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Winter squashes in the harvest basket include spaghetti, delicata, and several varieties of pumpkins

Wordless Wednesday: Shoulder Season

The shoulder season is what some people call that time between summer and fall. It’s a time when we transition from hot weather crops to cool season veggies. Temps are cooling down, but we haven’t planted yet. Soon. Very soon. Here’s some inspiration to get you through this pause before planting fall crops.

Mandarins are starting to turn color.
Yard long beans are flowering on our late-planted beans. (we make a few cents if you use that link).
The nasturtiums are waking up after cooler temperatures have returned.
Basil is still going in the garden. We’ll make more jars of pesto before pulling the plants.
Purple potatoes have been curing under newspaper in the garage. Ready for use (some still sprouted, but oh well).

Transition Through the Shoulder Season

Our hens are starting to molt. Their coop looks like the aftermath of a pillow fight.
Alyssum is a great flower to grow to attract beneficial insects to the garden. We love the purple varieties in our Greenstalk vertical garden. Speaking of pollinators…
The equipment we used to harvest honey is out for the bees to clean up. They do the job for us!
Time to set rat traps again. They’re after the tree kale.
Our green onions are coming back. We plant them as perennials and harvest the green parts for cooking.

Get out there and plant something this shoulder season (if your temperatures are around 73 degrees F or lower). Plant lettuces, brassicas, peas, potatoes, root veggies, onion-family crops and more. Fall is the best growing season – you’ll see why.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Shannon

    Hello Christy
    Always enjoy reading thought your newsletter. For years now. You helped me plan a veggie garden probably 8 or 9 years ago here in Mar Vista not far from you. The beds we built have lasted well and held many good crops of produce over the years. I was just coming to say that I have seen the houses around you get sold and demolished and rebuilt into tall fortresses. Ugh. I feel for you. I hope it hasn’t changed the sun exposure too much. I am sure the privacy feel has been altered for you. Wish these changes weren’t happening. Sorry you got sandwiched in by these new out of scale homes. Happy Fall and thanks for all the newletters you do.
    Shannon

    1. Christy

      Hi Shannon! Glad to hear you are still gardening. We’ve lost about 2 hours of morning sunlight, and a lot of privacy. But I’ll be revamping the garden to some degree once the dust settles. We have a big tree that has a fungal disease, so we’ll probably take that out and add more plants in the area we’ll gain from that removal down the line. More on that in future posts.

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