Let’s be clear: I am not happy about summer ending. I could do with another month, and luckily in Madison, summer weather generally extends through September, BUT I am excited about a certain type of produce that re-emerges in the fall.

It’s not pumpkins, though I do love pumpkin.

It’s not apples, though I have been craving some apple pie.

This type of fall produce is a staple in Badger Girl/Manatee household and we are super excited that we can grow our own.

You guessed it: fall harvest spinach.

Ever since ripping out my spring spinach, I knew that the fall harvest would make the end of summer a little more sweet than bitter. This past weekend I planted two kinds of spinach (Tyee and Olympia hybrids) as well as some arugula.

Fall Harvest Spinach

For the record, this is only half of the spinach I have planted. I am trying it in different places, all shaded, to see which works the best. I will keep you posted.

I am not sure how the arugula will go in the Fall, but in the last few weeks, what I got in July finally started to grow and flourish.

arugula

It’s been great to throw into salads and I am hoping to make some pesto with it later this week. In other garden news, can you guess what this is?

tomatillos

This, my friends, is my “not dead” tomatillo plant. I was giving up hope for awhile, but in the last few days they have started to form little cocoons or husks or whatever the papery thin covering is called.

Can you tell that I am an expert on tomatillos?

On the other side of the deck, my tomatoes are out of control.

tomato plants- out of control

Next year I will have to remember to stake them or contain them in a more structured way, to say the least. So far, my favorite type has been mortgage lifter.

I haven’t killed the broccoli yet.

“Yet” being the operative word.

To be honest, I don’t really know what to do with it. I guess I didn’t really expect it to survive.

It hasn’t changed much in the last few weeks so I am not sure if it will grow more or I should salvage what I have.

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Are you doing any fall plantings? Any advice on the broccoli?