The smoke in the Willamette valley right now is insane. All the sunlight is orange, and you can’t see four blocks away.
I’ve been through that in several places I’ve lived, but it’s odd to picture up there. In reference to the tomatoes though, I was thinking your area has had unusual heat / dryness this year. Med zone plants doing that well in Oregon is kind of spooky.
(ETA, I know eastern Oregon is a desert as well, but it’s not what I think of as Oregon proper.)
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I was in Corvallis last summer. It was lovely.
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Yeah,while eastern OR makes up the majority of the square mileage, it is sparse. There are areas of beauty and my wife loves the high desert, but some counties give Nevada a run for their “haven’t seen people in awhile” cred.
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I’ve been using white balsamic on my slices radishes and letting them sit over night in the fridge. DELICIOUS! Om nom nom.
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Ooh, I still have another batch that will harvestable in about a week. I am totes doing that.
I’ve learned to love radishes this year, having not realized their deliciosity in times past…I’ll have to try that trick on the next crop.
…speaking of which, paging @japhroaig, it’s November in Baltimore and my biggest garden bed looks like this as of a few days ago:
Took almost all the rotted 6x6 borders out with the intent of replacing them with 2x12s…which could be an epic fail given my propensity for woodworking (you’ll notice the very old and dilapidated picket fence that needs rebuilding). Here’s the question: do I go simply with a green cover crop to improve the soil (clover, hairy vetch, etc.) and to be dug into the soil in early spring, or do I shoot for late-winter greens/early spring root veggies? The soil is pretty good, but heavy in clay despite my double digging/amending.
I have enough space that I could split the bed into cover crop here, late veggies there, but I’m hesitant to put in work for a veggie crop so late in the season.
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Brussels sprouts. Like with the apples, I’ve had better times. 
Strange year.
But they taste great together with potatoes.
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I have saffron crocus blooming… On December 31st. I am quite agog.
And there has been frost for days.
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Our roses haven’t stopped blooming all year, although the latest isn’t looking photogenic any more (we have two new buds though). We still have fuschia and salad plants that are doing well too.
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Same over here, really strange feeling/sight. Hour ago picked enough Italian cabbage for a stew. Daffodils are 10 cm above the ground. Like the roses the marigolds never stopped blooming. Although indeed not picture worthy.
Even the peppers did not died in the (small) greenhouse. Normally they do, but I remember vague I’ve read they are sometimes not annual. Does somebody know?
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I have overwintered tomatoes and peppers (Anaheim chilis and jalapenos) here in southern California. As long as there’s no frost, they usually survive. They’re not usually considered perennials, but as long as nothing kills them, they just keep going. None of them made it this year, though-- we’ve already had a freeze.
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Ah, thank you, just the information I needed. Do they still bloom and carry? But…
It freezed only for a night or two. But a longer freezing period is still possible over here. The garden is in Northern France. So highly possibly, and the greenhouse is not going to prevent that.
Need to close the windows before we tomorrow go to .nl. Thanks also for the reminder.
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What is Italian cabbage?
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They sort of hibernate. There’s little new growth or flowering in the winter. And even the slightest frost will kill them. But when spring hits, they go crazy, and we get a good early yield.
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I’m sorry I’ve no idea how to translate. This is the best image I found:
(cavolo nero)
But than smaller / joung.
And stew was not correct. How do you name peeled potatoes, boiled till not really done. Greens with them, boiling together a short (!) time, and after that mashed together?
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That last was my question. They will go after hibernating and do not die. Starting to think about a simple low voltage heating over there.
Ah!
We call that Lacinato kale, or Italian kale. I use it all the time.
What you’ve described, when made with normal/round cabbage is called Colcannon and considered Irish, at least here in the U.S.
I also prefer it made with some form of kale instead of cabbage, and thought I’d made that up, but I guess not!
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Thanks!
It’s a lot better with kale, or sprouts. Really. The bad sprouts, not good enough to eath whole, but to good to trow away. Very tasteful.
No idea how it will taste with cabbage, but not really yearning to try. Good (small) cabbage we eat, finely sliced, raw. The bigger ones are good for sauerkraut.
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