Fall Is Here

The leaves are all turning red and yellow and orange here in Victoria, and the nights definitely are a lot crisper than they used to be. I’ve whipped out my cardigans and jackets, and it seems too damned cold to walk around in shorts and tank tops anymore. Fall is here!

This blog has been very under-used this year. I had a few frantic emails from friends of the seed bank asking if it was gone; never fear, it’s still here! We’re still here and totally in operation, unfortunately there just hasn’t been much to share.

The tomatoes that did survive the prolonged stay in their seed starting pots are now just starting to ripen. Unfortunately with the dip in temperatures, I’ll probably have to ripen the majority of them off the vine and inside. The injury to my right wrist that delayed all my plantings seems to have been worse than just a sprain, and it’s still quite painful, which has lead to a very lacklustre year with gardening, because I just haven’t been able to put in the time required this year.

But, the nice thing with gardening is that it’s never a one-shot deal; there will always be next year, and that’s what I’m looking forward to now.

I’ll probably end up growing almost the exact same thing next year since I got such a poor harvest (if any harvest) this year. I’ll be bringing my peppers in to overwinter – of course they’re all flowering like crazy now, and I’ll have to pull those all off before bringing them in.

I have a second sowing of Slocan Snow Peas growing nice and strong right now, and the potatoes will be dug up imminently. There’s some Gabriola Garlic in the ground, and I’m looking forward to eating that next year.

The Cotztomatl are just starting to ripen now, and I’m looking very forward to sampling them, and hopefully saving enough seeds to share.

The ‘Agona Local’ tomato from PGRC has proven to be one of the best growers this year – it’s absolutely loaded with fruit (most of which I’ll probably ripen indoors) but it’s compact size and great production would make me think this would be a great variety for container growers. Stay tuned for taste and a more in depth post about that variety in a bit.

Thanks for sticking with the seed bank during a quiet year, and keep checking back for more updates coming soon!