All the Dirt on Gardening

November in our vegetable garden has plantings that are the result of much earlier activity. If the weather is lovely like it is this year, we continue to have snacks from our little growing space. This week we are eating beans, peppers, arugula, radishes and broccoli raab. The snow peas are over a foot tall but do not have flowers yet. Snow peas in November Calendula   Bean flower Unlike those enviable, energetic souls who enjoy extending the gardening season into a 12-month cycle, we do not  put up plastic row covers or try to grow in greenhouses. By the time the hard freezes arrive, we are content to eat what we have preserved, shop in stores, and give ourselves a break. The calendula planted around and inside the vegetable garden to attract pollinators is working double time as most of our flying friends are finding shelter under leaf piles every night now that it's in the 30s after dark.  Fall beans The beets are about 3-inches tall, the Red Russ...

In our area, zone 7 Northeast Oklahoma USA it is still 80 during the sunny days, though in the 50s and 60s at night. The butterflies, skippers, wasps and bees are in their most productive season here - and so are gardeners who love fall and early winter greens from the garden. Kale, chard, beets and other leafy greens can still be planted and harvested before our first hard freeze. And, with a decent mulch around the roots, salads and sandwich greens often last until January. We've served them at a New Year's Day open house in the past. Red Russian, Siberian, Lacinato, Blue Curled have all worked well for me in the past - see http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/?search=kale&ext=F   For chards, check out Seeds of Italy's assortment at http://www.growitalian.com/categories/Vegetables/Chard/  - they give you lots of seeds per pack!   Of course, as they say in the investing world, past performance bears no relevance to future performance. For us...