More fall vegetables

I hadn't tried growing broccoli rabe before, but this experimental patch is flourishing. I'm waiting for a few flower buds before harvesting, but it looks delicious right now.


Maybe because the woodchuck ate all the brassica relatives last summer, the populations of cabbage whites didn't build up -- I've only seen one so far this summer. That's good news as far as the brassica leaf chomping goes -- a large spring red bor kale still looks lovely, and has been spared from being harvested for a stir-fry because of it.

I've already pulled out quite a bit of unproductive squash (the yellow squash/zucchini C. pepo sort), making room for kohlrabi, turnips, beets, lettuces, arugula, kale, mustard, and spinach (yet to be planted). Happily, I harvested some nice yellow, patty pan, and eight-ball (Ronde de Nice) squashes, actually my most successful squash foray to date, not counting my stalwart, delicious, and squash vine borer-resistant tromboncino squash.

It's hard to find the space for planting fall vegetables, when tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, and tomatillos are still hogging their spaces, but it requires being ruthless -- unless you're willing to dig up more beds -- a slippery slope towards gardening overextension.