Our summer garden was a little bit of a bust. I had a second year in a row of pepper failure and yet another round of battling squirrels, they just love tomatoes! We also didn’t get much lettuce or spinach. I learned right away that full-sun was just not going to work, the poor little seedlings got scorched right away. My move to a fully shaded area was also not quite so successful. They’re growing, but they’re still just small little things.

And so, the beginning of fall means that it’s time for a do over. That’s what’s great about vegetable gardens. At different points in the year, you get to try again. This time, I’m hoping to learn from mistakes and actually get some produce on the table.

I think I may be a little late in starting things from seed. The weather over here is not helping me out! It’s been so warm that I hardly realized that fall was here. This is when my Washington friends would roll their eyes…

But better late than never, right? This last week I planted a ton of Swiss chard and lacinato kale seeds, as well as more mesclun lettuce in a partial-sun location. I’m also hoping to give broccoli a go (wish me luck!) as well as continuing to grow herbs as long as it is possible. I would love to have freshly cut parsley all year round if I could.

This last week I’ve also been thinking a lot about soil, the major reason we had such a bad harvest this year. I went to a free soil seminar this week at our local library as well as asked a lot of questions to gardeners. More to come in the next few weeks as we rework the soil in our garden boxes.