Our fall garden is officially planted and I am finally going to do a post on it. For the past several planting seasons we have been loosely following the Back to Eden gardening method—in other words, we have been using mulch. (If you haven't watched the Back to Eden video, you should. I highly recommend it.) Mulching is going fairly well: if nothing else the garden is much more picturesque than it used to be.
 Sugar snap peas are something I grew for the first time last year. They are so delicious and have quickly become a staple in our spring and fall gardens. Not only are the crisp sweet pods absolutely fabulous, the greens are edible as well! Very few pods ever make it into the house, we eat them out in the garden because they are just that amazing. |  My summer basil plants are still hanging on to life as they try to reseed. I didn't plant a single basil plant earlier in the year, they all came up on their own—a very welcome surprise. This is the first time they have done that for me, and I am definitely hoping it will happen again next year! |
 This is the fourth consecutive year that the cilantro has planted itself. The first year I put in a few seedlings, and that was it. Honestly at this point I think that the plant is secretly a bit of a noxious weed and not a cultivated herb at all. Typically it is grown in the summer, but when it reseeds itself it grows in the fall and spring. |  Dandelions run rampant in my garden, and guess what? I allow them to stay. The greens are edible and the plants do not choke out my other garden plants, so there is no reason to pull them out. Apparently the root is edible as well and can be roasted and used as a coffee substitute—maybe someday I will try doing it. |
 Look how gorgeous my rosemary bush is looking! It received some worm castings earlier this spring and it has been thriving. Fortunately it didn't get fried by the worm castings—I have had that happen to rosemary before and it was not very pretty. I think I gave too much rosemary to the rabbits: they got tired of it and now refuse to eat it any more. |  The tommy toes are still producing despite the cooler weather. These tomatoes are another fine example of plants that reseed themselves: I only planted them once and now I have to rip quite a few out every year to make room for other tomato varieties. I personally don't like them, they tend to be acidic, but there are certain family members that adore them. |
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Of course, no fall garden would be complete without lettuce! I have quite a few varieties from both seedlings and seed.
 We liked kale before kale was cool. ;) We also like our kale purple. |  Technically it is too late to plant carrots. Or too early. Or whatever. |
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other less exciting things we planted: bok choi, collard greens, broccoli, & cabbage
