A Few Happy Green Things

It was just two months ago that we were writing off the fall garden. No time, we decided. Not a high enough priority given the circumstances, it seemed.

That was all true. My big fall garden plans were simply not to be. There would be no big beds of carrots and beets, no row upon row of greens and herbs and potatoes.

But now there is this. A bed next to the house with delightfully green collards, onions, turnips, and cabbage. Two long rows of sodbuster radishes, aerating our soil and creating a bit of food at the same time.

A cover crop of Austrian Winter Peas line rows and dot swales. Garlic is sprouting up and continues to make its way into the ground, thanks to big and little helpers. A few lovely cilantro plants that sprung up despite leaving town for weeks and not watering. And a single carrot that sprouted from the hundred or more seeds I worked into the soil.

This is the fall garden as it was always meant to be – planted as allowed, not driven by results.

And this is an apron full of green beans, given by plants I had completely given up on weeks, maybe even months, ago.

So I think I’ll enjoy this fall garden just as it is, just as it was meant to be.