And now for the garden ... and a little more goats

20 October 2013

Well, I proved to myself that I could blog every day on another site so I should be able to keep up with a little more prolific blogging here - not that the garden and critters need a blog everyday, but it seems routine is my friend.

So, I discussed the goats yesterday and Vincent's antics. Today he was in fine form as we took them out on their leads. First thing he managed to do was climb underneath my lawn chair. Yes, completely underneath. Head, tail, and everything in between.

No, full grown goats don't really fit under lawn chairs, thus the antics to remove him.

On the gardening front, most things are winding down. We had a brief freeze the other night but it didn't bother anything. The tomatoes are still going and so are the peppers and eggplant. Most of the garden has been converted at this point into fall/winter garden mode.

Broccoli, savoy cabbages, and brussel sprouts are starting to become distinct plants rather than spindly seedlings. The peas are growing great although they didn't germinate well so the rows are kind of straggly looking. The lettuce, spinach, and collard greens had to all be replanted due to the escape of a chicken while I was away last week.

I was not thrilled by the rogue activity but am hopeful that my new seeding will have time to grow before the heavy frosts and freezes show up.

What I am thrilled about, although somewhat puzzled by too, is that my artichokes and Mexican Sour Gherkins are finally growing. Hmm. I planted both in the spring in various places. Neither have been eaten or scavenged during the growing season. However, neither of them has grown at all.

The artichokes seemed to have completely died off and we were about to give up hope of ever being able to grow them this far north. But about three weeks ago after a rainy spell, two plants came up in the straw bales and another came up in a pot out front.

The Mexican Sour Gherkins were planted in the Thomas Jefferson bed, which was a flop with the exception of producing white patty pan squash. The gherkins held their ground but never produced and all but one plant died off in the heat of August. I decided to transplant it then and have kept it watered well. And today, I have 6 itty-bitty teeny-weeny cucumbers set on the vines.

It's almost amusing, all this time and all this work, and all the prolific amounts of other produce we managed to harvest, but here I am excited about 6 of the most miniscule cukes I've ever seen in my life.

Why?

Because gardeners get excited about things like that. Cucumbers that most people have never seen or heard of and most people would have given up on by now or pulled as a weed, that will produce enough for a snack for one, are my pride and joy this year.

Thomas Jefferson grew this cucumber in his garden, 200+ years ago. That's just amazing to me.

For all of our food savvy tv shows and magazines and our hugely varied diets, our meals are still basically the same things people have been eating for hundreds of years.

And I grew it in my backyard.