What Did You Do In The Garden?

[flowerbug]

51F or perhaps a bit more but it was warm enough that i could get more work done in a different garden. i had all the squash vines to get buried and to get it all weeded and put up for winter. did not finish the whole thing, but it already looks much nicer. tomorrow i hope i can finish this garden.

 

[Zeedman]

The last storm dropped 2.5" of rain, so the long, dry November warm spell has ended. Temps will nose-dive down in a couple days, from highs in the 50's-60's F. now, to highs in the mid/lower 30's. Fortunately the dry spell allowed me to clean & mow the gardens, and to collect & spread a lot of fallen leaves. There was no time to turn all of the leaves under though, so I double-mowed most of them to keep the already shredded leaves from being blown away (it appears to have worked). I will spread wood ashes over all the gardens too, once they are snow covered (which keeps the ashes from being either blown or washed away). Added to the leaves, those ashes will both aid in decomposition, and restore some soil fertility.

The deer seem to enjoy walking through the shredded leaves - and munching on the Zebrina mallow remaining along the fence line (which is still in bloom!). I don't blame them, that mallow is probably the only thing still green & succulent this late in the season. I left some of the mallow up for the deer as a reward for their uncharacteristically good behavior this year.

I was able to spread about 3-4 cubic yards of shredded leaves in the rural garden. A good start, but not as much organic material as I would have liked, given the soil's depleted condition. But after the storm, a lot of people locally put out bags of leaves & debris for collection... so I "collected" a trailer full of bags to add to the rural garden. Might add another trailer full today (weather permitting) and mow it if the ground is firm enough. I'll spread hay onto the garlic bed later, once the ground either dries or freezes.

 

[ducks4you]

@Zeedman , you keep getting all of our promised rain!
I finished cleaning up all of the little sticks and twigs and small branches knocked down from last Saturday's wind storm. Burned most of it in my firepit.

 

[Zeedman]

@Zeedman , you keep getting all of our promised rain!
I finished cleaning up all of the little sticks and twigs and small branches knocked down from last Saturday's wind storm. Burned most of it in my firepit.

It's been pretty windy here too; but after picking up the largest branches, I just mowed over the smaller sticks & chopped them up along with the leaves. All of that shred gets picked up & turned under in the garden. I've been doing that for several years, and much to my surprise, the sticks break down very quickly.

 

[flowerbug]

It's been pretty windy here too; but after picking up the largest branches, I just mowed over the smaller sticks & chopped them up along with the leaves. All of that shred gets picked up & turned under in the garden. I've been doing that for several years, and much to my surprise, the sticks break down very quickly.

small twigs mean there's a better ratio of green to carbon in the mix of those since they have more bark/skin. they'll break down faster also due to their small size. running over them with the mower just makes it go faster (more surface area). all good stuff for enhanced fertility.

 

[Zeedman]

small twigs mean there's a better ratio of green to carbon in the mix of those since they have more bark/skin. they'll break down faster also due to their small size. running over them with the mower just makes it go faster (more surface area). all good stuff for enhanced fertility.

Since I collect leaves with the mower, I set the cut low enough to add some grass to the mix (which also helps the leaf vac work better). The green grass helps break down the "brown" & the low cut reduces mouse runs in the lawn.

 

[Phaedra]

A bulb-planting day!

Then, I transplanted young leafy greens on the top layer.

This area is almost ready for the winter~

 

[flowerbug]

we got outside today for some fresh air and garden cleaning up. in any shaded spots the ground was still frozen so some weeds i could only scrape off the surface but did not get the roots.

when clay is frozen on the surface and then thaws out a little bit it can be very slippery and messy. after a few hours of working on one garden i was tired of having to peel layers of mud off my mud shoes and called it a day. halfway through cleaning up that garden. will finish it tomorrow and hopefully it will be a bit drier and better to work on.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Harvested some basil seeds. Also noticed some of the garlic popping up.
Besides that, DH and I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned the house to get ready forThanksgiving. .

 

[flowerbug]

finished up on everything inside the fenced gardens so that gate can be shut for the season. we have to tie it closed really well to keep the wind from pushing it in and during the regular season we are in and out of there often enough that it's not a big deal. during the winter though we want to keep any rabbits from thinking that is a good place to get into out of habit (rabbit habit?) ...

leaves me just half the larger bulk bean garden to get put up and i'll have actually finished most of the fall chores. weather might give me enough of a break this week, but won't know until it happens. chances of snow/rain/freezing so it just depends upon how bad if i can work in that garden or not.

this past week i'd have likely skipped what i did get done as it was pretty slippery, muddy and frozen in spots, but i couldn't stand the idea of wasting such nice days being stuck inside so i did it anyways. it isn't the best thing to do to work clay when it is muddy, it compacts the ground too much (aside from the mess and chances of falling with it being so slippery). at the end of the session it takes a fair bit of time to get the mud scraped off your garden tools and mud shoes. i've done it thousands of times by now so it is a matter of routine but you do have to include it in your schedule... clean up...