October 6, 2016

Good morning, I have started to transplant my seedlings that I started at the end of August. The plants appear to be in good shape. Sadly I have noticed that cutworms got into my spinach, Asian greens, cabbage and kohlrabi seed beds. I can easily reseed the spinach and Asian greens but with the cabbage and kohlrabi any seedling started now would more than likely bolt before they could be harvested. Harvesting with in a month or two of the winter solstice ensures that they will not bolt.

I have a nice stand of mustard that I have grown as a green manure but the greens can be harvested and eaten. My turnips are up and I notice they are beginning to develop turips and not just greens. For my chickens I am growing a forage turnip. This variety of turnip is supposed to be high in protein, something that the chickens do not readily get during the winter because there are few if any bugs out and about. The feed pellets just do not supply enough protein to fill the void.

Fall / winter is a big draw on the chickens not only because it is cooler but also they are finishing their molt, since feathers are mainly protein this is a huge draw on them. I hope the forage turnips will help.

For better or worse the summer garden is slowly coming to an end. I have one last bed of okra that is producing reasonably well, but its leaves are dropping like flies. My chilies are still producing along with an eggplant or two. Summer squash are in a state of decline and I will nurse them as long as I can. The cukes have gone to make compost. There might be another harvest of beans.

Luckily there are some storage veggies along with chard and kale. Ah yes it is that transition time once again in the garden. It is nice not having to do a daily harvest. With green season the harvest consists of one longer day. I still have one and a quarter beds of sweet potatoes to harvest. Since I do not have a rodent destroying any of my tubers we should have sweets for quite awhile.

This week I anticipate to harvest chad, kale, green onions, carrots, turnip greens, chilies, and okra.