoes

Spaghetti squash harvest on hummingbird vine

Summer and Winter Squash
The summer squash plants did well but the groundhog got all the fruits.  I will do these again next year-Early Prolific Straightneck and Cocozelle Zucchini.   It is recommended you either wait until the second week of June to plant your squash or do a second round of planting in July to have healthy plants for the entire summer.  Will definitely plant both varieties next year and do a second crop mid summer to keep the harvest going.

I planted winter squash this year, spaghetti squash and it did well.  The groundhog only got 1 or 2 fruits.  I'll add this to the garden for next year. 
Everything you need to know to grow squash

Eggplant

I had 2 potted eggplants going this year.-White Star and AO Daimaru.  The white and green both did well.  The white varieties typically have the least bitterness, but are very hard to grow from seed.  This green one also did not become bitter in the heat.  I'll do both again next year.  I do also like the taste of Turkish Orange.  The flea beetles went to town on it last year and it did not do very well.  I may try it again and just be more vigilant on the flea beetles.  

Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

Peppers
I have been able to freeze about a pint of sliced peppers every week.  I had 6 sweet pepper plants.  I had planted a few seeds from sweet banana peppers I bought at the store that I grew out 2 years ago.  They didn't look anything at all like a banana pepper and were smaller than the ones from last year, but they tasted great and did extremely well.  

The Pablano pepper plants did well.  I grow those to make chili powder.I have a small hot pepper plant that is ages old, Chiltepin.  It took 3 tries, but I was finally able to get it to grow.  I have them in a pot that I bring in to overwinter each year.  I like putting small hot peppers in my seasoned salt and pickled garlic and wanted to grow my own.  They are covered with the tiny hot tots!  

The spicy ones I will grow again next year are the Pablanos and Chiltepin.  And definitely the sweet peppers from last year's seeds.  They did great and were very tasty and prolific.
Peppers are for every taste and garden

Cucumbers

I planted 3 different varieties of cucumber vines.  I got only a few fruits from both the Miniature White and Hmong Red.  I got lots from the Jaune Dickfleischige vine.  These are huge yellow fruits, if you let them grow, with tough outer skins.  The fruits keep for months on the counter.  I'll plant a white one and a green variety again next year.

Cucumber info and tips for growing

View between the pole beans in the edible garden

Beans and peas

The pole green beans did great this year, but the groundhog ate them all.  I planted purple and green Romano types.  The beans and flowers were very pretty.  The green Romano are stringless and the purple Romano type had a small string that was easy to remove before freezing.  I will definitely keep these (Romano and the purple Blauhilde) in my garden next year..

I planted peas in the pots in the spring.  The groundhog ate the vines.  Pea vine tips and flowers are tasty.  I will grow them again next year.  I like snow peas; more veggie for your space since you can eat the entire pod!    

I had tried three pole storage beans this year-Portal Jade, Good Mother Stollard and King of the Garden lima beans.  The Portal Jade and the Lima beans did not produce much.  Good Mother Stollard went to town!  I got quite a lot from these vines and they are still producing.  I think it is fun to have different color and sized beans in the chili I make.  I did not do the storage beans again.  They don't produce nearly as much for the space as green beans.

Growing beans
Legumes-peas for spring, beans for summer
Time to plant peas!

Okra

I planted okra for the first time last year and these guys did fabulous.  I planted two varieties-Red Burgundy Okra and a green variety.  Both did very well.  I think I will stick with the Red Burgundy for future gardens or try a dwarf variety for the future.  I didn't realize how tall okra gets!  Some of these plants grew to 8+ feet tall.  They produced all summer long and are still producing and growing in height.  They did well enough that I did not need any in this year's garden.  I just sliced and froze them.  I am planning on using them in soups and roasts.  They were pretty tasty just boiled in a pan of chicken broth.

Growing and harvesting okra

Our very tall okra last year

Garlic and onions

The garlic and onions did well this year.  The Egyptian walking onions did great!  I hardened the garlic on our covered deck.  I'll replant the best producing garlic which always includes Elephant garlic.  I like to grow the ones with large cloves that are easy to peel.  I pickle my garlic so I can use it year round.  It has been warm this fall.  I'll be planting the cloves soon for next year's harvest.

