In the mid-September kitchen garden, corn, beans, winter squash and potatoes are at the end of their growing cycles, their dry and yellowed stalks and vines destined for the compost pile. In the greenhouses, the last of the ripening tomatoes hang near the top of wilting vines and remaining eggplants and peppers still glow purple, red, orange and yellow though their leaves are tattered. These warmth-loving plants promise a few more meals before cold weather cuts off their production.
In contrast to these drying, end-of-summer plants, the foliage of fall and winter crops is lush and green. In early morning walks in the kitchen garden, my husband Scott has captured the beauty of leeks, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, turnips, chard and kale. While it’s sad to come to the end of the summer kitchen garden, the freshness of these fall and winter plants and the anticipation of meals they’ll provide temper the change from one season to the next.
Lopez Island Kitchen Gardens 
Ahhhh … so beautiful. With the air yellow with smoke, COVID in the air as well, the garden persists, thrives, and encourages. Thank you for your beautiful, tasty posts which always quicken my pulse when I see you have news to share as I love being in touch, even in this way. Challenging times and the constancy of your garden, the hope inherent in each beautiful ripening fruit or leaf, keeps me hopeful too.
Thank you Kathy! I always love to hear from you. So grateful for your friendship!
Scott did a great job capturing those pics! BTW, is that straw that you use along the plant rows to help with keeping moisture as well as retarding weeds?
We moved to Idaho last July after 40 years in Bellevue and started our first garden here from scratch…sod removal, rototilled in deeply good compost and some aged manure. 1st year produce is doing reasonably well. Had more trouble with aphids here in one year than 40 years in Bellevue.
Always enjoy your posts!
Don Warner
The mulch is hayledge. Check out my earlier post on Mulch: https://lopezislandkitchengardens.com/2012/06/16/mulch/
How exciting to be starting a new garden from the ground up in a new place, new climate. Hope the aphids are a one time thing! Thanks for writing.
Just grew our first tomatillos this year and love the salsa! Any experience with them or recipe suggestions?
Sorry to say that I don’t have any experience with tomatillos or any recipes. Must remedy this some year!
Wonderful as always Debby, and love Scott’s pics! Thank you
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Thank you, and thanks for writing. In response to your Contemplative post today, Scott and I both recommend Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures. Here’s the NYTimes review: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/books/review-entangled-life-fungi-merlin-sheldrake.html Maybe more about fungi than you want to know, but beautifully written and so thought-provoking.
Dear Debby,
We so enjoyed these beautiful photos. They have a calming effect on the soul. We missed seeing you this summer and hope you are both doing well.
Mary
Thank you Mary! It’s so good to hear from you. The garden has had a calming effect on my soul this year, too. I’m grateful for that and for friends, even those we don’t get to see often. Thanks for writing.
Hi,
What a beautiful place to spend time. Even though this is my first summer to garden on the island, there have been numerous moments of beauty and taste coming from my small plot.
This morning I was reading Binda Colebrook’s Winter Gardening and, even though I’m late as usual, I’m plotting a separate but adjacent space for a winter garden. I think one of my biggest hurdles will be getting it protected. Daunting but exciting.
best
You can plant arugula and mache (aka corn salad) right now!