In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

Salad season begins. I did the first cutting of arugula last night, five weeks after planting. It’s done well in the dappled sun of the apricot tree which is slow to lose its leaves. I covered the arugula with a fine garden netting until the cabbage moths abated and there is no damage. Lesson learned from last year.

When I begin harvesting the arugula, it’s a prompt to do a succession planting which I did last week. I’m pleased with this new variety, Balboa from Territorial Seed Co. They describe it as vigorous and early-maturing (28 days) and resistant to bolting. I just reordered and one ounce this time.

I prepared some of the heirloom cranberry beans I grew last summer. What the beans lose in color, they regain when sauteed in olive oil with minced red onion and garlic. Fresh thyme and a squeeze of lime let their flavor and texture shine.

Thankfully, enough for another dinner tonight.

Last week I harvested the first of a romaine lettuce mix purchased as starts. That moved salads up a few weeks.

Here’s where most of the greens are growing. You can see the other three raised beds in my blog post from last week—In My Garden, Mid-November.

My Ambridge rose put out a final flush of bloom to my delight. It’s near the top of my rose list for fragrance.

The Second Season Garden is now planted. I gave a talk on the subject to a local garden club last week. Admittedly, I hadn’t put a Power Point together in about seven years and this was my first garden talk. All turned out well and I opened my garden to attendees on Saturday.

Now to figure where to squeeze in the last dozen spinach plants.

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