Everything to know about growing onions
Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

Herbs

I had a bumper crop of basil this year; most were Holy Basil volunteers from last year's garden.  The other herbs did well, too.  We have rosemary, tarragon, bay, sage, parsley, chives, and mint.  I keep peppermint in a pot so it doesn't take over the garden. The dill went to seed early.  I use tarragon in the summer after the cilantro has bolted.  It adds a different taste, but is still good.  Most of my herbs are perennials.  If the rosemary doesn't make it through the winter, I'll replant it again next year.  Right now, both rosemary plants-Tuscan Blue and Arp look great.  I will always start basil and dill in the spring, along with cilantro if it doesn't come back from seed.  Can't have a garden without them.  The bay plants I bring in for the winter.  They are not hardy in this zone but do fine overwintering in the garage.

Start a kitchen herb garden!

Greens

I'll keep the same recipe for greens.  I have many perennial greens and self-sowers that give greens pretty well year round.  Perennial greens-sorrel, cultivated dandelions, arugula, chard.  Perennial veggies in the Midwest garden  Self-sowers-corn salad, purslane, cilantro, mustard greens, salad burnet.  Try self-seeding veggies and flowers  I'll continue to have several types of lettuce and spinach.  The standbys are red and green romaine, Red Sails, and some type of buttercrunch.  Red and Green Oakleaf used to be a standby as you can harvest individual leaves for salad. They always do well.  I hadn't had those recently but sowed them for the winter garden in the mini greenhouse.  They have done well through the winter under cover.

Growing fabulous lettuce and greens

Zinnias and morning glory in edible fall garden

Flowers

I always have flowers in the garden.  I started gardening with flowers.  They are pretty and bring pollinators to your edibles, increasing the harvest.  I had a ton of self-seeding zinnias that returned from last year.  Most were a fuchsia color.  I pulled most of them to space them out in the garden and plant other colors.  Will definitely include marigolds.   The Hollyhocks I planted this season should return on their own.  I love the giant ruby red cock's comb that my dad sent me seeds for.  I'll keep them in the garden every year.  I had many volunteers in the garden this year.  I grew alyssum from seed as I couldn't find any bedding plants.  Most came as white.  Found the best way to get them going is to just sow in a pot, let them get to a decent size, then transplant into the garden.  I'll do red Hummingbird vine, a blue Morning Glory vine, and a white tropical vine like Moonflower.  If you want all edibles in your garden, there are many flowers that fit the bill!  Flowers that are edible  

The garden season is not over yet.  There will be much to enjoy through most of the winter. We will have arugula, mustard greens, lettuce, chard, blood veined sorrel, garden sorrel, French and Italian dandelion, spinach, lettuce, purslane, corn salad, chives, parsley, cilantro, celery and sprouting broccoli for salads.  The Egyptian onions will produce all through winter.  The herbs will be available for harvesting until the snow covers them up.

Winter growth slow down

Outdoor potted lettuce

Saturday, November 10, 2018

If you have noticed that plants stop growing in the winter, whether indoors or out, you would be right.  It is not just the temperatures that affect this slow down.  It is the amount of sunlight!  

Basically, plants go dormant when receiving less than 10 hours of daylight.  For my latitude, this is from November 17-January 24.  You can look on the weather channel to see when your daylight hits 10 hours.

When planting in the fall for winter crops, you need to plan that they are at full, harvestable size by November 17th (I add 14 days to be on the safe side for the cooler temps and less daylight than in spring).  They will remain basically this size until the end of January, when they begin regrowing.  If growing in a greenhouse, the warmer temperatures will help plants grow, but at a much slower rate than during longer daylight times.  

The same techniques for protecting spring crops work for your fall and winter gardens.  
Protect your new plants from a late frost
Preparing for a hard freeze

Lettuce and greens in January under a portable green house

Growth starts back up at the end of January, for indoor and outdoor plants.  The lettuce, chard, sorrel, cabbage, kale, celery, and herbs that have overwintered will start growing with vigor again after this time with clear days and warmer temperatures.

Covering plants with row covers or portable greenhouses can help your plants grow; warmth does make a difference.  Just don’t expect significant growth until we get back to at least 10 hours of sunlight.

November 2018 Edible Garden Planner

Fall garden

Sunday, October 28, 2018

November is a beautiful time of year as Mother Nature is getting prepared for the cold, wintry days ahead.  Late fall chores should include cleaning up your garden beds, reflecting on the gardening season completed, and preparing for the first freeze.

