I couldn't have wished for a nicer September. It has been gorgeous! This warm sunny weather has really helped some plants come along that I got in the ground later than I would like. These sunflowers are at least 10 feet tall, I am standing below looking up to take the photo!
Below is a fabulously perfect sunflower head drying on my front porch; I love the geometric patterns that the seeds make as they grow.
The past few weeks have been focused on getting Winter greens started and planted out. They need a bit of a head start before the cold weather starts to slow things down. There is already a noticeable difference in rate of growth now that the colder evenings have arrived. Also, I've been busy preparing empty beds for the Winter by planting rye and a legume mix in them. In the Spring this will be tilled in, adding a lot of nitrogen and other good things to the soil. Last year I put rye and clover on most of Lee Ann's garden and there was a big difference in the areas with and without. The rye also helps to break up the soil with its extensive root system leaving the soil like butter when you work it, really nice!
After a couple of months gap I finally have salad greens again - hurrah! There is lots of lettuce, arugula, mizuna, and red mustard. With the help of the hoophouse at the farm I am hoping to keep a salad mix going until December. Eliot Coleman (my farming guru) uses a simple hoophouse with row cover over the greens maintaining a crop throughout the Winter in Maine; so I'm feeling pretty optimistic that we can do the same thing here in our balmy zone 8.
Beautiful copra and red onions after having cured in the sun for about 3 weeks. Some will be given to my CSA customers and others we will use over the Winter.
Our local farmers' market has been extended for four more weeks! There are at least four produce vendors who still have an abundance of wonderful veggies and there are still customers wanting to buy them so it makes sense to just keep going! I've been taking what I can pull together but wasn't really prepared (my focus has been entirely on the csa), next year I will plan for the farmers' market too and hopefully have an abundance of good stuff too.
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