The peas seem to be doing well (after surviving a snail attack when they were first starting to sprout - I hate snails!). Peas like cool weather as I found out before I started paying attention to which plants are cool season and warm season. Peas do best in the spring and fall, or in the winter here in southern California and other mild climates. Stagger plantings to extend the harvest.
More peas sprouting up among the White Alyssum - I planted these a couple of weeks after the ones above. The White Alyssum is left over from summertime when I planted it at the base of my tomatoes to attract bees and other pollinators. It smells like honey!
Look at the beautiful yellow stems on this colorful Chard! My chard seems to like both cool weather and warm, its one of the few leafy greens that doesn't get bitter or seem to want to go to bolt as soon as it gets hot outside. Red Russian Kale also seems to be fairly heat tolerant (and cold tolerant!) as well, staying tender and tasty when other kales seem to get bitter and tough.
Speaking of Red Russian Kale, here are some new ones just sprouting!
The curly leaf kale is enjoying the cool weather as well, I love seeing the new growth at the center! Love this kale for sauteing for a dinner side as well as fresh in a salad, or blended up in a green smoothie. My Lucinato kale isn't doing so well, though has stopped being bitter now that it is almost winter, but the leaves are just so tiny! I think all my kale would benefit from more room for their roots, these ones I grow on my porch are nothing compared to the ones in my friend's raised bed garden that I help her with from time to time - they grow large and lush with more room to spread out rather than cramped in containers. But I still love having fresh kale just outside my door - just pick a leaf or two from each plant whenever I need it.
Some Genovese Basil peaking out from behind another chard plant. The snails think my basil is as tasty as I do, unfortunately.
My Greek Basil isn't doing as well as I would like, but its holding its own. It is more bushy and has very small leaves compared to the Genovese, but I love having variety and like the spicy flavor.
Love these purple flowers on the Thai Basil!
Another purple herb, variegated white and purple sage. This is another plant that would do much better planted in a raised bed or in the ground rather than a pot, but I work with what I've got. So beautiful!
Strawberry plant recovering from the summer heat - I should be getting some berries in the spring hopefully. I only have 4 plants right now, I originally had 6 but 2 did not survive. I think this weekend I will get a whole bunch more and maybe some over the railing containers to plant them in - I have heard that 6 to 10 plants per person is around the amount you need to grow and between my husband and I we don't have nearly enough right now. If you have room to grow your own strawberry plants I strongly recommend it - you not only get fresh berries ripened on the plant so they are quite delicious, but you can skip the awful pesticides that are used to grow conventional strawberries. Strawberries are on the "dirty dozen" list of the most contaminated foods, so buy organic or grow your own!
More new beginnings - the spinach looks more like grass right now, but soon they will be getting true leaves, I can't wait til they are ready to start harvesting! You can see from this photo that I believe in mulching - it is essential here in southern California where it is practically a desert. I use pine needles from the tree that overhangs my porch, often using scissors to chop it up a bit so the needles aren't so long. It seems to do a good job of holding moisture in and keeping the soil & plants healthy.
Not everything I grow is edible! I do have a fondness for succulents, they are so easy to grow and have such variety! I love the different colors and textures - that blueish one that looks like a flower is actually fuzzy!
And this one looks like a sea anemone!
I'm also quite partial to orchids - I have 7 right now, living on the sill of the north facing window in our bathroom. I barely even take care of them - just the steam from the shower and a watering or a good soak from time to time, but they seem to love it and keep on sending out long roots, new leaves, and fresh blooms. I had someone try to tell me once that orchids die after they bloom... well I don't know where they heard that but mine bloom every couple of months and I've had some of them for over 5 years. I just cut off the flower stalk once the flowers wilt or fall off, and it sends out a new one a few months later.
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