My Meager Fall Gardening Attempts

I have said it before and I will say it again.  I am not an expert gardener... at all.  But... I attempt it.  I keep trying and have never planted a Fall garden before, so everything I am doing is all just to test it out this year. So, I really got a bit overwhelmed with managing the Spring/Summer garden and I found that some of the large container plantings that I did were much more manageable for me.  So, I started with what I had in place:

• herbs that were still growing which included basil and parsley
• various pepper plants that are still producing that were planted in early Spring which include banana peppers, green bell peppers, marciano peppers (red)
• green onions (some that are in the second year of growth) and some from seed from Spring

In random planters I started the following from seed:

• green leaf lettuce
• brocolli
• cauliflower
• spinach
• radishes

I like to let my ducks and chickens free range, but I am learning the hard way that they like to dig up seed that has been planted.  Apparently, they like small freshly growing green leaf lettuce also, since they ate mine up along with some of the brocolli sproutings.  Also, a very sweet little darling that is trying to work with momma at the ripe old age of 19 months is likely to "weed" out all your best lettuce crop you have going.  All these things considered I ended up replanting and we have not had a harvest, yet.  I am watching the weather for frost chances so I can cover my plants in the event of a freeze.  I am hopeful.  Today Savannah and I were outside sampling he spinach and the brocolli leaves.  Both were pretty good.  Savannah even sai the spinach was delicious. That made my hear sing!  And then, when eating the brocolli leaf I expected her to spit it out and she said she could not tell a difference and they were both good.  I could tell a difference.  The brocolli leaves taste similar to cabbage, but I am just happy she liked them both.  Now, we wait... and let them grow. 

Other than keeping the garden safe from the animas I am learning the importance of the right sun levels.  I have some plantings that are in the same general area, but are getting a little more shade and those are just not growing well.  Also, I planted some lettuce under some bell peppers in the same pot.  Although they sprouted up quickly, they seem to have slowed down in growth once they got to the point that the shade of the bell pepper plants was on them.  Another thing that I am realizing is that bigger is not always better. I thought I needed bigger deeper planters, but am finding that some of my smaller shallow containers are doing the job better.  Old wash tubs with drainage holes make really good planters, so I will be on the lookout for more of those.

Pictures won't really show you much right now, but as I get a harvest I will try to make a future post with some pics. 

This what our brocolli plants (left) look like even though these are on my pics.  And my lettuce is not much bigger than the pic in the persons hand (right).