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It's late in the season for our cold-loving plants and it's time to harvest them so we have space for the sun-loving vegetables. Come join me harvest some collard greens, kale and red-veined sorrel along with two Valencia oranges for our Sunday brunch.

The leafy greens are bolting. Bolting is when the plants send flower stalks to produce seeds. It usually happens when the soil gets warmer. Plants think it's the end of the season, so it is more of a survival mode to make sure that they produce the next generation of their species. Today's harvest is mustard spinach which will be turned into picked vegetables later. As the name suggests, mustard spinach is a cross between mustard and spinach.

**This article is based on nonfiction by actual events that were witnessed firsthand by me; used with permission. While my parents and I lived in a larger town, grandma lived out in the country, and spending time with her was always high on my list of priorities. I loved being out of town and enjoyed the fresh smell of the fields and caring for the animals.

Bok choy is an easy crop to grow in a container on a balcony or patio.Photo by Sarah Chai from Pexels. The truth is you don’t need a patch of open ground to plant an edible garden. If you plant varieties bred for container-growing, you can reap the rewards with no garden ground at all. There are plenty of vegetables you can grow in containers on your balcony or patio and still reap a bountiful harvest. But let's make it easy and start with just five favorites.

When winter rolls around we need soup to warm up our tummy. Last night's dinner was salmon, shrimp, potatoes, tomatoes, red onion and vegetables freshly picked from the backyard garden - mustard spinach, bok choy, tatsoi, joi choi, purple Osaka mustard and purple pak choy.