September Salads

Salads these days are a mix of chopped pattypan squash, carrots, tomatoes and maybe a cucumber. Add some cut up "ribbons" of chard, a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, plus herbs and garden grown garlic. Stir well. I have no zucchini this year, and these pattypans will be back in the garden next year (but haven't decided about zucchini yet).
These salads feel loaded enough to carry over some vegetable serving "credit" through January.

Pumpkin Update

One of the more orange pumpkins so far. Can't wait for pie & muffins.

Overall, the pumpkin vines are holding up nicely. I hope they will help make it to a decent harvest. I will be spraying a baking soda mixture on the few spots of powdery mildew.

The leaves closest to the center of one plant have developed these yellow edges, above. Any ideas what is causing it? The pumpkins on this vine have also been the first to get some orange color.
A few of the leaves on other plants had large patches of tan one day and now are like this. DH swears he had to scrape frost off of his car window one day last week. I have to wonder if just certain leaves had enough moisture on them to catch a bit of frost, or perhaps a sunburn through the moisture. The pumpkin bed doesn't ease into the day with morning sun. It is shaded by trees until quite late in the morning. And there can be a cool flow of air along the tree line.

As it doesn't seem to be spreading, it could have been weather conditions, rather than a disease. There are a few spots of powdery mildew, but not on these leaves that turned brown.

Bastyr Excursion Part II

The Walk

The (Reflexology) Path

Part II of our Bastyr University Excursion

The Pause

Other Visitors

The Cool, Green Grass

Garden Excursion

Last Monday, some friends and I had an excursion to Bastyr University. We visited the gardens, the vegetarian cafeteria, and the... well, you'll have to wait until the next post...

I was surprised to find a poppy blooming. I had some earlier in the year, but the plants have been finished up for some time.
The cafe's vegetable garden, above. The floating row covers are to discourage the rabbits and deer from eating the vegetables. The empty beds had held beans now finished up for the season.
And it looks like the cafe will be set for fall peas. I think my one 2-inch pea seedling doesn't stand a chance of making it to harvest! Above is the pea goal I'll have for this time next year.

Banking Sky & Blooms

I'm saving this photo now for future withdrawals (especially in January)!

The New Gateway

or How to Double Your Garden Space in One Hour or Less

Our vegetable/flower/herb garden is in one fenced (formerly Alpaca) pasture and the pumpkin patch uses about 1/3 of another small pasture. Each has gates, but not between them. I rather like the fence, the grass in the fence line and the sense of enclosure they create in the garden. However, this summer, I've been plotting out the opportunities for that second pasture. Saturday afternoon, we took the first step and opened up a passageway in the fence line between the two areas.
Above, the four pumpkin vines have really filled in now. And you can see the new passageway.
Always in favor of a shortcut, Emily found the opening and was soon investigating options for a new catnip bed (if the weather allows other things to grow next year, her 6-foot tall & wide giant catnip will need to move out). It worked out that one of the existing pathways between two of the garden beds leads to the new opening.

The slatted fence on each side? They are old fence sections from a former berry patch at our neighbor's. They are simply hung on the fence with S-hooks. Thanks, Homesteaders!

Pumpkin Progress

Well, there might be one pie in there! And just memories of the Sept. 2007 pumpkin patch (or dreams for next year).
The vines are filling out and there are a few other pumpkinettes under the leaves. I've let the grass invade a bit. See this link for August 2007 vines.