The rain gauge runneth over

Rain: sweet, clean, thrumming saturation. I've lost track of inches, but we're well past five this last week.

'Kolibri' kohlrabi

While the tomatoes and eggplants seem small and hard, stubborn and scowling, others in the garden are positively glowing in this cold, wet weather. We direct-seeded kohlrabi in July, and they are now tennis-ball sized, crisp, sweet, turnipy and tender. Much improved over the earlier batch which was sown indoors and set out in the spring - those languished. Next year I plan to direct seed all the brassicas (cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli) earlier (end of March), and then some of them again in July, so that they're never trying to size up in the hottest part of the summer.

Carrots, July-sown for fall harvest

It has been a beautiful rain - teeming at times, misting at others - always perfectly vertical. And in it, the carrots seem to be muscling each other about, shoulder-to-shoulder-to-shoulder. Do they make a popping sound as they plump... or is that them, squealing in expansion?

Arugula, white Russian kale, and bronze fennel for salad tonight

The cold frame beds are their own lush little arugula pastures. There is no green I like better, which is a good thing, because nothing else germinated quite so well. There will be chard, lettuce, upland cress, mustard and baby kale to cut eventually, but not in great bowl-topping mounds like the arugula.