Outdoor Work Day

Still waiting for rain as Tropical Storm Sandy does her thing.  With the high temperature right at 70 degrees, it's been a pleasant, albeit gray, day.  A balmy breeze has been blowing ... feels like spring ... not at all the blustery autumn wind one might expect this time of year. The leaves are falling steadily.  Rouse mowed and blowed and raked those leaves.  I helped him a little bit, managing one end of a big drop cloth piled high with leaves as we dragged it to the now-almost-full leaf bin.  The leaves in that bin will be used this winter to heavily mulch my potato beds.

It was an outdoor work day.  Tackling the chicken chores, getting up leaves, replacing summer plants in outdoor pots with cold-weather-hardy kale and pansies, cleaning up the garden and the garden shed, picking up trash, weeding, tidying up in general.  There's a simple joy to getting lost in the task at hand, going with the flow of things, following your nose, breathing in the fresh air ... and very rewarding to see the neat and tidy space that evolves.

Fava Beans in the Ground

Tropical Storm Sandy is heading up the east coast.  She ought to be far off the coast of North Carolina but we're expecting to get some rain as she passes.  I spent a little time in the garden today, filling two beds with fava beans, hoping to take advantage of Mother Nature's soaking.

Fava beans may be used as a food crop for bean production or as a cover crop for soil improvement.  That's a real win-win situation!  These beans prefer cool weather and tolerate frost.  In central North Carolina they will grow and bloom all winter, then set fruit in early spring, producing extra-long pods containing giant beans.  Shelled and cooked green, the beans are tasty!  Very similar to edamame (green soy beans).

I purchased my bean seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  http://rareseeds.com/  I like the fact that they offered several varieties of favas. 

I filled one bed with the standard Broad Windsor fava bean.  This old English favorite produces high yields of high-protein beans.  I'm counting on these to do well.

I planted half the second bed with Aquadulce fava, a 19th century Spanish heirloom that produces large white beans extra early in the season, but is known for lower yields.

The other half of that bed contains Extra Precoce A Grano Violetto fava bean, another extra early variety - this one from Italy - that produces deep purple, sweet tasting beans.

We have a fall garden ... Thanks to Andrew!

October 2nd is my birthday.  The kids were asking me what I wanted for my birthday.  With all the wedding activity late in the summer and early fall, plus a week away in early October for my annual music study, I did not have time to start the fall garden.  One day it hit me.  I told son, Andrew, that what I really wanted for my birthday was for somebody to plant my fall garden.  He did it!

He perused the catalogs, ordered seeds for all kinds of delicious greens and roots, cleaned up and prepared the beds, sowed the seeds, and has been tending to them since.

It may be a little late, but in our part of the world there's plenty of time to enjoy these crops. With the help of some lightweight row covers, they'll be producing all winter.  Here's what the fall garden looks like today ...

 

The marigolds continue to brighten the space. The pepper plants are still producing.  The bed containing the big bushy lima bean plants is in line to be cleared next.  The new seedlings are getting a foothold.  The bright green spot in the foreground is arugula ... just now getting big enough to enjoy.

Mother - Daughter Bonding in the Kitchen

Abi and I spent some quality time in the kitchen tonight.  I made two batches of jam ... one each of red jalapeno and fig.  Abi cooked up the golden delicious apples leftover from wedding time to make a big pot of spicy apple butter.  Jars of summer's sweet goodness are now safely put up on the shelf.

While I was away last week the last of the okra pods were not picked.  They grew to monstrous proportions!  I sure am going to miss fresh okra, but I have to admit that the season is over.  Son, Andrew, and visiting nephew, Forrest, worked together to clear the okra bed.

While they were at it, I had them remove the spent pole beans and associated string trellis.  Pole beans are a good "cross over" crop.  They produce from summer into fall.  We've been eating so many green beans lately ... if they weren't so delicious we'd definitely be at risk for being sick and tired of them!

A green anole watched the proceedings.  He's not very green today!

Sue is STILL not in the Garden ...

She's been away for a week, studying the hammered dulcimer with a bunch of like-minded folks, at Sandbridge Beach, Virginia.

Sue has not been in the garden much ...

... she's been the mother-of-the-bride!

 

Here I am with Abi, right before she and her groom left the wedding reception.

Making lists and checking them thrice ... there hasn't been much time for gardening or for keeping up with this garden journal. While we've been eating plenty of delicious home-grown produce, the garden upkeep has been neglected while more important tasks have been accomplished.

Today, Abigail and Andrew were married in a downpour.  Such a lucky wedding day!  The skies opened up and poured blessings upon us.

Let your love be like the misty rains, coming softly, but flooding the river.  ~ Malagasy Proverb