December 11, 2016 - end of autumn

After a significant amount of rain over October and into the first couple of weeks of November, it dried out a bit until this past week. Rain so far looks pretty good, much better than we've seen over the past few years. We had some cold weather just prior to the last rains, probably the coldest in a few years and we're likely to see more next week. Although I'm not a huge fan of cold, I much prefer having a normal winter unlike 2014-15 which was just fucking weird in the dryness and warmth all winter long. Things have slowed down of course but the onions are growing, the greens still producing, and the broccoli has yield 2-3 meals so far.


Box 1
I seeded a full set of rows with greens - lettuce, salad, kale, chard, and beets - a couple of weeks ago and they're on their way. Hopefully this will give us food into the Spring.

Box 2
The onions and garlic are doing their thing.

Box 3
The broccoli which I started from seed are doing ok. I think they're a bit cramped as I have 3 plants per row in 3 rows and the yield is not nearly what I had from the broccolini the past couple of years. The taste is very good though I'll probably stick with broccolini from here on, in fact I just planted a few in Box 4 today. The Russian kale has done very well and has been a great source for both side dishes and salads. The chard has done ok and the beets are still growing. I'm going to convert this box to herbs some time in January-February for the next year.

Box 4
I seeded just over half the box with fava beans a few weeks ago and filled the remainder with chives, chervil, and a couple of rows of broccolini.

Box 5
Most of the herbs are still hanging in there. The sage has been productive, as have the oreganos and thymes. The marjoram has died back considerably but there is still just enough to use when I need it. I cut back the rest today to see if it can restore itself but I only need these herbs for another 6-8 weeks so not a big deal. The thyme and the parsley have been the stars this year as that is what I've made the most use of. I had quite a bit of basil here too from plants but the cold last week finally finished them off.

Containers
Almost all of the bay leaves had really gotten some scale or rust so I did a healthy pruning of the tree today to see how it handles it. There are a few healthy looking leaves that remain. I'm still trying to determine how feasible keeping this in container will be in terms of providing fresh leaves for cooking.

The cilantro and dill are long gone, they really need to be babied but do ok when handled well. The tarragon has died back for the winter, the mints and epazoté have survived well with continued pruning.

Citrus
The lemons are more or less between growths but still enough remain for use in the kitchen. There are plenty of blooms and green fruit to indicate a good rebound soon.

The mandarins are ripening much later this year than last year when they came out early, from October to December. I think this was due to the warm September and October we had in 2015 as opposed to the normal temperatures this year. We've only picked a few so far as they are still ripening. The ones we've taken have not been quite as sweet as last year and seem to have a thicker skin and pith as well.