Winter Garden

I am very excited about the change in the season. My husband and I spent Sunday morning pulling up our spent summer flowers and vegetables and are in the process of turning over the dirt and prepping it for our winter garden. We will be planting Butter leaf Lettuce, Broccoli, Spinach, carrots and kale or chard. I am also going to try Cilantro again for the third time. I heard it does well in the winter and spring here in Sacramento, since our summers are insanely HOT, it tends to bolt quickly and is of no use after that. My lovely basil is slowly fading, I am cherishing the last few leaves that are left on it. My parsley is still doing well and I have two tomato plants still thriving. More days like today and they will be around well into November.

I am mostly surprised that I decided to put in this winter garden. For I have become quite acquainted with some pests that have had me running for the back door. There have been times that I DREAD going out back in fear of what I might find. You see I am NOT a bug lover... in fact I I have a huge fear of almost any insect. What keeps me from screaming and throwing the bug across the garden or over the fence is my daughter. I am so intrigued my her innocent curiosity. Any bug I find she faces it head on. Wants to know what it is, does, eats and even feels like. She has a plastic cubby in the backyard where she keeps her "finds" for the day. We look them up on the internet and we learn about these garden dwellers and I realized how misunderstood they are. Some (very few) are even beneficial to the garden. Our recent find is a mushroom called "Stinkhorns". These are unacceptable. They look like red finger pushing their way up through the dirt. And YES they do stink...and they do attract flies. OMG... it's absolutely disgusting. I took a picture and went to Talinis Nursery and had a chat with a wonderful garden Guru named Shon. He knows EVERYTHING and is happy to answer any and all questions.

I started this post early October and I lost all track of time due to costume making for my daughter. But I wanted to post it, along with some pictures of our Butter leaf Lettuce and Broccoli.