Growers and Grocers

I decided to kill my vegetable garden in early July. I was going on vacation and I’m tired of the hot, sweaty uphill push to keep plants alive for dwindling yields in the 100-plus-degree days of July and August. This year, I chose to treat these two months as if they were January and February up north. I would give in to Mother Nature. I would hibernate and plan for fall planting in September.

Decision made, I harvested the last of the tomatoes and got on a plane. I knew a week without water would finish everything off. Imagine my surprise when I came home to find a few red grape tomatoes hanging off dead-looking vines. It was nothing compared to seeing my chard going strong. The last plant really standing in my summer garden is ‘Orange Chiffon’ Swiss chard. Still green and orange. Still perky. Still leafing out after being cut back multiple times for baby greens.

I’d never grown chard before this year, and I ordered the seeds from Kitchen Garden based on their description of it as heat-tolerant. They weren’t kidding. I’ll be curious to see just how long I can keep this stuff going — if it can handle frost, I might be able to grow it year-round. I might even go out and water it this evening, just for fun. Then I swear I’ll go right back to hibernating.

Cross-posted at Redneck Mother.