Of Turnipseed and Almanacs

I'm sure all you sustainable living folks already know about The Old Farmer's Almanac website. There is a wealth of information there, if you haven't already checked it out.

I wanted to find out whether or not I was too late for some fall planting. I was disheartened to discover that according to the almanac I was indeed too late for planting some fall crops, until I realized that if I typed my zip code in the that little box thingy, (what do you call that thing, anyway) that it would give me planting dates for MY area. Whew, what a relief! Now I knew I could safely plant my mustard seed, turnip seed and a few broccoli plants. And I still have until October to consider planting some spinach.

My little garden plot and I mean little is chock full of tiny mustard and turnip seeds. I have loads of cherry tomatoes that are still green, I thought about pulling them up because it didn't seem like they were in much hurry to ripen and it looks such a mess, all wrangled up together. I learned from The Country Living Encyclopedia that they can stay just where they are before the first frost, then I can pull them up by the roots and hang them in a dry and safe place away from the frost to slowly ripen or I can turn them into green tomato relish. I will probably do the latter. Actually, I should consider doing that soon. I just hate the thought of giving up on the idea of popping those beautiful red jewels in my mouth once more until next summer.

I'm kind of late on discovering the Independence Days Challenge, and I'm hesitant to make a commitment of any sort, anyway. I figure I will do what I can without the constraints of feeling guilty if I don't meet the standards. So I will give myself a point or two toward my "Guilt-free ID Challenge" for my little gardening efforts. I just don't have a green thumb like most of you folks but as my neighbor put it we have a purple thumb, meaning our thumbs stay bruised for the trying.