Fall in Houston (sort of)

I've planted more in the fall garden. The beans, corn, carrots, tomatoes and a little bit of the quinoa have come up. I pulled up the summer okra and cut off the heads to let them dry for seed saving. Still have one jalapeno plant out there just to see what it does and how long it produces. Planted some yellow potatoes and red potatoes today. Broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts next weekend. Right now the garden looks so barren but it will be lush again in about a month.

Ran out of Hurricane Jam last week so bought 4 lb. strawberries, harvested pomegranets and lemons from the trees in the yard, and used up the last of the candied ginger in the pantry and made a new batch. Recipe is on Sept. 27, 2008 blog. I invented the recipe last year using whatever was on hand after Hurricane Ike.

Summer came and went. Too hot. Too dry. Got some tomatoes, potatoes, jalapenos, and tons of okra. I'm now letting the okra go to seed for next year's crop.

Today I planted fall tomatoes - Early Girl, 50 day variety, Baccicia, 60-day green beans, and quinoa. I hope to get enough quinoa after first frost to mill flour and make some bread or bagles or something. Just a fun experiment, plus quinoa is so colorful and pretty. I planted it in the front bed behind one of the asparagus beds.

Soon I'll plant cauliflour, potatoes, broccoli, carrots and maybe try brussels sprouts again. It doesn't get cold enough for cabbage to "head" so I don't think I'll try that again. Fletcher liked my pickled radishes so I may plant some more of those.