Fall Garden Check-Up

Yesterday afternoon, as soon as we returned from a camping trip (which you can read about at www.susanshappytrails.blogspot.com as soon as I get around to posting), I went to the garden to see how things were growing.

The broccoli and brussels sprouts are looking great!  The radishes have marble-sized roots.  Greens are coming along nicely. 

We have three volunteer plants that I thought were squash.  Never mind that I did not plant any squash where these things sprouted; they had the look of squash plants, and when they bloomed, they looked like squash blooms.  They are starting to fruit now, and I have no idea what they are.  They are shaped like yellow squash, but they are mint green. 

Last Monday, I planted more seeds - bok choy, cabbage, rainbow chard, and lettuce.  It may have been pure insanity to plant these things this late.  I've never even seen rainbow chard, but it looked pretty on the package, so I thought, "Why not?"  It has rained here since I planted this last batch of seeds, and I could not walk between the rows without sinking in the mud.  The whole garden has tiny little green things coming up everywhere, most of which are weeds, and from a distance I could not tell if the new seeds have sprouted.  But I put some of the lettuce seeds in a planter box on the patio, and they have sprouted, so hopefully there's lettuce in the garden, too.

The purple hull peas I planted several weeks ago are starting to mature.  Nanny said that she picked and shelled "a cup full" of peas, and that they may not be purple hull peas because their "eyes" are pink.  Pink eyes or not, we are hoping that the first frost holds off long enough to allow the rest of the crop to mature.