Brussels Sprouts and Mustard Greens

On October 18th, I planted Carrot Seeds, Mustard Green Seeds and my Brussels Sprouts in a small plot in my garden.  I double-dug a small area and covered it with organic topsoil.  I outlined the plot with carrots, then with the mustard greens, and I planted the Brussels sprouts in the center.

I heard that mustard greens are good to plant near Brussels sprouts because the pests that attack Brussels sprouts with go for the greens first, so here's to hoping my border of mustard will be a nice barricade for them.

I've been trying to garden for a few years now, and I'm so not with it.  I don't have pests memorized, and I'm pretty bad at guessing the right time to plant stuff.  I should have been keeping a log of when I plant stuff so I can learn from my mistakes, so that's why I'm blogging, in case you stumbled upon this blog.  It's really for my own self, but hey, maybe you'll learn from my mistakes too!

I do have some eggplants, okra and sweet potatoes still growing.  I also have a front porch full of pepper plants.  I don't know why I have chili peppers, banana peppers, and cayenne peppers mixed up with bell peppers, because I'm really not sure what to do with all the hot peppers.  I'm really excited about the bell peppers, because I'm going to stuff those bad boys!  Oh, and I do like to eat banana peppers all sorts of ways.

I planted the sweet potatoes in a big rubber/plastic tub.  They're probably ready.  I don't know.  I'm going to give them to November, just in time for Thanksgiving, to see what they've done.  I made the mistake of putting sweet potatoes in my garden plot the first year.  They don't really go away, and even though I think I've gotten them all, I'm sure that when I go to dig up the plot in the winter, I'll find some taters in the ground like I did last year.  I found a giant sweet potato in the ground last year.

I guess it's best to create a plot for them in a sort of raised bed.  I think I'm going to try getting more containers, as that seems to be the easiest way to control their growth.  Trellising will help, too, as I've trimmed back some of my vines and I've learned that isn't such a good idea.  The more leaves bring more solar energy into the root.  So don't do that.

Look, Mom!  It's eggplant!  I can't wait for the eggplant Parmesan!

 So this is my bucket of sweet potatoes.  I have no idea what I'm going to find inside it.  Um. I guess I'm hoping for sweet potatoes.

We have had some fennel growing around the edge of the garden for a while, but other than collecting a few seeds, I haven't done anything with it.  It really didn't grow bulbs, so I never harvested it that way, but the caterpillars absolutely love it!  My three year old thinks the caterpillars are his, and he wants to see if they've turned into butterflies every day.  Try explaining a cocoon to a toddler!  

Butterflies seem to love Klondike Cosmos, and Klondike Cosmos loves our yard, so it's a win, I think.

We get lots of butterflies with these flowers.  It's like a butterfly garden!