Our weather has cooled off with night temperatures into the 40’s (under 10 Celsius) and pleasantly warm days in the 70’s (low 20’s Celsius). Summer vegetables are slowing down and it is time for a transition to cool season winter crops.
Harvesting Now
Winter Squash has been harvested with about 20 pounds of mostly Kabocha squash with a couple small butternut squash. This was a miniature butternut, so expected them to be small. Not too many of the butternut, maybe due to the Kabocha dominating the trellis and overshadowing the butternut!
Summer Squash are going strong as we try to train them into a vertical growth pattern by tying them to a post. They naturally keep heading down to the ground, so it takes repeated effort to keep them going upwards. The effort has paid off in reducing their usual sprawling nature. This season we’re growing green “Dirani” and yellow “Sunstripe” varieties. Both are producing well.
Pomegranates have been harvested as well. The squirrels were starting to break into our anti-squirrel defense system, so was time to get them before the squirrels! The defense system seems to have slowed the squirrel down, but not stopped him. They were still able to chew through the fiberglass screen to get a bite. The squirrels also just gnaw through the branch above the fruit, get them down on the ground and munch away.
Sweet potatoes are in harvest mode. Will do a section of the bed at a time. The first set have been purple sweet potatoes, with a couple other varieties to come later. The purple sweet potatoes are more dense and firm compared to the typical yellow and orange varieties. The dark purple looks great, tastes wonderful and are filled with nutrition. We get about 4-5 pounds per plant.
Eggplants continue to produce well. They have done quite well this year and continue to flower. They can survive a mild frost, so can go into our winter. However, their bed is targeted for planting shallots in the November – December timeframe, so they may come out before the frost can get them anyway.
Cucumbers have been a big performer this year. The Striped Armenian variety is prolific and the fruits need to be picked daily, or they get over 18 inches (half a meter). The regular slicing cucumber is doing well also, but not quite as prolific. Pickles have become a staple on our table. We’ve been doing quick refrigerator pickle made with lemon juice from our Meyer lemons (see our recipe).
Basil is starting to get leggy and flowering, but still keeping us in tasty herbs. This year we are growing a new variety, “emerald towers” from Botanical Interests. A nice variety that is noticeably slower to bolt with a dense compact growth. Good flavor as well. Also growing “Genovese”, “Napolitano” and some “Iranian” basil (similar to a lemon basil).
Beans have done well, but are slowing down now. We have a typical green bean, variety “Jade” as well as an interesting “Dragon’s Tongue” variety that is yellow with purple speckles and a flat shape. The flavor and texture of both is much better than what we get from the grocery store (maybe because they are fresher).
Collards have been a good reliable green through the summer. They seem happier in the summer than their cousins the kales.
Chard, in both red and green varieties is doing well. They get through the summer, though the hottest days are not their favorite. As weather is cooling they are perking up a bit and putting on more growth.
Flowers and Herbs
Marigolds are scattered around the garden in a number of beds. They are reputed to help control root knot nematodes, so we planted a few in the vegetable beds this year. They also may deter other garden pests with their strong scent. When we brush up against them they send out a whiff of their perfume. They have grown well and need a little trimming to keep them from crowding out the other plants.
Feverfew was planted late in the season and is now filling out and giving some nice flowers as well. The leaves are used traditionally for treating migrane headaches. The flowers are bright and sunny, similar to their cousin chamomile.
Cosmos are still going strong into fall. They add some nice autumn orange color to the garden. We try to collect some of the seeds for planting next season, but find they often get eaten by the Lesser Goldfinches that enjoy a tasty treat.
Coming Soon
November has a full agenda as we transition from the summer crops into the winter plantings. This year we’ve also got our new garlic crop to plant. The two softneck varieties will go in first but the hardneck garlics like some cold weather for best growth. We’ll be storing our 6 hardneck varieties in the refrigerator for a few weeks before planting to “vernalize” them (simulated winter). Shallots will also get planted, probably in December.
We also like to get in a variety of winter greens (arugula, kale, lettuce, cilantro). Other cool season vegetables like beets, carrots and peas are great to get started at this time of year for us. Enough to keep us busy.
Zanganeh Garden 