End of Summer Update

Once again, I've been behind with my posting.  Here are a few pictures of the beautiful vegetables we've been enjoying so far.... 

This summer the vegetable yield was definitely more about variety versus quantity.  On top of that, I've had to pick some of the vegetables such as cucumbers before they're grown to full size just so the squirrels don't get to them (we have a squirrel problem here...)  

On of the most fantastic vegetables are the Candy-cane beets and purple radishes.   They are both gorgeous to look at and incredibly delicious.  The only thing is they take almost all summer to grow for a single yield and they do take up quite a bit of room.  

I also had a variety of tomatoes going this summer.   Here in the photo we have cherry tomatoes, Caspian Pink tomato, and the Big Rainbow tomatoes were the tastiest tomato, incredibly sweet and "tomato" tasty - you can just slice them up and eat them as is.  For sure will be planing lots of those next year!  

~ Rebecca

Root vegetables

The root vegetables in my garden were the big winners this year - in particular the Chioggia beets.  I enjoyed them quite a bit last year so this year I decided to plant a lot of more of them.  As usual, the Chioggia beets will grow in a variety of colours - candy stripe , red, or just pure white.  This year, we got mostly candy-striped and one white ones.    

  

They not only taste delicious, but they are also beautiful to look at.  Look at that colour!!  

I found a recipe from the New York Times for Chioggia beets, quinoa, and walnut salad: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/health/spinach-salad-with-red-and-chioggia-beets-quinoa-and-walnuts.html?_r=0

The beets were so successful that they grew well into November.  Here are the last few from the end of the season harvest.  I boiled them quickly and fried it up with some butter - they were delicious! 

This year I also planted two variety of carrots - Solar Yellow carrots and French carrots.  The French carrots had this very cute, round shape root.  However, I find carrot growing to be a bit less satisfying (compared to beets) because they take almost the entire season to grow and the final edible portion is quite small (again, at least compared to beets).   Still, they were incredibly delicious so I was still glad to have planted them.  

November surprises

It's November - the weather is cooling down and it's time to bundle up.  This is also time to start cleaning up the gardens and getting rid of unwanted/dead plants.  This is also time to pick out whatever is left in the vegetable gardens before the first frost hits.  

A very pleasant surprise were the Solar Yellow Carrots.  Although they took almost the entire season to grow, they turned out beautifully and was a nice little treat in November when almost all the other vegetables were gone.  Now it's making me think that I should have planted a few more of them!  We at them the same day they were harvested (boiled them quickly and sauteed in butter) and they were DELICIOUS! 

Here's a pic of a few other things I managed to harvest in November - lots of green onions, red onions, cayenne peppers, cherry tomatoes, and even one lettuce plant that was hiding in between the onions! 

I have to say, it has been a GREAT growing season this year.  Not that we grew so much that we could feed a village, but definitely enough to supplement our grocery bills.  I learned so much about starting the plants from seeds and about different vegetables, and was so good to see what heirloom, organic, and natural vegetables should be like (not to mention how delicious everything tastes!).

Now... time to take a break and start planning for next season! :)  Stay tuned!