Thursday, August 27, 2009

So Sad

The roadside vegetable garden is winding down for the year a bit early I think. The tomatoes were blighted. The cucumbers wilted. The potatoes were dug and the squashes are slowing down.

The beans and peas are long gone and the sweet corn is all et up, yummy, minus what was shared with the raccoon.

There is still food in there. I have yet to harvest the butternut squash and there are still peppers, leeks, beets and carrots from the first sowing. A second sowing of the beets and carrots was done in early August and I may get a fall crop from them.

It just looks so empty like I should plant something to fill all that space and I can't. It's too late. It's so sad. Maybe a little lettuce? Some sweet peas perhaps?

As I get more settled and have more time to focus on it, I am bound to learn more season extending vegetable tricks. The first trick I need to accomplish are row covers to protect tiny seedlings. Then maybe I can grow me some spinach.

Now I just watch it slowly fade away.



Meanwhile the sunny utility meadow is launching into its final spectacular crescendo.




And the goldenrods and blue asters are just now thinking about joining in.

7 comments:

Siria said...

Hi Christopher! I can't believe the spectacular show at the roadside vegetable garden is coming to an end soon. It seems like only yesterday things were starting to sprout. Where has the summer gone?! The flower show in the sunny utility meadow looks like it will be spectacular this year. Wish I was there to see it in person. (I am with Lois and Frances ~ your blog is much more interesting than the one on NYT site! I love your writing and your photography is stunning. Then there is the cozy cabin we have been watching come out of the ground on your special spot on the mountain top. And the gardens you are planting around it. What could be better?!!!)

Lola said...

I agree with Siria. It couldn't have been said better. I noticed Crawford was trying to help. Looks like he was watching the corn or the leeks maybe.

chuck b. said...

Garlic grows in the winter. It would be great to get in another round of snap peas. I should think about that.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Broccoli and cauliflower comes to mind as fall crops. You could do a cover crop to just have something green and to feed the soil. Don't be sad. sniff...

lisa said...

I think it looks terrific! If you feel like it, you could certainly do a fall planting...maybe some swiss chard or spinach? Garlic sounds good, too...and that cover crop idea is something I want to try in my raspberry patch to fix some nitrogen. Then I can cover it with newspapers and mulch for a lasagna effect in the spring.

Frances said...

Hi Christopher, what I wouldn't give for that lovely, sunny, patch of open land that is the finished veggie patch! Sow seeds there, of anything you've got to germinate and grow during winter and be planted wherever come spring. So many things need that stratification period, and with the wildness all around you, bare earth under your control might be hard to find. Put your land to work all year, no lollygagging! :-)
Frances

Christopher C. NC said...

Yes where did the summer go Siria? The utility meadow is really starting to color now with the first blush of the Goldenrod. I will have to admit my cabin is way more interesting architecturally than the one on the NY Times.

Lola Crawford likes to help by rolling around in the sprouting seeds and chasing grasshoppers.

Chuck I might plant me some sugar snap peas tomorrow just to see what happens.

Lisa I have troubles with the cole crops and like with regular gardening if it is a pain, I don't fight nature. The wood chip mulch is my cover crop, though I suppose I could plant the rows in some type of green manure crop.

Long time no see Lisa. I planted swiss chard and spinach and the grasshoppers ate it up. That is why I need row covers. Last year they were just a pain at the end of the season. This year they came out in force in the spring.

Frances a wave of exhaustion swept over me when I read your comment. I am more of the sow in place type. I'll have plenty gravel soon for transplanting seedlings out of.