Pied Beauty

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

What's In The Fall Garden?

We've been enjoying fall weather that's so beautiful, so perfect, it's hard to even concentrate in the garden.  But Sunday, I got our little fall vegetable patch in order.  You remember those tomatoes I planted in August under their little cabanas?  Well, it was extra-hot until the very last few days of September.  So the tomatoes are tall and a bit on the leggy side.  But I do have flowers on them, so I am holding onto a happy thought:  fresh tomatoes for Thanksgiving!

Skinny devils, aren't they?
I planted two kinds of lettuce from seed: a Valentine mix of red and green, and another mix of mostly romaines.  I planted yellow bulbing onions and a mix of red and green salad scallions.  Greens do well here in the fall, so we picked out two cabbages and two kales, plus a square of "Pot of Gold" chard. 

Pot of Gold Chard, photo: Renee's Garden
Even though I never do well with carrots (because I can't/won't thin them properly), we did plant a cute little round carrot called "Round Romeo."  I had been saving space for broccoli and cauliflower, but we didn't find them!  My daughter picked out snapdragons and calendulas instead.  We squeezed them in amongst the vegetables.

Jack & Jill Sweet Peas, photo: Renee's Garden
Finally, we planted "Knee-High Jack and Jill" sweetpeas and "Whirlybird Rainbow Mix" nasturtiums on the low vegetable cages.  I like vegetable-gardening in the fall.  It just feels so much better to be outside now.  All around town, you can hear people breathing a sigh of relief.  We are all now sure we've made it through the worst of summer!

2 comments:

  1. We just picked up some pot of gold chard seeds this last weekend, just to give them a try. They looked so inviting! I love planting flowers among the vegetables, and sometimes they can serve as excellent trap crops. This year our sunflowers seem to be trapping most of the cucumber beetles!

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  2. I spent a fair amount of time today just sitting in the garden, enjoying the sounds of the birds and the feel of the cool breeze. You remind me that I do want to sow some lettuce and spinach soon!

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