Garden bed clean up

To prepare your garden for its winter slumber, remove gardening debris from your beds.  For any diseased vegetation or seeds, be sure to throw these away and not compost.  You don't want to propagate and spread any diseases to other parts of the garden.  A really hot compost pile will kill them but it isn't work the risk going into winter. 

This is a good time to decide if you would like to make your own compost.  Compost is referred to by gardeners as “black gold.”  It provides nutrients, beneficial microbes, fertilizer and overall improves your soil’s condition.  Composting is possible in small spaces or even indoors  Outdoor compost piles go slowly in the fall and winter, but speed up as temps rise in the spring.

I have used an electric composter called NatureMill that we kept in the garage by the door.  It is easy to keep an odor free bucket made just for this purpose in the kitchen to collect fruit and vegetable scraps and empty weekly into the composter.  The small indoor buckets are called compost keepers or bins and come in a variety of decorative styles.  You get finished compost in a couple of weeks.  You can store the compost you are making in a trash bag to use when preparing your spring beds and to revitalize potting soils.  Re-energize your potting soil!  It is great for flowers and vegetables.

I went to an outdoor insulated composter made by Jora.  It was designed in Sweden.  It works year round but much better in the summer.  It is important to keep the greens and browns in the right ratio to keep the compost cooking in the winter.  Unfortunately, it leaked when it rained and rusted.  I switched to an all plastic type with dual bins.  Here are some tips if your composter/compost pile starts having issues  Troubleshooting your compost pile

After your garden clean up, look to give your garden a nutritional boost for the winter months.  Doing a nice layer of compost and fertilizer, topped with mulch, will allow the nutrients to seep into the garden soil, ready to give your spring plants a boost.  The mulch will keep the soil more temperate during the winter months for your winter edibles and keep weed seeds from sprouting. 

Reflection on the past garden season

While the past gardening season is still fresh in your mind, now is a great time to jot down some notes on what went well, what didn’t, and what you would like to research over the winter.  Make a list of the varieties that did great that you want to replant, which plants you want to be sure to have more of next year.  Also make note of how many plants make sense to plant for next year.  Here are my reflections last fall for the edible garden.  Reflecting back on the 2017 edible garden  I'll do one for this season in the next couple of weeks.   

Keep track of what you eat over the winter to give you a good idea of what and how much to plant come spring.  How much to plant?

Fall is a fabulous time to make new garden beds.  It is super easy, too.  Just use a hose to outline your new bed, fertilize, put down a layer of cardboard (earthworms love cardboard!), a layer of compost, and cover with mulch.  By spring, the new garden bed will be ready for planting.  Easy ways to make a new vegetable garden bed

Gardening after the first frost

For northern Kentucky, the average first frost date is mid-October.  We have had 2 frosts in the last week or so but the temps are back up and forecasted to stay that way for the next 2 weeks.  You can cover your veggies with a portable green house or row cover to extend the season for many cool season crops.  Frost forecasted? Here’s your to-do list  With a portable green house, we have kept lettuce, kale, mustard greens, sorrel, and celery all the way through winter.  You can garden year round in small space

If you are using pots, putting the pots on the south side, in a sunny local and close to the house will keep them from getting frost bit into November or even December for cold season crops.  It seems to extend the season for 2-4 weeks.

You can also divide a piece off your herbs, put them in a pot, and bring indoors on a sunny window to have fresh herbs readily available.  Chives, thyme, rosemary, savory, tarragon, salad burnet, and oregano can also be harvested into December from the outdoor garden.  Growing herbs indoors for winter

Surprisingly, we found that peppers and eggplants are great candidates from bringing in for the winter.  Our Jalapenos and Cayennes continued to fruit for weeks indoors and when put back out in the spring, we had peppers a month earlier than when using new plants.  Tomatoes are also contenders for overwintering indoors.  All are tender perennials.  I bring in only the ones that did really well that I want to get a head start on next season.

Be sure to use insecticidal soap on any plants you intend to bring indoors a couple weeks prior so you don’t bring in unintended guests.  Just remember that insecticides kill the good bugs like bees as well as the bad bugs so be careful when you spray.  Natural, organic pest strategies and how to make your own bug sprays

I keep my plants out as long as possible to minimize their stay indoors.  There is nothing like sunshine and fresh air for a plant.  Last year, I overwintered all my tropicals and edibles in the unheated garage with a hanging fluorescent light fixture with daylight bulbs.  They all did well except for the eggplants.  Eggplants are spotty, but worth the try if you had a great one.  Be sure to save seed so you can keep the plants going that do well in your garden. Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver    You can save seeds even from heirlooms you buy in the store to try in your garden.  I have a few that have become standbys in our garden that came from the grocery store and farmers market.

