Late September

Autumn is definitely my favorite season – and what’s not to love? The weather has cooled so you can stand to be outside, you suddenly feel like cooking again, the tomatoes have recovered, and you’ve got eggplant, peppers, basil

Juliet tomato

and all your herbs goin’ crazy. We’re still getting the yellow tomatoes, but I’m more impressed by the Juliet tomato, which is a Roma type that bears clusters of 1.5  inch oval fruit. The one plant I bought has been very productive. I’ll definitely look for it next year at the farmer’s market.

Because I let some of my spring greens reseed I even have bok choi, mustard, and arugula to harvest now. Currently this is what I’m picking: tomatoes, bell, poblano, and serrano peppers, eggplant, tomatillo, okra, mustard, arugula, basil, bok choi, Italian parsley, four types of basil, and green beans (yes, I’m so excited about finally getting some green beans!).  The Delicata has little squashes on it, so I’m hopeful that they will mature before we get a frost.

I’ve also started my winter garden and here is what is up so far: beets, carrots, rutabaga, cilantro, fennel, arugula, bok choi, radish, turnip, and volunteer garlic. I have so much volunteer and second-year garlic that I’ve decided I don’t need to plant any more. I am watering all the seedlings with chicken manure tea so that they’ll get a strong start.

Because pepper plants are loaded down, I’ve been looking for some new things

One of the many poblanos that are ready to pick

to do with poblanos. They’re always good just sliced up, fried on the griddle, and used in sandwiches, eggs, and on salads.

• Stuffed poblanos with black beans
• Poblanos stuffed with pumpkin & cheese  polenta
• And how about Poblanos stuffed with corn casserole filling? (scroll down for corn casserole recipe)

Oh BTW, Matt has a new blog about living and teaching in Vladivostok.