Below is one of the new beds I made out of chunks of cement we had in the yard. We are still growing chard, kale, Brussel's sprouts, and broccoli in these beds. The lettuce is all done. I wanted to keep some lettuce going for the winter, but never got to it - you have to enclose it here somehow to keep the heavy rains off, and it was just too much for me to tackle.
Above you can see the lettuce growing in the shade of the hardier Fall plants, a technique I plan to use more of next year! Below is a little immature green bell pepper! We had a handful of them this year and they did surprisingly well in both the ground and in the black pots.
Below is an area in which I am trying to inspire the herbs to grow! Basically, I had an odd assortment of herbs that were not doing well in pots; I also had echinacea and rosemary that were already established in the area. So I planted everything else here, and we will see how Darwin's theory functions come next Spring. I have basil, thyme, sorrel, borage, mint, parsely, and cilantro... plus some leeks that are doing well to the side of the area (you can see their young stalks in the background).
Here is one of the cement beds with a lot of kale in it. The kale had some aphids this year, but did very very well and is still thriving. I hope to keep harvesting from it winter-long.
Below is part of the backyard, where I had everything in containers except for one cucumber and three tomato plants. Here you can see basil, tomato, and rosemary. You can also see my nasturtium that FINALLY grew in the foreground - of course, it will probably not last through our cold, rainy winter. Nasturtium grows like a weed in California and I miss it up here.
Here are the leeks in the front bed, still doing strong:
And here are the front beds, this past Summer. The tomato plants and the chicory are gone, but the rest remains:
Here is the cucumber plant, that we got ONE cucumber from at the end of the Summer. It was very very tasty, and hopefully we can grow more next year!
And above is the front bed that is not doing so well right now. Here was its promising beginning - the beets, and other hardy Fall plants (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli...), but my lack of attention to this bed brought aphids (even with row cover) and dry, parched soil for too long. Only a few of these plants are thriving, sadly. I pulled up a handful of the beets and some of the broccoli and planted garlic bulbs three weeks ago, mulching them with leaves from the trees. Hopefully we will have a better garlic crop come next Summer!
Above you can see the lettuce growing in the shade of the hardier Fall plants, a technique I plan to use more of next year! Below is a little immature green bell pepper! We had a handful of them this year and they did surprisingly well in both the ground and in the black pots.
Below is an area in which I am trying to inspire the herbs to grow! Basically, I had an odd assortment of herbs that were not doing well in pots; I also had echinacea and rosemary that were already established in the area. So I planted everything else here, and we will see how Darwin's theory functions come next Spring. I have basil, thyme, sorrel, borage, mint, parsely, and cilantro... plus some leeks that are doing well to the side of the area (you can see their young stalks in the background).
Here is one of the cement beds with a lot of kale in it. The kale had some aphids this year, but did very very well and is still thriving. I hope to keep harvesting from it winter-long.
Below is part of the backyard, where I had everything in containers except for one cucumber and three tomato plants. Here you can see basil, tomato, and rosemary. You can also see my nasturtium that FINALLY grew in the foreground - of course, it will probably not last through our cold, rainy winter. Nasturtium grows like a weed in California and I miss it up here. 
Here are the leeks in the front bed, still doing strong:
And here are the front beds, this past Summer. The tomato plants and the chicory are gone, but the rest remains:
Here is the cucumber plant, that we got ONE cucumber from at the end of the Summer. It was very very tasty, and hopefully we can grow more next year!
And above is the front bed that is not doing so well right now. Here was its promising beginning - the beets, and other hardy Fall plants (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli...), but my lack of attention to this bed brought aphids (even with row cover) and dry, parched soil for too long. Only a few of these plants are thriving, sadly. I pulled up a handful of the beets and some of the broccoli and planted garlic bulbs three weeks ago, mulching them with leaves from the trees. Hopefully we will have a better garlic crop come next Summer!
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