What’s happening in the garden this week: Sept. 22-28

Brussels sprouts and harvest update

Our son and daughter-in-law have been visiting from Los Angeles this week, so I’m taking time away from the laptop to spend time with them. So just a short update here.

Still harvesting

I’m still snipping tomatoes off the vines as they start to turn color and have a large produce box filled with them ripening in the front hall. We’re also getting some nice fall lettuce and arugula, and the kale, green bean and squash plants keep producing. We got some broccoli as well. I’m almost ready for it to stop, though we’ve been having fun building meals around the harvest!

Some heirloom tomatoes in the basket, plus two Turks Turban squash. A neighbor started the seeds and gave us the little plants back in May. They’ve grown and produced these really interesting vegetables, which are decorative but also apparently have a great flavor when roasted.

Brussels sprouts

I topped our five Brussels sprouts plants to stop them from growing taller. You do that by snipping off the top of the stem. This will force them to put all of their energy into the little sprouts, which, as the name of the plant suggests, are indeed sprouting from the crooks of the leaves. They’re about the size of pennies now.