I'm sure that everyone knows the feeling when you really want to do something, but you simply cannot find time or there are other priorities that are more urgent. This is how I've been feeling about posting lately. It is always in the back of my mind, but I just cannot seem to be able to find time to start writing. We have returned from Holland last night and I don't feel too well today, so I decided not to work, but what am I going to do with all that time on hand? There are about million things on my list, but I can finally take time, sit down and put together a post. Yay!
Let me show you what's been happening in the garden in the last couple of weeks! I haven't managed to clean everything for winter, but I don't feel too guilty about it as I left some debris for insects to overwinter. It counts as a good deed, doesn't it? It's only about 20 percent of the garden, so I'm happy about the progress.
Kohlrabies are one of my favourite veggies because you can plant all year long. I plant them every couple of months, so that I have a stable supply of vegetables for my kitchen. You can eat them raw in salads, add them to soup, cover them in breadcrumbs and bake them, add them to casseroles and I could go on and on. This year, I've tried something new and planted one seedling of variety called 'Gigant'. I had no idea what to expect, and I got a kohlrabi which was as big as my head 馃槉 And it was perfectly delicious. I might plant only these next year...
In the spring, my father-in-law gave me some seedlings which were labelled as kohlrabi. I was waiting and waiting for a kohlrabi to form, but it seemed to be producing only leaves. About a month ago, I have realized that I'm growing cabbages! Great! They are perfect for autumn! I wouldn't normally plant them as they got attacked by various pests, but these ones are perfectly good and I didn't find anything snacking on them. We have 5 more heads which is great and I love making spicy cabbage salad with my nasi goreng!
Chillies keep producing even though it's getting cold. The greenhouse keeps somehow stable temperature, so the plants are still thriving. Let's see how long this will go on.
Red bell pepper gave me exactly 2 peppers this year, and now when the season is finished it started producing like crazy. I think that the summer was too hot, so the plant didn't produce as it should. I will wait until it will get a bit colder and harvest all of them even though they won't be ripe yet.
Endives are growing beautifully. They are perfect for autumn as they can go until minus something, so we can enjoy them for at least a month longer. These tiny things that are popping in between are my onions for next year.
And more onions...
I didn't plant them last year as I didn't have success with them 2 years ago, so I didn't want to go through all the hustle, but now I know where I made a mistake and I hope to have corrected it with this batch, so we will see how it will go. So far, so good.
I planted spinach for the very first time! It's a variety that still grows now, but if it will get colder it will stop growing and will start again next year as soon as it warms up a bit. Either way, I think we will enjoy them this year.
Green manure is coming nicely too. I will let it grow until April or so, and then I will incorporate it in the soil for nutrients. Perfect natural way of enriching the soil without adding anything that I don't want there.
Tomato season just doesn't seem to go away. I am really happy with all those tomatoes, but honestly I can't wait for some other vegetables too as eating tomatoes multiple times a week is getting a bit tiring.
And yes, my basil keeps growing too. I didn't freeze it this year, but chopped it, covered it in olive oil with salt and placed it in the fridge. I have 4 jars which will definitely last all winter. What I love about it is that the olive oil gets the basil flavour, so I can use it for cooking and enjoy the summer flavours in winter too.
My only dill has produced seeds! I leave them on the plant, so that they spread and I will hope that the slugs will not eat all of them again!
Some flowers are still beautiful. You can see that all plants around them are black, and these are the ones that I leave there for winter for insects to hide.
These plant gives tiny blue flowers that are perfect in salads, but from time to time I can see a flower which is purple or pink. The plant seems to be dead, but this flower just doesn't give up.
I've been waiting for them all summer and they come now when I don't go to garden that often and can't enjoy them. I really hope that next year won't be that hot!
This photo makes me happy. I used to dislike hydrangeas because everyone has them and I found them kind of strange. Today, I love them! How magical it is that the flowers start green, change to white and end up pink before dying off? Amazing, right!
And this is how my morning look like - blue sky, fog rising out of the river, and COLD air...
I hope that you are still enjoying your gardens as much as I do. I also hope that your season what exactly (if not better) as you expected, and I wish you all good rest during the winter to get energy for another year of gardening!
Thank you for reading and until next time!