After a week of very cold weather we saw our first snow of the season last weekend.  A typical transition from cold, dry weather back to the normal rain usually collides in snowflakes around here.  Roads were a bit icy this morning but nothing to really worry about.  Not that the forcast is promising much warmth.  We may very well see more freezing conditions at night as the week progresses.

The first day of autumn, Sept. 22, has arrived.  The weather has been gorgeous, unseasonably warm and dry.  Its been dipping down into the 40’s at night and coming back up to nearly 80 in the daytime.  We have planted several fall veggies, including broccoli raab, kohlrabi, kale, lettuce and swiss chard.  They are all doing great so far.  I can hardly believe how quickly the raab and chard came up to harvest size and they’ve been great.

I started more seed last weekend in the greenhouse.  Not sure if there is still time but thought I’d give it a try.

I’ve been searching the internet for first frost dates.  It would appear that we don’t need to worry too much until October.  The likelihood of frost grows stronger as the month progresses.  I’ve attached a link to some very interesting weather charts.  Also, sounds like the best way to protect plants from frost is to cover them with either burlap or cotton sheets.

So here it is nearly the end of August and it occurs to me that there are still tomatoes I have not yet harvested.  Seems peculair to me that they haven’t all had at least some fruit by now. 

First on the list of non producers is  Early Girl.  The plant is huge, large strong stems trying to take over the world but so far just one tasteless tomato several weeks ago.  Maybe she just doesn’t like the weather, although the weather has had plenty of hot days and cool days.  You’d think there would have been something to please her either way.

Next is Fourth of July.  It was a catchy name.  I watched two large green fruits hanging there since the plant was purchased at the Master Gardener’s sale.  The Rutgers have not done anything this year either, although I take the blame for that since I waited too long to plant them.  Liked them too much and wanted a ‘special’ place. 

My favorite eating tomato so far has been Italian Heritage.  Huge fruits, very meaty (few seeds) and fabulous taste.  Only problem with this one is to bring a pruner to cut the fruit from the plant.  They are so strongly suspended that they are impossible to break off by hand.

Brandywine has produced a nice tomoto so far.  It weighs in at 1lb 14 ozs and measures nearly six inches long.  Its like six smaller tomatoes combined.

Sweet Million is still my favorite cherry tomato.  I can’t believe the huge clusters of fruit these plants are consistently producing, and they are nice and sweet.  They have the best taste of all the grape and cherry tomatoes I’ve tried.  The slugs really love them too.

Big surprize has been La Roma.  I’ve never grown a roma tomato before and this one has been an excellent producer.  The fruit is tasty, plentiful,  uniform  and great  for cooking.

Sticks & twigs put to good use!

Scarlet Runner Beans planted along the base.  Don’t know if my construction skills are good enough that this will continue to stand, but it was fun to make.  Now I just hope the beans grow and find their way on up!

Here’s a list of things that didn’t turn out all that well…

• Spinach – Purchased as starts, grew fast, looked great for about a week and then bolted.  I may just have planted them too late.
• Brocoli Raab – Purchased as starts, never turned into anything.  The spindly little plants bloomed immediately.
• Arugula – Purchased as starts.  They just didn’t grow very well.  Lots of flowers though.
• Pod Peas, Oregon Giant – Purchased as big healthy starts.  They didn’t seem to like the transplant into the garden and wouldn’t grow for a long time.  May just have been planted too late, the weather was pretty hot at the time.
• Tomatoes – Don’t buy so many!  They are alot of work.

Time to start a list of successes verses failures.  I’ll begin with the successess.

• Sweet Peas, planted from seed, directly in the garden.  They’ve been just gorgeous this year.
• Kohlrabi, purchased as starts from Cenex in a 2 by 4 inch pot
• Swiss Chard, Bright Lights – also purchased as starts like above.  There were soooo many in that little pot!  Great economical way to get them and they transplanted very well.
• Savoy Cabbage – Haven’t had any yet but they look like they are growing well.  Purchased them as starts and there were lots of them to transplant, way more than I need most likely.
• Shallots – Not sure what to say here.  The bulb sets grew very well and divided many times.  Problem is, I planted them in small pots so they didn’t have enough space to really grow.  Not sure how they will turn out in the end.
• Tomatoes, purchased as started plants in various sizes.  The started plants seem to do a whole lot better than the newly seeded ones.  The issue most likely is time.  Got to get a head start on them next year and be sure to keep them growing.
• Leeks, purchased as starts in a 2 x 4 inch pot.  There were 100’s in there.  Way more than anyone could possibly want.  They seem to be coming along fine.
• Celery and celeriac – purchased as starts but there were only 4 – 6 plants in each pot.  They seem to be growing well, and how many could I possibly need anyway.

We have been really lucky with the chard this year.  One little pot of starts and so far 3 dinners from it, and still lots more out there.  Wish I had planted more brocolli rabe too, but have been having some troubles with it bolting.  Perhaps starting the rabe indoors a month earlier, and getting it in the ground in April instead of May would have made all the difference.  Will try to get a fall crop later in the season, start seeds next month? 

The carrots are coming along but still have lots of time left to go.  The radishes are doing great and I have already eaten a few on salads.  The fingerling & Yukon gold potatoes are doing well, but I need to get out and mound around them today.  I hae been most excited about the lettuce this year.  Granted, when the weather gets real hot it will all likely bolt, but so far I have been able to grow my own lettuce for the past month and new additional crops have been planted for continued harvest potential.

The corn has been a complete and total bust this year.  I think the robins must have stolen the seed.  I have started another package of Early Sunglow (63days), in flats on the deck. It probably won’t have enough time, but we’ll give it a go.

I finally got down to planting the seed potatoes today when I got home from work.  I hope its not to late in the season.  I haven’t planted potatoes for years.  I think they are great fun except for the worms they tend to get.  I’ve already forgotten which varieties they are.  Best I can remember is that one batch came from Cenex, something yellow, and the other from the food coop, an organic red potato.

I also spent some time potting up tomatoes in the greenhouse this evening.  I still have several that have not been planted outside.  The row that was transplanted to the garden a couple of weeks ago is not doing much yet either.

The record-breaking heat last week wasn’t completely helpful.  Both the spinach and the frilly endive are bolting now.  I picked a couple of endive plants when I first noticed the change in growth habit night before last and cooked them for dinner.  Nothing fancy, just chopped and boiled till wilted, then tossed with butter and freshly grated nutmeg.    They were still quite good, though maybe a little more bitter.  Today they look even worse with their tall, elongated centers.  Not sure they’re edible anymore.  Will need to plant them much earlier next year, while the weather is still cool.