Early October in the Demo Garden

We are starting to feel the first chills of fall here in San Francisco, warm in the daytime, but brisk at night. The garden at the college continues to grow and bear food. We are having a potluck next week in class, and different students are using some of the harvest in dishes to bring. Among them are zucchini, leeks, and beets.

Here are some of the beets. We planted them in the spring, and probably they should have come out by now, but we are looking forward to beet pickles.

In the long bed planted with cole crops, the little seedlings, all looking alike are beginning to show their differences.

The cabbage is low and wide, with short stems on the leaves. This one is 'Parel' an early variety, rated at 50 days. In the case of these crops, you calculate the days to maturity from the date of setting out the seedlings, at about 6 weeks old. We set these out in the first week of August, so now, in the first week of October, we are a bit behind the promised schedule, but the central leaves are beginning to curl over the forming heads.

This is Brussels sprouts 'Vancouver' which is rated at 90-100 days. Notice how much taller it is and the long stems on the leaves. In another month or two, we should be eating little sprouts.

FInally, here is a mature purple kohlrabi, of the variety 'Kolibri'. We ate several of these in class last week. It is right on schedule, ready to eat in 60 days after transplanting. They were crisp, sweet, and delicious, but, alas, you lose the color when you peel these purple gems to eat them. Too bad, but still, very good.

All of the cole crop varieties in this bed were grown from seed purchased from Territorial Seed Company in Oregon.

www.territorial-seed.com