Fall Rewards

II had a chance to get some gardening done during a sunbreak today. My top priority was to remove the flowering stalks from my rhubarb.

But in the time I changed into my gardening clothes, the weather turned again. Regardless, I made a mad dash out into the garden to remove the stalks and ducked back inside.**

In my rush back towards the house, I noticed a few things from my fall planting. The fava beans are flowering. These plants have been in a holding pattern this winter. I'm not sure if they would be as good looking if it had snowed or been colder.

I love the black and white color contrast in the flowers.



My early sprouting purple broccoli has started producing flower heads. We'll see how well they end up doing. I think I have the timing right. I planted them in the fall. I'm still not convinced it's worth the effort for the amount of broccoli in return.

I have my doubts...

 

The spinach I planted I thought I was going to harvest for the fall. I quickly realized when I put it in the ground, I was too late. Just like the fava beans, I'm not sure if the plants would look as good if we had a harsh winter. I'm looking forward to using this in a salad with the lettuce I have.

 



Looks like a slug beat me to it!

I did plant garlic this fall and then I forgot that I had planted it. Then I remembered when garlicky things started emerging from the ground. Yes, there are times I forget to label where I've planted things.

I'm looking forward to garlic scapes more than anything!

Even the rutabaga that my son and I sowed directly in the garden at the end of summer is looking like something. We'll see if anything comes of it. I do predict that he probably won't eat it in the end. Ah well.

**As I was writing this, the weather cleared enough for me to snap these photos. Yay!**

 

 

 

Fava Beans!

We've been lucky to have a few relatively balmy days this last week. I took advantage of the weather to plant out my fava beans. Finally!



The first to be planted from Adaptive Seeds. I chose the variety Ianto's Return for their purple color. I think the pods themselves will be green, but I'm hoping to make some purple fava "hummus." Last year I added fava beans to my pesto to extend the amount and give it a little more depth. At $4 per pound at the farmer's market, I decided I should grow my own this year.


Since the fava beans are quite large, I used a dandelion weeder to plant each one at the base of the wire trellis.


Ianto's Return is said to be big with many tillers and this wire trellis will support the big plants. I really like its rustic look. I don't know where it came from, but I found it right before it was about to be thrown out. It worked well with my pole beans bean last year, and I can't wait to see how the favas do on it.

Yes, that's sun shining on the newly planted seeds. Looking forward to seeing them sprout soon!