November starts with a mound of greens

The victory garden is still enjoying the cool fall rain and warm rays of sunshine. The frost has not hit yet. This means the bitter melon is loving the sun and grown into a large curtain of green leaves. We are harvesting as much bitter melon as possible. We hope that the sun will stick around so that the thumb-sized fruit can mature into bitterlicious lumpy green 6-inch or longer fruit. Once the frost hits, the entire plant will wilt and die within a week.

a green curtain of bitter melon leaves

The greens are doing very well. Our recent harvest produced a mound of southern giant and giant red mustard greens with a small bouquet of Russian and dinosaur kale on the side. The greens will be put to good use. My mother loves to stir-fry the greens with pork and steam a small batch to eat as a side dish. I personally like to stir-fry the greens with chili oil, garlic, mushrooms, eggplant, and any other veggies from the garden.

variety of eggplant and peppers

The warm fall weather has kept the eggplants producing purple and white fruit in all shapes and sizes. The pepper plants are still pushing out green bell peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros which add a certain zing to any stir-fry or soup dish. I hope to harvest a few more eggplants and peppers before retiring the plants to the compost piles.

habanero pepper... spicy goodness

While working in the garden, I was greeted by a mantodeas elder. The mantodeas are plentiful and I have seen over twenty mantodeas when peaking behind the bitter melon curtain. The biggest mantodeas are living in the herb garden. They are roughly 4-5 inches in size. I still remember when they were the size of my pinky finger nail. They must be keeping the herb garden and bitter melon bug free.

However, we still have a few causalities from time to time. We laid the swiss chard to rest in the compost last week. We had a terrible aphid infestation that would not go away. I saw many mantodeas elders fighting the good fight but the chard was too weak to survive. I have taken additional precaution and will be using an organic bug killer (Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew) to help keep the evil invaders away during the colder winter months. Once the frost hits, most of the mantodeas warriors will retreat, lay egg sacs, and die. Without the warriors to protect the garden many of the greens, cabbage, and brussel sprouts will not survive the winter. Rest in compost sweet and delicious swiss chard. You will be missed in our winter soups and stir-frys.

We see cauliflower!

Warming up to fall...

We started off the fall season with a mini heatwave. We saw an entire week of 75+ degree weather. Most of the plants loved the sun.

My family and I pick the eggplants, joi choy, and Russian kale daily. I like to steam the kale and choi too. They are a great combo and are excellent as a hot steamy side dish to any meal.

joi choi (4 bunches)

The warm weather helped one pepper plant push out a handful of large green peppers. These will be great in soups, stir-frys, or roasted on the grill.

bouquet of kale, mustard greens, and swiss chard

Most of the eggplants have been frozen for use during the winter months.  I love eggplant in soups.  It adds a creamy texture to the soup broth.  Yum!

The sugar snaps sprouts are climbing to the sky.  These plants are very easy to grow and grow extremely fast.  Check out the before and after shots below. Sugar Snaps are located in the back against the trellis.  You can also see the quick growth of the six gold mark cabbage and the two red cabbage.

before - September 11, 2012

current - October 11, 2012

RIC - Rest in Compost
A group of renegade squirrels dug up and dispersed the Napa cabbage and spinach seedlings last week.  I tried to salvage as many of the seedlings as possible. However, the seedlings shriveled up and died. The seedlings were then laid to rest in our compost.  I will replant the spinach and will replace the cabbage with radishes, carrots, and beets.

2012 MVG Fall Crops

MVG transitioning into fall

The fall season is here! Last year, I planted mustard greens and radish when the weather turned cold.  This season I decided to plant mustard greens, radish, and much much more.

The following has been planted in the Morrison Victory Garden. Items in green are being grown by seed.

1. Russian kale
2. Dinosaur kale
3. Winterbor kale
4. Snowball cauliflower
5. Broccoli romanesco
6. CA Stockton red onions
7. Yellow Spanish onions
8. Red acre cabbage
9. Gold mark cabbage
10. Jade cross brussel sprouts
11. Swiss chard
12. Sugar snaps
13. Spinach
14. Napa cabbage
15. Minowase Radish
16. Giant red mustard greens
17. Southern giant mustard greens
18. Joi choi
19. Red choi
20. variety of lettuce

I was disappointed in how many of my spring seedlings did not grow up to be big and strong.  I decided to visit my local nursery to find most of my fall vegetable plants.  There are a few seeds that I knew would do well in the garden and I sprinkled them in with the nursery bought plants. This is the biggest and largest variety of fall crops the victory garden has ever seen. I hope to be eating lots of greens and steamed veggies in time to celebrate Thanksgiving.

winterbor kale with lettuce

The eggplants and bitter melon are the only summer crop still producing delicious veggies.  This summer has produced a great deal of bitter melon.  In previous years, my family was lucky if we grew a dozen bitter melon.  Now, we have three gallon bags of frozen bitter melon to consume over the winter season.  This is not counting the many that were eaten during the summer.  My mother loves to stuff the bitter melon with meat and make soup.  I am sure my house will smell of boiling bitter melon and pork this holiday season.

jade cross brussel sprout

I have included a final count of our frozen and canned produce.  This season, I did more canning than freezing. Our 2012 harvest is smaller in size, when compared to our 2011 season, but we made up for it with variety.

2012 MVG Summer Stock
Frozen
3 - gallon bag bitter melon
5 - quart bag bean mix (burgundy, scarlet emperor, and blue lake)
5 - quart bag corn kernels
2 - quart bag strawberries
3 - quart bag plums

Canned
4 - quart salsa
15 - quart garlic pepper veggies
10 - quart bread and butter veggies
4 - pint bread and butter veggies
8 - quart plums (heavy & light syrup)
2 - pint plums (heavy & light syrup)
3 - quart pickled garden veggies
4 - quart dill veggies
2 - pint dill veggies

hot pepper plants are back in pots

Victory Garden Spotting!
The Mantodea warriors are still fighting the good fight.  I have recently spotted three full grown warriors while watering the garden.

Can you find him in the oregano? He is looking at you.

The warm fall weather and newly planted crops have drawn the adult mantodeas out of hiding.  Look at how much they have grown.  Remember how small the nymph Mantodeas were?

Mantodeas are very friendly