Late November potted lettuce

For the herbs you cut back earlier in the season to dry, November is a great time to now strip the stems of the harvested leaves, dry and put into jars for winter cooking.  You can make your own “Herbes De Provence”.  Thyme, oregano, rosemary, savory, basil, tarragon and lavender are common herbs used in this famous French seasoning.  I mix them up in about equal amounts and store in a sealed Mason jar.  It is great to add to just about anything-sauces, chicken, fish, potatoes, garlic bread.  Makes wonderful Christmas presents, too.  Make your own "Herbes de Provence".

For those that keep on going into the winter, I would prune back the plants by about two thirds and strip the leaves from the cut stems.  Do so when there are warm temps forecasted for a few days to allow the plants cut ends to heal.  Otherwise a cold snap can kill the plant.

Use your herbs for your Thanksgiving meal Use your own herbs for your Thanksgiving dinner  More than likely you will have some edibles still growing in the garden.  Take a look and plan around them for your meal.  Some winter hardy edibles include kale, cabbage, chives, sage, thyme, corn salad, sorrel, plantain greens, celery, mustards, even some hardy lettuces.

Make your own apple cider vinegar

Saturday, October 20, 2018

It is the end of apple season.  It is a great time to get local apples to make your own apple cider vinegar.  All you need are glass jars, water, apples and sugar to make this healthy brew.  

Here is the recipe that I am using for a gallon of apple cider vinegar:

*3 pounds of a variety of apples (more variety gives a fuller flavor.  )

*8 cups of spring water (do not use tap water as chlorine kills the yeast that makes the cider)

*1/2 cup of sugar

Directions:

*Slice the apples into quarters

*Let the apples brown on the counter

*After browning, place into a wide mouth glass gallon jar

*Fill with water, add sugar, and a weight to keep the apples under the water to keep flies from landing on the apples or mold from growing on them

*Cover with a cheese cloth with a rubber band to keep any fruit flies out

Let the apples ferment in a dark, warm location for at least 4 weeks.  The fermentation goes faster in warm weather and slower in cooler temperatures.  White scum will form on the top.  This is normal.  Bubbling is also normal as it ferments into cider.  Mold is not.

After at least 4 weeks, strain out the apples and put the liquid back into the jar and cover with cheesecloth.  During this time, yeast will eat the sugar to transform your apple water into apple cider.  

After you have apple cider, it is ready to transform into acetic acid and vinegar.  You can add some finished raw apple cider vinegar or mother into your strained liquid to give it a boost.  It should take another 4 weeks to turn into vinegar.  Allow to continue fermenting until it reaches the appropriate tartness.  

You will see a thin rubbery substance on the top of your jar.  This is the "mother" that converts the cider into vinegar.  

When the taste is the way you like it, you can now put a regular lid on your gallon jar or pour into smaller jars to make room for another apple cider vinegar batch!  The mother can be kept in the jar or stored separately.

Tips:  

*Use organic apples if possible.  If not, be sure to remove any wax coating and then soak in baking soda water for 15 minutes to remove all pesticides.

*You can use apple scraps as well.  Make sure that any scraps are well cleaned as above.  Peels and cores are great adds.  You can keep scraps in the freezer until you have enough to start a batch of vinegar.

*Use a combo of apple types.  50% sweet like Golden Delicious, Fuji, Gala, Red Delicious.  35% sharp like McIntosh, Liberty, Winesap, Northern Spy, Gravenstein, Granny Smith.  15% bitter like Dolgo crabapples, Newtown, Foxwhelp, Porter's Perfection, Cortland.

*If you don't have access to spring water, you can use filtered, reverse osmosis water or distilled water.

What's happening in the early October edible garden

Saturday, October 6, 2018

This is a time of year that most summer vegetables are winding down and cold crops are growing strong.  With frost, many summer vegetables will die and cold season crops will get sweeter.  The biggest difference between spring and fall is that the days are getting shorter instead of longer.  For planting in the fall, add 2 weeks to the "Days to harvest" on seed packets to compensate.

