transition

a maintenance ( there are still things to water 0 and inspection run out to the garden this morning shows seasons melding into one another...the 2015 season still has production going on...there are still jalapeno and banana peppers out there and the single cauliflower plant that produced is still working on a head...and that bed of spuds is still holding on for all it's worth...refusing to die back until hard frost...while that's going on next season soil is taking shape in the form of the green manures that re establishing themselves...fairly lush in the cool october weather, they will be the basis for fertility in 2016...next season's garlic population continues to expand...twenty-five plants up in two beds...there will be mulching soon enough...the last photo is a late season geranium...still going.

late blooms

it's october but there are still blooms going on out in the garden...the pale yellow ones are broccoli with a bean blossom in the second frame...more yellow in the tomato flowers while the geraniums are as bright a shade of red as ever...the jalapenos and banana peppers are still blooming ( and producing ) and the new zealand white clover is trying to set seed while it's fixing nitrogen for next year's soil...still life out here

still life

a stop by the community garden after work to see what was what and i found things moving along on the last day of september...some of the garlic parker! helped plant a week-and-a-half ago is up and running while the jalapeno peppers are chugging along...i found some very late roma tomatoes coming along and wonder if there is time and warmth enough to ripen...paper bags on window sills may be in their future...alfalfa and winter rye are both rampant in some of the beds...others with plants that are producing have yet to be cleared and planted...they will be...the young cauliflower is looking robust nestled in its leaves...banana peppers too are flowering and producing this autumn...and the enduring early blue potatoes are having yet another bash at producing fruit...as you look down the garden there is still life out there...the garden never stops...it just slows down a bit...we are still about a month away from mulching...the relative quiet starts then...until the basement season starts...should be some surprises there this year.

green manure

stopped off on campus after work to visit with the coach for a bit and after i kept her talking past her usual departure time i ambled over to the garden to have a look...we got a fair rain yesterday and sure eonugh it was enough to get the alfalfa i planted monday up and running..it may be difficult to see but it is there in the top two photos...once they develop three true leaves they will be able to winter over and when those appear i will be sowing some winter rye to act as a reservoir for the excess nitrogen the alfalfa and rhizobia bacteria will produce in their symbiosis...compost and fertilizer grown in the same bed for next spring...elsewhere, the indeterminate early blue are still blooming and still producing potato fruits( third and fourth photos )and will go on doing so until a hard frost or someone yanks them out of the ground...banana and jalepeno peppers are still blooming and producing as well and will adhere to the same time frame as the early blues...the cauliflower is still being gnawed but it is steadfast in its bed...still to soon to call.

...and a few friends

cherry tomatoes, sweet banana pepper, and pod corn with a side of purslane...in that order...there are cukes on the fence and squash blooms all over... the red pontiacs will be done soon...more on the container potatoes in due time.