First Harvest

The perennials in the nursery are being put to bed, while the indoor garden season is just starting. Got my first harvest of tender salad greens and radishes yesterday and made a fresh salad as soon as I got home. I am notorious for not thinning my beds, so I am taking these first harvests to try and thin out the greens - Arugula, Broccoli Raab, several different kinds of Lettuce and some mixed greens that are mostly mustards and a "frisee" with a very frilly and deeply cut leaf. Some of the radishes were ready too - having bulbs just about an inch in diameter. All this after only 30 days from sowing.

The beans are 3-4' high too. Pinched out the tops of some of them, hoping they will branch a bit and make a bushier plant.

This was the bed two days earlier - the stuff grows by leaps and bounds!

Here it is on the 17th, filled in

Small radishes, some just right for eating

Box of tender greens

Some of the radishes were just thinnings, but the tops are still good in a sautee. I must make a note to keep sowing the radishes for a continuous harvest. 

Variegated leaves of Nasturtium 'Alaska'

The box of greens, colorful, very tender and flavorful. Even some dill leaves were ready to be picked - to add just that right touch of "herbiness" to a salad. Now that I've got so much coming up, have been calling friends telling them they need to go over and harvest some salads.














Not all of the bed is devoted to veggies - although you can eat the nasturtium flowers and leaves. Sowed "Alaska" this year and I love the look of its variegated leaves. Later they will have a mix of bright orange, yellow and red blooms that have a peppery tang.

Did my last Oakland County market with the perennials for this year. Still lots of late fall color there with tables of pansies and mums from Graystone Gardens.







The markets are winding up this week.I think the Armada Flea market this Sunday will be the last of the season unless the weather holds and I can get to Walled Lake next week. Cold temps and frost are predicted for the coming week and I need to start working in the nursery to get everything buttoned up for the winter. Need to lay some weed mat on the area I will try to overwinter the small pots. Going to give this a go, as I decided it just wasn't worth the money for pots, soil and labor to pot up all the 3 and 4 and a half inch sizes into one gallons. I'll just take my chances with the flats on the ground, under frostcloth and white plastic after they have a hard freeze - sometime in November.

Paul is coming down today to remove an apricot tree in the back bed. Hate to sacrifice a tree, but this one just didn't pull its own weight in the yard. Lovely trunk and bark but it would bloom and leaf out each year, only to die back, never produce fruit and the branches are all broom-like. It shades a good portion of the back of the yard and prevents a blueberry and a couple of apples from doing well, so it's so long apricot - been nice growing and knowing you.

Now the indoor season has started and I'll be starting a new venture taking fresh produce to market. Have just talked to the market manager for The Old Winery Market in Farmington and she is eager for me to bring fruits and veg and will get me a choice front spot at the market. The last Sunday of the month,  am going to scope out the Lapeer Flea Market to see if I think I can make a buck there. This Saturday I plan on going down to Eastern Market in Detroit to look at some of the produce houses to scan the products and plan what I can get and re-sell.

So fall seems even busier than the summertime, sowing and transplanting still goes on in Vicki's big greenhouse and I am juggling chores without much additional help. All this marketing takes away from the gardens which definitely need a good weeding and a helping hand - only so many hours in the day and so many priorities!

Hope you are enjoying the crisp, fall weather and the colors of the season...take some pictures, soon it will only be black, brown, gray and white!