Gardening in the Woods

The last of the summer produce is coming in, along with the first of the fall crops.  I brought in cherry tomatoes, okra and hot peppers today.

I have a good string of hot peppers going for later use.  There are a few more coming on the plant.

The okra plants are just so weird.  I don’t know when they quit putting out okra–every couple of days new ones pop out on the plant, which just keeps getting taller and taller.  But there are never more than two or three at a time!  So, I now have a gallon bag of okra in the freezer that I have sliced up two or three at a time.  Maybe we’ll have okra for Thanksgiving (:

I’ve already cut some of the first crop of lettuce, which is loving the cooler weather.  I should get a few more salads out of this container, and there is another one coming along.  (This is the first time I’ve planted fall crops, so I’m fascinated by them.)

And I guess we’ll be eating turnip greens this week! These are the easiest thing to grow, ever.  I think they are actually edible weeds.  I need to look up a recipe for them–I’ve cooked collards, kale, and chard before, but never turnip greens. I like them, though.

That’s all, really, and I wanted to get a good pic before any critters could get at them.  (Something carried off a full-size eggplant the other day–wish I could have seen that!)  I’m thinking Caprese salad tomorrow…

One of my neighbors apparently has had enough and hired mercenaries to dust Bambi.  I could not be happier about this.  It could be a trend: fed-up suburbanites ditching the sprays and motion sensors and going for blood. There were THREE of the giant rats cute little critters shamelessly munching hostas in my front yard just this morning. Totally ignoring my cat, I might add.

I just have one question–how can I get these guys to come hunt over here?  And will they sell me the meat?  Because I haven’t had venison since we were in Europe, and I think it would be darn good cooked in my new Dutch oven.  After all, it’s free-range!

And, on the subject of critters, one of the neighborhood squirrels is seriously freaking me out.  He’s been sort of circling me when I sit on the front porch–you know, like they do in a city park, hoping for a handout.  I know it’s the same squirrel every time because he is on the small side and has a dark ring around his tail.

Well, today he actually tried to come in the house!  I was standing right there in the doorway and he was dodging and weaving, trying to get a look inside and coming within inches of the door sill–and my feet!  I guess he’s figured out where the food comes from, or maybe one of my neighbors has been feeding him. In any case, he is just way too smart and scares the crap out of me.  Oh, and he’s not worried about my cat, either. My cat who is actually really GOOD at killing things.  Which really makes me wonder.

That’s it, we need to get out of this suburban house and back into the city–the wildlife around here is getting totally out of hand.

My plants were slightly stressed  so I think it’s possible someone wasn’t watering them very regularly while I was away for a week.  August is always a shaky time to leave your garden!  But they’ll survive. Here’s what I gathered today: cherry tomatoes (which the someone has been eating all week as well), eggplant, green beans, okra, and the first chiles.  I am not getting enough okra at one time to cook up a batch, so I’m just chopping it up and freezing for a stew later.  Should be interesting.  Also, planted some more snow peas in the bin where I pulled up the beans.

Three kinds of tomatoes are on the way, including yellow cherry tomatoes (I think that’s what I planted!) and “regular” tomatoes.  The third kind I planted later, so it’s just got flowers on it now, but it’s a red cherry tomato that should be ready in September.

Several yummy-looking eggplants.

Banana peppers (not pictured) and serrano chiles.

Okra, which is really an odd plant.  But it goes for $8 a pound at the farmer’s market here (I am not making this up) so I guess it’s worth growing!

Basil that just will not quit, though it’s getting a little chewed by now.

And, just for the heck of it, several sunflowers (:

Not pictured but sprouting for fall: two containers of turnip greens (which smell interestingly spicy even at the seedling stage), romaine lettuce, mixed salad greens, and snow peas.  Also, yet another crop of slender green beans, ’cause you know I just can’t get enough of those.