The State of the Garden After Frost

 The garden has a different look these days.  Instead of flowers the interest points are seed pods and the promise of growth in the Spring.  These ferns have the most interesting formations left after their leaves have dried up and almost disappeared.

 The hibiscus leaves behind an interesting pod.  I wonder where the seeds will show up next spring?

 The Autumn Joy sedum has turned a muted burgundy.  I took cuttings of this lovely plant and stuck them in new spots.  I hope they reward me next year for my efforts.

 Even the obedient plant has pods and next year there will be more plants.

 The foxglove's new seedlings are bright green among the brown leaves.  I left them where they seeded themselves for now.  Next spring I'll have to decide if they need to be moved to other locations.

 The frost took care of the marigolds.  I saved seeds from these for next year.  They worked so well in the vegetable garden and as filler in the perennial garden this fall.

 The mums are going fast.  I hope they survive another winter.

 The greenest part of the perennial garden is the herb triangle.  Most of these will be green through the winter.  The sage is great to have for turkeys at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 I hope the rosemary lasts.  This was a new planting this year.

 This compost bin is full as is the one by the vegetable garden.  It won't be long before I can shovel out from the bottom to nourish the beds.

 In the vegetable garden the garlic is up,

 there are some lettuce leaves to be cut,

 the bok choy is growing slowly but I plan to wait for Sarah's arrival home from China so she can prepare it for us along with

 the tatsoi, another Asian green.

 The shadows are long through the trees mid-day.  The sun is low in the sky in the south and will get lower for 6 more weeks.

Time for the gardens to sleep and dream of the next spring.

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

I raided the freezer to make a pasta sauce this week.  I pulled out frozen red peppers, frozen zucchini and a bag of frozen tomatoes.

 First I sauteed an onion in olive oil, then added the frozen vegetables.

 I cooked down the vegetables until they softened.

 I added pepper flakes, salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of molasses.

 For a change from basil I added fresh oregano.

 Once everything was cooked down I used the stick blender to puree it all.  I left some lumps.

 It was a spicy sauce for angel hair pasta.

See other recipes at Robin's Gardener of Eden.

Wordless Wednesday

Minimal Harvest

I haven't posted on the harvest because there have been none.  But Sunday I picked these two kinds of green leaf lettuces for salad for dinner.  There's not much else out there because the spinach which is usually a prolific fall crop has done nothing.  There are some small bok choy plants that may be usable once they get bigger if they can do that with the light failing and temps falling.

See what other gardeners have harvested this fall week at Daphne's Dandelions.