October 30, 2017
I can not believe that my Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach has zero leaf miners, while the Perpetual Spinach planted in the greenhouse and outside are so covered with them that I may have to cut them back down to the ground. What it does have are jagged leaves from birds eating it. Either the birds are keeping the fly's that lay the eggs away, or they are eating the maggots that emerge. I didn't think that plant eating birds also ate insects..
I also have a hard time believing that the original row of Brussels sprouts is 2' tall and covered with sprouts, while the two rows that I transplanted out of it are only a foot tall with no sprouts on them. The two transplanted rows were the ones covered in white flies, so that may have stunted them, but they also got afternoon shade which may be the reason. My Spring planted Brussels sprouts benifited from afternoon shade but fall plantings will not be getting it anymore..
November 01, 2017
November is here so we can plant our garlic and onion sets now. Last year I planted onion starts, which are small onion plants that have already sprouted, and they just fell over and laid on the ground all winter. Keeping the slugs and pill bugs from eating them was a challenge. It's not fun for me to have wilted plants struggling to survive. Half the joy of gardening is in the visual delights..
Perky shoots pushing up through the soil is a reminder of the rebirth of the earth and our place in it. Flowering bulbs for spring color can be planted now as well. Get them in the ground in before it gets too wet to give the gophers plenty of time to eat them..
November 02, 2017
The sun's lower arc across the sky, the shorter days and the cooler nights are all contributing to the cauliflower producing heads. The plants are much smaller than the spring planted ones but are headding because of nature's communication. Spring planted cauliflower gets huge elephant ear sized leaves and crowds the rows because it doesn't have a climatic deadline. These heads are smaller but sweeter..
Cold nights seem to sweeten Brussels sprouts too. Four of my 18 plants have been harvested and I think we have three weeks left before hard freezes so I'm feeling successful..
