Patio garden update: the end of the eggplant invasion

The summer crops from my little patio garden lasted well into the fall yielding eggplant until two weeks ago.  I now feel like I could take on any cooking challenge that included eggplant as the secret ingredient because I've prepared it in almost every way I could imagine except dessert.



Even so, I was a little heart broken when I ripped the fading eggplants from their Earthbox.  I'm finding that I have a hard time pulling up vegetable plants even after they are long past their prime.  I get sentimental about the gifts they yielded and have to give myself a little pep talk to perform the first yank on the roots.  It was much easier to pull up the non-producing tomatoes.



But, it was time.  The eggplants were clearly unhappy in the cooler weather and I had Brussels sprout seedlings that needed a home.



I'm excited about my winter garden; my third planting in the patio garden! I planted broccoli seeds and the Brussels sprout seedlings in the Earthboxes and butter lettuce seeds in a few large pots.



I'll be interested to see how the lettuce does.  I have good luck with the Earthboxes, but spottier results with the pots.  I have a hard time figuring out how much to water the potted plants, but with the Earthbox I just fill the reservoir and the plant does the work.  I'm getting better, but I'm definitely still learning.



Once again, a huge thanks to Carla Crownover at Austin Urban Gardens for continuing to coach me to grow new things.  She might turn me into a real gardener after all!