What a fun journey this garden has been.   We’ve wondered at the growth of zucchini plants, how prolificate and bountiful the harvest has been with them.  We were sad to see them go with the first touch of frost.   Next year we are going to plant them in a different spot in the garden when they can grow as wild and free as they like and I’ll put in some more swiss chard.
Speaking of Swiss Chard.  It’s a wonderful green leafy vegetable, very versatile vegetable is she and tasty.  It has withstood the frosty nights with valour.  You can almost see the leaves getting hardier and hardier.  Here is the new planting.  By now the weeds are growing taller.  Can’t seem to train Nick into pulling weeds … he thinks everything deserves to live free.  I say “weeds begone”.

I put in some other veges for our winter garden.  Some broccoli, dinosaur kale, regular kale, brussel sprouts (yum, nothing like organic brussel sprouts!) and some carrots which unfortunately ended up where the seeds from the marigolds are sprouting.   The seeds from the morning glory have already sprouted where they dropped from the vine.  It’s great fun to watch things grow, even better  when you can eat them!

We are putting in some dwarf fruit trees, mostly peaches that grow in our area.  I have always wanted to plant a tree and watch it grow over the years, that’s one of the things I’ve missed but it shows you how transient life is which is why NOW I’m planting fruit trees.

I have to admit that I’m like a little kid as I love to see things grow and wonder at their nature.  My friend Nick is especially appreciative in being able to go out to the garden and pick some fresh food. One thing I didn’t say is that both I and Nick come from San Francisco where growing your own veges depended upon where in the city you lived (if you were lucky) and if you had any garden space.

In my early 20’s I was lucky enough to be hired as a professional gardener for the SF Swedish Consulate, which meant lots of flowers for each season but no veges. The only two vegetables I personally grew was basil in pots that traveled around when I moved and kale which was growing on my parent’s roof garden in the foggy Richmond district.  Both these plants are compact in size so I have to say I am amazed at how big the leaves of zucchini plants grow as well as the prolific-ness of the plant as far as zucchinis for eating. I happened to catch a glimpse of Sarah Snow’s show on Fit TV where she talked about her home when all the zucchini plants bore fruit at the same time, she called it “enforced zucchini eating”. :-)   Nick knows all about that as so do our friends.

This is the little squash plant that I placed opposite the painted car.

It has now grown perilously close to the  car that it may start growing in.

Those leaves are beautiful and HUGE, meant for shading the fruit beneath.

Here’s the  first bell pepper

Former city folk signing off for now

Along with probably every other American we are building a vegetable garden at my friend Nick’s house.  One of the fun things for me is to find vegetable that will also satisfy my craving for flowers while complying with my friend’s request to not waste water on frou frou flowers (big meany I say).  I am still giggling at the red white and blue flowers I snuck in to appease the birds and butterflies.  You can’t have a garden without flowers, especially if you want to attract fairies.

Here is what I had to work with, the only spot of land that receives the most sunlight. Click on the image to read the story. If the image ends up too small just enlarge your browser view