It seems that vegetable gardening has come mostly to a close for me. We got so much cold rain during the month of September that most of our heirloom tomatoes split open on the vine, suddenly more vulnerable to bacteria and insects. An odd thing happened simultaneously--a surge of new growth on the broccoli, red cabbage, and grape tomatoes has resulted in a last ditch effort to make something happen.
I don't want to scare them off--because I'm thankful for everything they've given me this summer--but someone needs to tell them when to call it quits. There isn't enough time for the delicate little tomatoes to grow and ripen. Frost seems to always be hiding just behind the next weather front so I'm not counting on anything to harvest. Fortunately the broccoli and cabbage are better suited for the weather and might keep growing for a while.
In a moment where I was looking the other direction, the central stalk of our broccoli plant shot up and flowered--just like that. From the window, I noticed the beautiful yellow blossoms. Immediately I put down whatever I was doing and wandered outside to look. Never would I have known that a broccoli was such a beautiful plant. These are things you just can't learn from shopping at the grocery.
It's kind of amazing, isn't it? Things living and changing in your own back yard? That's gardening, for ya.
Woah - that broccoli really is beautiful. It's so sad to see all the other stuff go, isn't it? What do you think is the easiest thing to plant and sustain during the summer? I'm expanding the garden next year - and keep in mind my green thumb is black.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you could pickle some of those late-breaking grape tomatoes, even if they don't ripen to red. I had some amazing pickled miniature heirloom tomatoes in Lexington last weekend. Still dreaming about them :)
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