Fall Gardening

     Gardens can produce food nearly all year!  This may not be news to many people but I grew up in the Texas panhandle where we were lucky to get things to grow during the spring. Growing things at any other time in a semi-desert region was unimaginable.
     I started suspecting that growing seasons drastically varied with location a few months after we moved to Oregon.  My son came home from a first grade field trip in April with a tomato plant.  Of course he insisted we plant it immediately.  I spent the next few months convinced there was something wrong with the plant.  By the first of July it was still only about 12 inches tall.  It was mid-July before the thing started growing and by the first of August it was producing ripe tomatoes.  It continued pro ducting them until the first hard freeze of winter.  My mind was blown because in Texas tomato plants are dried up and turning to dust by August.
    As I started looking into what it would take to grow enough food to feed our family, I kept seeing the terms "fall garden" and "fall harvest".  A little more research lead me to discover that there are actually a lot of things that can be planted in early fall and harvested before winter sets in. Some of these versatile veggies are carrots, lettuce, onion, cabbage and broccoli.
    In early September, Paul and I decided to see if this really works so he hoed out a section of our garden space and I planted 6 broccoli plants.  As you can see in the picture, they are 4 weeks old and all doing well.  I will let you know if we actually get broccoli though.  This Texas girl is still a little suspicious of "fall gardening".