Autumn/Fall is noted as a season of change, as the leaves brown and fall to the ground and the landscape changes (along with temps and sunshine) on it's way to Winter... for me and my little plot there are more changes than the scenic.
Which is good because my camera is playing up and I don't have many photos for this update.
The white plastic stands I had out for germination pots collapsed the other day (well the center one did) due to weathering. I got 4 years use out of them, and there were cheapo WalMart brand shelves - so I'll probably end up replacing them rather than building something. The pots are being cleaned out and the soil amended and recycled into the garden. There's really not a lot to germinate this time of the year apart from Lettuce - and I haven't managed to track down the variety I had last year. I never knew there could be so many varieties... and not so far not so many that I actually like enough to keep.
Other changes, for me, my health. It's still undecided if it was a bug going around, or something more serious (as the same thing happened to one of the Farmers I work for on occasion) but I was woken early in the AM by gripping chest pains, shortness of breath, and extreme nausea. It took about 10 minutes to pass, leaving in it's place acute acid reflux - not just heartburn, but a near crippling pain that stayed for hours. People asked 'how do you know it wasn't a heartattack?' - well I don't.. but as it happened again several hours later, and returned the next night 3 times - if it was, I'm a tough S.O.B. that survived 5 in 24 hours :P - this and news of someone else having the exact same problem at the same time makes me think it wasn't.
However, although after several days I was back on my feet again (unlike my good friend, who was couchridden for over a week) - it took some extreme lifestyle changes. Even now, a week or so later, I can't eat anything cooked in oil or grease, no red meat, no soda except for ginger ale, and no meat with even medium levels of fat.. so no beef at all, no pork, maybe no skinned chicken, and of course no spicy foods. So, although I'm doing well - I'm practically a vegetarian until further notice.
This makes the garden rather more important than it was - as if vegetables are to be my primary source of food until further notice, I need to get the most I can out of them - so naturally fresh is better than bought... but on to happier thoughts:
As I started the garden last Autumn, I'm afforded a luxury of not having to start from scratch - I already had several things that did well, and so I am 'doubling down' on things that work, and things I like. Beets were something I planted last year, only a couple of squares worth, and they yielded 15 or so good sized beets (from a possible 18) - so this year I've planted out as many squares as I could - I'm battling squirrels digging up the seeds and other things, but I'm hoping for a good canning of beets at the end of Winter, and using the leaves to supplement my salads. This is a good thing as I just found that apart from being a favorite of mine, they are also very high in proteins, which means I can knock a couple of eggs off the menu (there's only so much fish and eggs you can eat before you go out of your mind).
Spinach is put down in several places - I didn't have that great a run of it last year, so I'm cutting back on the number of plants per square - this time gong back to 5. Likewise Swiss Chard was 4 to a square last year - and I'm going to with just one this year... I only managed to get one or two per square that were worth harvesting off, so cut back.
Peas are in. I was going to skip Autumn/Winter snap peas this year - but I have a spot they do very well in, and peas = protein.
Brussels Sprouts were in early and are growing well - and Kale is still putting out leaves for immediate consumption. I'll be pruning back the Pepper plants as the temps drop and they stop producing. Those that don't survive will be pulled and the squares composted and covered... I probably will let the soil there rest till spring.
Collards have been planed in a few back squares near the corner of the house. Over the year I haven't found much that does well there for some reason (too much water, only half-day of sun - wash outs in the wet), so if they grow, they grow, if they don't, they don't - not a great loss.
Lettuce, once again is being planted - this time a Grand Rapids variety - lets see if I can hit on the magical plants I had last Autumn....
Roasted eggplant and squash, along with honey carrots and diced peppers was the meal of the night - all in all it was a nice change from a plain salad. The baby squash was suprisingly good - I expected it to be a bit bitter as it never really grew huge - it wasn't as sweet as I'd have liked, but it was rather tender and nice.. They say eggplant is a good substitute for meat - I beg to differ. Those that say that have never had a steak... but marinated in some apple cider vinegar, crumbed and roasted it was pretty decent. I better learn to like them, as the 2 plants that survived in the big garden keep pumping them out.
Nom nom nom.
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