But here inside my abode, lettuce is growing in a jar. Hydroponics....it works.
I would like to be added to this list.
Nowadays it is known as a place to go to relax and the site of a prestigious classical guitar competition, but once it was a scene of nearly unimaginable horror.
In October of 1592 King Philip II of Spain had gathered a fleet in Málaga to relieve Spanish-held Oran, under siege by the Ottomans. 28 ships set sail loaded with soldiers and, since it was to be a long term assignment, wives and children also packed the ships. They set sail from Malaga on October 18, 1592. A strong easterly wind took the fleet by surprise so they decided to take refuge in La Herradura harbor until the storm passed. But during the night the storm shifted and on October 19th the winds changed direction, bashing the trapped ships against each other and the rocks along the sides of the harbor. Between 3,000 and 5,000 men, women and children drowned that morning and 25 of the 28 ships were destroyed.
News didn't travel as far and as fast back then as it does nowadays but the disaster was still famous enough to be mentioned in what was to become the first known novel ever written, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote of a lady “… who was daughter of Don Alonso de Marañón, gentleman of the town of Santiago, who drowned at La Herradura…”
A big front came through Thursday night with much colder temps. Last night, we had a hard freeze/frost forecast so I picked all the green tomatoes and brought them in. I also put a tarp over my zinnias to protect them, but I don't think we got the frost.
The zinnia story - I planted them really late (Aug 30) after a relative gave me seeds from her garden earlier this summer. They came up in less than a week – warm soil & lots of water worked wonders (planted on a Sunday, sprouts peeping through on Friday!). The race was on to see if I could get blooms before colder weather & frost could kill them off. The month of October has been wonderful, with beautiful blooms, and butterflies/bees taking advantage of the late flowers. I will definitely plant a 'late' flower garden next year, but maybe a week or two earlier.
A few of my favorite pictures – try as I might, I could never catch the butterflies with their wings open, so these were the next best thing:
I just ran across this .... tomato cage Christmas trees anyone?
https://www.countryliving.com/diy-crafts/how-to/g903/holiday-craft-projects-1209/?slide=52
Artist/Illustrator, Tasha Tudor with one of her Granddaughters.
Farmer’s Almanac comes through with a good article on storing fall vegetables through winter without a root cellar:
https://www.almanac.com/news/gardening/garden-journal/storing-harvest-without-root-cellar#