Another happy crop is the fava beans, which are growing like crazy. I keep waiting for them to begin flowering, though. Thus far, they're all stalk and no bloom. It's possible I planted the favas a bit too densely, but they seem hearty at the moment, so I'm not going to worry about it. Fava beans don't really seem to climb naturally, but I'm having good luck weaving them around the supports of my bean poles, and I tied up some stray stalks this weekend to keep them from wandering into neighboring plots.
I'm also having excellent luck with the oak leaf lettuce. Any day now, I'll enjoy a salad of these pretty green leaves. I'm considering waiting until there are one or two radishes ready to harvest, though, so I can have a little garden salad. The radishes are growing quickly, so it shouldn't be too long.
My garden netting has kept most digging predators away, so my main issue this winter is bugs. Something is really going after my bok choy. I've got it planted in two different squares in the big raised bed, and in both locations the leaves are under attack. I haven't seen any slugs or snails around, so I'm not sure what creature is doing this. Could ants be the culprits?
There are certainly plenty of ants wandering all over the garden. I'm worried that'll mean big aphid trouble very soon. I have sprinkled some diatomaceous earth around the beds, but the ants don't seem particularly concerned by it. Is boric acid a better bet? I've never used it. I don't mind ants, but I absolutely hate the aphids ants bring. They are so ridiculously hard to get rid of once they take hold.
Oddly enough, the mystery bug appears to be sticking mostly to bok choy, with only the occasional dalliance with the chard or fennel. The bok choy seems hearty, though, so maybe it'll make it past the seedling stage without being completely destroyed. I have it planted in my upper bed as well, so it might have more luck there.
The only other concern has been the too-warm weather. I don't want my greens to bolt before they're even big enough to eat. Temperatures have cooled down a little, and I really hope that once December gets here we'll have mostly cool days for the rest of the winter. Those high-70s days might be nice for working outside, but they're no good for growing winter greens.
You've got cabbage worms. They come from eggs laid by those white butterflies on the backs of the young leaves. If you don't spray them early with BT (organic), the eggs hatch into pretty little green inchworm-type caterpillars which can devour whole plants in one night. I hand-pick the worms and feed them to the chickens. If you get rid of the worms, the plants usually recover.
You may also have earwigs. Sneak out in the dead of night with a flashlight to catch them in the act. They devastated my seedlings last spring.