VEG: Moving into Fall

written by Yvonne

We planted a different variety of collards this year.  They are HUGE!  What we previously has was smaller and thinner.  Until now, I never understood why people cooked the heck out of collards.  We just saute them and that's it.  But now I get it.... a variety like this is very hearty and can stand to be cooked longer.  Nonetheless, we dropped them in stock for about 20 minutes and they were delicious!  We added a little smoke flavoring and SandP.  Only thing missing was more.

Box #1 had the last hangers on of summer veg.  Our plan was to plant boxes 2-4 with fall/winter crops and to throw down some rye seed in box 1 to rejuvenate the soil for next spring. We'll rotate that the next year and so on.  We cleared out the remaining tomato plants and pulled up the newspaper and pine needles.

Then we spread the rye seed. It should grow and fill up the bed, then we'll till it into the dirt in the spring.

Tom got hives Borris and Natasha all nestled up for winter. The bales of pine straw act as insulators and wind barriers.  We'll use the straw as mulch in the garden when the warmer seasons come 'round again.