We continue to fertilize our vegetables monthly.  Fertilizer stimulates new growth so don't fertilize the plants that are "tender"/susceptible to frost.  This is also a great time to re-mulch the garden beds to give an added blanket of protection to prolong the season.  The mulch will break down over the winter, providing additional organic matter.

Be sure that you are saving seeds from your best producers for next year's garden.  Seeds from plants that do well in your garden are the best to save as they are proven to like your garden conditions.  Always save seed from the best tasting, best sized veggies.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

Our zucchini and cucumbers have slowed in the last few weeks.  It is a good idea to replant some zucchini seeds in August to keep zucchinis on hand in the garden.  It is not a bad idea to replant tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini in early August each year to keep these plants at top producing vigor until frost.

Our tomatoes and eggplant are still producing well this year.  For tomatoes, be sure to take all the tomatoes off the vine before it frosts.  You can either wrap the green tomatoes in newspaper and store in a cool place to ripen, make them into relish, or eat them as fried.  For fried green tomatoes, we use Andy’s Cajun batter.  Gives them a nice, spicy flavor.  A late fall tradition-fried green tomatoes!

Any plant that has a disease, do not compost!  Throw away in the trash.  Composting may not kill all spores and you could be spreading the disease next season wherever you use the compost.  Composting is possible in small spaces or even indoors

Peppers love this time of year.  They are native to the mountains so they love this weather.  They will continue to produce even after frost.  To prolong the season, I put the pots up against the house.  You can also bring them indoors and they will produce for weeks inside.  When spring comes and you put them back outside, they will get a jump start on producing next year.  Peppers a Plenty in September

I have two Ancho Anaheim peppers that are ready to harvest.  I did not get very many off the plant, but they were nice sized and enough for the chili powder I’ll use for making chili this winter.  The Pimento Elite I planted this year produced many peppers but they just wouldn’t turn red.  Peppers get sweeter when they ripen, but are good to eat even when green.  The jalapeños were the same, many peppers but stayed green.  The cayennes were prolific and slow to ripen.

For the sweet peppers, the rabbits kept them ate back to the stems for most of the year.  I finally put a wire cage around them and they are leaving back out, but likely too late for any peppers.  The one pepper they didn’t eat was the Sweet Red Banana.  I got a few off this plant.  The taste was very nice.

Peppers are for every taste and garden

I harvested the basil and made pesto in mid-September. The basil plants are quickly regenerating.  I should be able to get another harvest from them before frost hits.  These are very tender annuals and will turn black with the first frost.  You can dig them up and bring them in for the winter.  Place them in a full sun spot.  You can put them back outside again in the spring after all danger of frost has passed.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

I planted some chard, spinach, kale, lettuce,  seeds in Earthboxes and pots in mid-September.   All are doing well.  Many lettuce seeds have sprouted.  My potted sprouting broccoli, celery, arugula, corn salad and parsley is still producing and will continue through the winter.  Plant lettuce seed now for fall and winter harvest...

Cabbage, kale, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, chard, onions, arugula and other cold crops get sweeter with cool weather and a nice frost.  If the taste of these are too strong for your palate right now, give them another chance after frost.  Our Egyptian walking onions are lush and green.  The bulbs are filling out nicely.  Egyptian walking onions

This is also the perfect time of year to reseed your lawn or transplant perennials.  I separated flowers and herbs to take to our lake retirement house.  I had two really pretty Italian dandelions in the Earthbox.  I took the smaller one and replanted at the retirement house.  Dandelions are perennials and very healthy to eat.  The Italian and French types have been bred to have large leaves.  Great to make salads.    

Many herbs are perennials-garlic, sprouting onions, lavender, oregano, chives, sage, tarragon, thyme, savory, salad burnet, and rosemary.  Bay laurel is a perennial at our Zone 7 retirement house, but not in Zone 6.  I have kept it in a pot for years, but will be planting it at the lake.  It will actually become a tree when planted in the ground.  The rosemary I planted last year at the lake is quickly becoming a very large bush.  I give as many branches as possible away!  Perennial veggies in the Midwest garden

Fall is a great time to cut back your herbs.  Save the stems, place loosely in a paper bag, put in a dry location, and in about a month you will have all the dried herbs you and many family members will need for the next year!  Make your own "Herbes de Provence"

Fall is a bountiful time for gardening.  I have planted many winter hardy varieties of lettuce, kale, collards, mustards, and cabbage to keep the garden producing into December and hopefully beyond.  With the portable greenhouse, we will have greens all winter.  How to extend the garden season