A Peek at My November Garden

It's early November and the leaves are still on the trees, in fact there we are still waiting on the bright fall colors here in central Virginia. We gleaned the garden in September of all the tomato and squash plants and planted some additional crops for the winter. I am hoping to be harvesting from the garden through November, into and possibly through December. I remember, as a child, getting and riding my bike in a t-shirt on Christmas Day. Also of the time my daughter, Caitlin, was swimming in the ocean on a soccer weekend trip to Virginia Beach during the first week of December. So there is hope!

One of the things that I think about when I am planning my garden is not only what we like to eat, but also what plants give us the best yield for what would be the retail dollar. There are some plants that simply are not worth the time or space, either because we cannot grow them efficiently or the quality is better in the local market, where farmers grow larger amounts and they are readily accessible. One of those spots is Mr. Flemming's produce stand in the parking lot of, what was, the Batters Choice store in Petersburg. He is selling local broccoli for a buck a pound and you can't beat that!

Now on to the garden and starting with the mixed greens. I scattered the seeds of a mixture of mixed greens that I picked up at Heretick Feed and Seed in Petersburg, VA and I top-dressed the bed with compost out of my backyard bin. The folks at Heretick are very helpful, especially to us newbies to the veggie gardening world, although I am not quite sure what all is in the mixture besides arugula, kale, and some types of lettuce. 

As you can see from the photo, my jalapeno and banana pepper plants have survived two touches of frost and a freeze and are still producing fruit. I would imagine due to the warm days and the good amount of rain that we have had. We should be able to start harvesting this for salads next week!

In the bed next to it I planted collards. While at Heretick, I purchased these plants in a bundle and they cost me $3.50. The bundle consisted of about 24 plants, some in better condition than others, but you can't beat the price. With collards in the store at $1 a pound, our fist picking will easily cover the $3.50 cost. The larger plant in the photo was a leftover from the summer crop and is about to be picked from and eaten, the others are growing at a pretty steady pace and we will be able to harvest some nice young and tender greens for Thanksgiving. We don't pull the whole plant as some do, but have chosen to simply remove mature leaves from the lower part of the plant and work our way up. This method seems to stimulate new leaf growth at the top and we are always eating the tender leaves and they are yummy! I am mounding the plants in this bed with fresh compost out of the bin.

I have some young kale plants peeking out of the ground to go along with the plants that are still producing from last spring. These plants have been unbelievable! As you can see from the photo, we are now picking leaves from the bottom of the plant again after having harvested our last pot from the top. It looks as though they have gotten to a maximum height of about 48 inches and are now expending the energy to produce in the lower part which is probably safer as it is less exposed to cold nights. The plants around it are basil, they got annihilated by the first frost of the season. They were absolutely gorgeous until then.

Lastly, the spinach is finally coming up. I really missed on this one and started them way too late and will not make the same mistake next fall. We hope with the mild weather that they will continue to grow and I am thinking real hard about framing them up and covering them as an experiment for the winter. I am also feeding them a mixture of water and worm juice from the vermicomposting bin. What's that you ask, well...