We live in the Boston area and we’ve already had some significant frost, in fact this afternoon we were clearing ice off the picnic table. Most of my garden has been put to bed, but there are still a few things producing. This leads me to thinking about what items to plant next year so that we have fresh vegetables and herbs as long as possible. Thinking back to the spring, the first thing we were harvesting was snap peas, and if we had gotten them in even earlier, we would have been eating them earlier. You can plant snap peas as soon as you can work the ground! Right now I’m thinking about the other end of the spectrum though. Right now we ave abundant fresh mint, parsley and sage in our herb garden. Our last producing vegetables are broccoli and onions
Onions are new for me this year, and I haven’t actually harvested any yet. What I’ve read says that I’m waiting for the tops to fall over and turn brown. They still seem to be growing away in our garden, the tops all look healthy and green.
Broccoli is a new winner for us this year! We first started picking broccoli in the middle of the summer. The plants that were in full sun produced first, and have produced the best. After we cut off the big middle bunch, the sides of the broccoli have continued to produce little, bite-sized bunches ever since. These take a slight bit more effort because I have to cut each little bunch, but they are ready to go for snacks for the children.
Ellie and I picked a good meal’s worth of broccoli from three plants today and the plants seem to still be growing, I’m hoping to get at least another meal from them.
I like growing our own food when possible, because it cuts out the middle man, the transportation and we know what chemicals have – or in our case – have not – been used on the plants. I also find that it’s much easier to convince the children to eat vegetables that they actually plant, grow and pick themselves.
In the spring we’ll talk a lot more about gardening, but for now I’m making a note that broccoli was a great investment this year, and for best results they should go in full sun.
Happy Greening!
Alicia
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