Sprouts

Sprouts still moving along, still mostly about a foot high in general. At this point, it looks like they wont be gracing my christmas table. The Cos Lettuce is likewise not really bulking up that much, so I'll probably start harvesting mid-sized lettuces. I guess with Cos, one is enough for a meal anyway.
The French Breakfast radishes grew thick enough, but still without lenghtening. I'm not sure what it takes to grow longer roots, but clearly planting in a bucket of compost isnt enough.
The Parsley is looking good, already big enough for a leaf here and there. This really makes a good winter crop; its a great green for soups. Last year I often ate ramen noodles with a few parsley leaves thrown in as vegetable.
The beets are still at the 2-leaf stage, but the white turnips are starting to look like radishes, at least in terms of the tops.
The Swiss Chard got knocked by that leaf miner again, but the new leaves look clean so far. I'm hoping the cold weather keeps all these pests down. Similarly, the aphids on the Brussels Sprouts and the caterpillars on the Kale and Sprouts are appearing more infrequently.
The Kale at this point is about a foot high, and I have been doing some very light harvesting of lower leaves. Its looking like Kale is a successful crop here to add to my list. Finally, the Fava Beans are pretty large plants now, most are a foot high or more. I'll continue to plant more to find out whether planting them earlier helps their crop or not.

October plantings

The Brussels Sprouts are doing quite well now, actually looking like plants, rather than seedlings or plantlets. It has been now since seeding (mid-July), and the stems are starting to thicken a little and lengthen. The weather is quite good, being not too hot, no too cold (70-80°F), and a little light rain here and there (nothing much, so I have to water, but it has evenly dampened the previously baked soil). I'm quite happy that a decent amount of growth has taken place by now, before the cold weather starts.

The leeks were finally put in about a week ago, and are starting to put on some growth. It's about time, because like last year, they have done almost nothing until now. Its as if they wait for replanting to get going, whether thats from soil (last year) or a pot (like this year). Maybe next year I will try seeding earlier in a bucket. In the picture, you can also see some of the Parris Island Cos; that, along with the Kale and Swiss Chard from the same sowing (early September), has all now been planted out, and is looking established, although still small. The space for the leeks was that ealier used for lettuce/carrots/radishes, none of which really did much more than throw up 2 or 3 seedlings.

The Kale you see here was sown earlier, pricked out into small pots, and has finally been planted out. I have planted some Fava Bean seeds and peas among the Kale, with the idea that these can provide nitrogen to the Kale, and take over in early spring when the Kale has all been harvested. I think the Favas are supposed to have deep roots, so they may not interfere with each other that much. Another experiment.

Brussels Sprouts planted out

I'm trying to manage the transition between summer and the cool season better this year, so about a month back I sowed some Brussels Sprouts seeds and later pricked them out into pots. So now came the hard part, ripping up crops that are still bearing to make way for something that isnt (yet). Fortunately, the french beans made it easy. They have been pretty much a disaster since the get go, and each plant has produced no more than about 5-10 beans each.



I need to work on why that was (there are several possibilities), but rather than have them take another month to produce one more meal, out they went.



Now there are 16 Brussels Sprouts enjoying the spot, hopefully to do a little better. One of the problems that may have caused poor bean growth is of course that this area only gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight a day, but hopefully, as Brussels Sprouts are a cool season crop, they wont mind too much. The shade will disappear in November when the leaves fall. I still have more plants to deal with, but there are more beans in other spots not doing much :)

The Zucchini have slowed down greatly, and as I used the last of the seed this year, I left one or two to go to seed. They dont appear to be an F1, so the seed should work. Overall, I suspect the slowness of the Zucchini this year is their rotation into the semi-shade beds, but to be fair, I wasn't short of them this year; I gave away two thirds of the crop. I'm beginning to notice some mildew spots appearing, and thats usually the sign of the season nearing an end. Maybe next year I'll try one in a bucket to see how well it does.

The Leeks are still too wispy to think of planting out, but there is plenty of time yet.