I took most of these pictures on a foggy morning, the only one I've enjoyed so far this year. It makes me smile when I look up and see bicycles or pedestrians but no cars going by. It happens much more than it used to.

Yup. That's my sage. I don't use much of it, but then it doesn't need much water or anything like that. Glad to have a plant that doesn't need me to do anything in that spot.

Overall, my plot is doing fine. Sueli complimented me on the beauty of my garden during my annual review. I don't really see the beauty, I just see a growing number of plants I enjoy eating the fruits, leaves, and roots of. This year my strategy was basically "do again all the things I enjoyed last time, and maybe try a few more things." Specifically, the new thing now is bok choi. Next spring I hope the amaranth will be a new thing.

  

That bok choi was doing well for a while. Then the bagrata bugs discovered it and started sucking the guts out of the plants. I learned that the way to deal with them is to spray insecticidal soap on all of the exposed surfaces. I did that and it did cut way back on the bagrata bug problem. Then it got cold and I stopped worrying about them. Not planning to plant any more of that, but hoping they turn out to be delicious plants despite all the stress.

Marci gave me a seed head from her "reddest amaranth plant". I laid it on my plot where I want amaranth to grow. It's a pretty plant, so I'm hoping it gives me pretty offspring there.

  

This is my only remaining eggplant bush. It's about a foot tall. The fruit in the close up on the right is about life size when displayed at 100% size in my picture editor. Pretty close to golf ball size in real life. I think this is an eggplant for people that just want an ornamental plant they can pretend to get food from. It's better than nothing but not much. Lubab gets eggplants from her plot that the store would love to sell. I know she gives her plants more water than I give mine. I suspect she feeds them more plant food to.

  

My beets are doing well. I first planted them in the patch on the right above. I just sprinkled a packet full of beet seeds over the area. Then I lightly tilled them into the soil and sprinkled snail pellets around the area. After watering for a couple of weeks little beets were popping up, way too close together. I dug a couple of beds and then spread the young beets around the area, giving them plenty of space to size up. For a week or so the ones I transplanted acted dazed and confused, but then they got used to their new homes and started growing again. After about two months in the ground the biggest ones are starting to be yummy food. Looking forward to a winter with plenty of beets. Beet the system!

  

The volunteer kiwi is still doing great. Supposedly the first frost will kill back her leaves. Then she'll be dormant until spring, when it won't be long before we learn if she will bear fruit for me.

     

The cucumber plant is still giving me another fruit every now and then, but it is definitely slowing down. Over the late summer I had more cucumbers than I knew what to do with. I went from thinking of cucumbers as a spice in salads to the kind of thing to eat like fruit. After doing a bit of that I started enjoying the fact that they aren't sweet like real fruit. Now I'm looking forward to growing them again next year.

The grape vines have gone to sleep for the winter now. I planted the onions and celery under them figuring I can harvest that before the grapes start shading the land under them. Hoping that works out now!

     

I was down at Summer Winds looking for ideas on what to plant. They had a six pack of onions for $4. The seedlings were so densely packed it looked like onion grass. I gently separated the plants and planted them one by one a few inches apart. Now they are growing fine. I expect I'll have plenty of red onions before it's all over for them.

My raspberry bushes have slowed way down. Now it's an event when a berry is ripe enough to pick. Over the summer I was getting a handful of very ripe berries every time I went to the garden to water. I'm told that after the plants go to sleep I should cut them back to stems about one foot tall. That's what they will grow from next year.

  

The above are chards from the batch I got last spring that were labeled "Bright Lights Chard". I enjoy saying to someone else "Please notice that the power company has nothing to do with the bright lights in my plot."

     

Chard is turning out to be a very delicious soup ingredient. I cut a big leaf from each plant once or twice a week, being careful to leave enough other growth behind to encourage the roots. The big leaves weigh in at two or three ounces each. Eight or nine ounces are plenty for a nice bowl of soup. I cut the green from the stem. Then I chop the stems into inch long pieces and throw them in with uncooked noodles. About half way through cooking I add the leafy green part so it just cooks down a little.

The one with the bright yellow stems and the one with the many leaves and the almost hidden pink stems are all that are left from the New Zealand chard I planted last year. The rest of those bolted last spring. I'm wondering how many of these will be around after bolting season next year. I like all of these plants so much I'll probably let whomever goes to seed run their course. I'd love to have a plot that's weedy with chard!

  

I still get a lot of greens from my collards. They are amazingly generous plants.

That's a typical harvest. Probably about two pounds of greens. I get that a time or two a week. Over the summer I was getting so much I was giving away a harvest of collards to someone else every chance I got. They have slowed down a lot now, so I'm only getting a little more than I really want.

BTW: This is the perfect time of year to transplant a collard cutting. I've a few to spare, so if you want one let me know. I'd be glad to share.

Sometimes I wonder if there is a great recipe for stuffed collard leaves out there. For sure these leaves are big enough that it would work out well from a structural point of view.

This is the view I look at when I'm about to pick up the hose to start watering. As you can see, the rose bushes are still doing well. I attribute that to a summer of picking every rose as it passes its prime. If I hadn't deadheaded then so much, they would be growing rose hips now instead of more roses.