Harvest Monday

Good Monday! As usual I am joining Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday where gardeners everywhere are showing what they harvested this past week. Go on over and join the fun!
Autumn is definitely here. We're especially noticing how much earlier it gets dark in the evening and the nights are cool. Garden production is way,way down. I'm spending more time in the garden doing clean up than I am harvesting. The stars of the garden at present are green beans, peppers and kale. Though I didn't harvest any kale this week because I'm letting the plants rest a little.

 Above are the very first of my leeks! They are skinnier than last year's, but the white part is longer, so that makes up for it a little. I planted them using the dibble method as opposed to a trench this year and I think it worked well. I have lots more in the garden yet which is good since I had a small onion harvest. Must have my alliums!

 Brought in the last of my kohlrabi. They were a little woody, but not bad at all considering how long they've been growing.

 Asian greens, a few tomatoes, broccoli sprouts, peppers and what are likely the very last two cucumbers of the year.

 Here are my last two butternut squashes. You can see by my hand how very small they are.

 In the basket are three tiny cabbages, eggplants, tomatoes, broccoli and green beans. I harvested about three pounds of green beans this week. Patch #1 does not want to throw in the towel! It is blossoming again and every time I contemplate pulling out the plants I find more beans.

 I haven't mentioned before that we're growing ground cherries. I tried them last year as a curiosity and my husband took a shine to them, so I start the seedlings and he grows the plants. They grow in a paper husk like a tomatillo and you can tell they're ripe when they fall off the plant. Last year as each ground cherry ripened, the local chipmunks, voles and mice snatched them and ate them before we could, leaving us the empty husks. What a difference a year makes! This year they'd been somewhat neglected by both us and the wildlife, so we found a carpet of them on the ground that yielded a pound and a half of fruit. They are slightly bland, but nice to munch on.

And here are my- "ahem"- first pathetic little brussels sprouts. I grew some big strong plants. But the few sprouts on them are the size of large peas. There is still a month for them to grow, but somehow I doubt I'll be seeing much. Better luck next year and maybe a new variety!
That's it for this week! Wishing all you fellow gardeners a productive week!