Mid October Blooms

It's mid October (already) and there are less flowers blooming but still some colour in the garden with asters, sunflower and other late flowering plants. It's getting colder and the leaves are falling. It's looking much more like Autumn.

No frost yet but soon the annuals will need cleared and there will be some tidying to do before putting some areas of the garden to rest until Spring. I've still some veggies to look after including winter salads, kale, chard, leek and others so I won't be hibernating completely come the colder weather. 

Here's a little snapshot of some of the colour in the garden, my favourite being the Sedum Autumn Joy and the dogwood shrub.

Left: Aster begin to flower.

Above: Giant Sunflower.
Below: Dogwood / Cornus has great colour this time of year and the stems turn bright red and look great throughout Winter.

Above: Sedum Autumn Joy with summer petunia (still blooming).
Below: Squash flowers.

Above: Schizostylis coccinea
Below: the view through the ivy.

Above: Crocosmia.

Blogger's Bloom Day (15th of each month) is hosted by May Dreams Gardens. If you'd like to see blooms from around the world click here.

Happy Blogger's Bloom Day!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Beautiful Kohl Rabi

Kohl Rabi - what a great looking vegetable! They're so pretty I'm not sure I want to harvest and eat them. This is the first time I've grown this plant so I have no idea what to do with it or when to harvest. The seeds were started off in June in a greenhouse and planted outside at the end of July. 

Variety: Kohl Rabi 'Purple Vienna

The name of the plant means 'turnip cabbage' (BBC Good Food website).

I did a quick google search on the internet. Says the bulb can be steamed or stir fried and the leaves can be eaten like cabbage. Suppose I need to try them out soon! 

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Carrots and Squash

The weather has been mild and the plants are still thriving. I pulled out most of the carrots over the weekend. I had been picking a few occasionally to serve with mixed veg or stir fry but decided to pull out the lot. In quite a small space and using the square foot growing idea (I used approx 18 inch square planting area for carrots - pictured below left corner) I think I've had a reasonable harvest. In the past the carrots have been longer and bigger so maybe they were a little cramped.

Variety:  Carrot 'Early Nantes 2' 

I've heard other bloggers complain about their squash... the monster plant above is taking over one of my raised veg boxes. I thought it was a courgette, however, I found a label hidden underneath indicating Squash Patty Green Tint. This plant continues to grow like a tropical paradise plant, however, it has produced only three squash (so far) the whole summer. Frost is coming soon so my squash is on the naughty plant list

Above: lots of squash flowers more recently (all the plant did  over the Summer was grow huge). Over the past month, I've been feeding it with tomato feed.
Below: Squash with blossom rot. Hoping to get some squash before the frost!

One squash harvested with carrots, a few beans and a few salad leaves.

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.