Today it is supposed to get to 54. One must check the calendar. One must realize that this is Northeast Wisconsin in late November. One must wonder.
Just a short note today as time is very short. We still have lettuce and brussel sprouts left in the garden. Tomorrow I will harvest the last of the vegetables and put the garden to bed. My plan is to post some pictures on a post tomorrow.
For a relatively iffy year, it has turned out pretty good. We should all be thankful.
Be safe.
Bill
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The season is coming to an end...
I find it hard to believe but the 2009 garden season is almost done. The last two days have been in the mid 60's with a nice shot of sunshine to make the days even better. Just the fact that it is already 1/3 of the way into November and we are still able to have this kind of weather makes me smile.
The garden is slowly finishing up. We harvested lettuce today and will most likely be able to continue to cut fresh lettuce until the next frost. Seems we don't have a next frost scheduled for at least another 10 days. We also took the advantage to digging the last of the beet greens. I will wash them well and then saute them with a little garlic and oil on Tuesday night.
Have all the beds tilled (hand spaded) except for the brussel sprout (#7) and lettuce (#8) beds. These will go sometime in the next couple of weeks. Dug #9, #10, and #11 on Saturday and spread green sand and rock phosphate on Sunday.
I also broke sod on #13, #14, and #15 which will be 30"x 16' beds in the Elliot Coleman style (30" bed with a 12" path.). These will be pepper, brussel sprout, and onion beds for next year. I'll take a hard look at adding two additional beds for 2011 depending on the success that 2010 brings. The sod was pretty stout, but the tree roots were even more interesting. I will definitely be challenged with tillage in the spring. We won't rush, but we will do it right.
The weather was so good this weekend, I also got a chance to grind leaves that my neighbor Mike brought. They were exactly the right moisture, dry, but not tinder try. I ground 13 full bags of leaves. For perspective, a full bag will cover a 32 sqft bed about 6 inches deep in ground leaves. By covering the asparagus beds, it builds soil and keeps the weeds down. Putting leaf mulch on the tilled bids creates an environment that the worms really like and adds substantially to the tilth of the soil. I'll keep adding on an annual basis until somebody a lot smarter than me comes along and says stop.
The #1 leaf bin is full (~80 cuft) of leaf mulch/grass clippings (compost). #2 leaf bin is about 2/3 full (~70cuft) of rougher leaves and other garden waste. I also have one of the black compost bins filled with leaf mulch.
Also got a chance to put up the protective wire cages around the blackberries. Last year I was too late and we suffered with substantial damage from the rabbits. Not this year.
Over the next two weekends, I will get the rest of the leaves cleaned up from the yard, mow at least once more, and put my final winterizer fertilizer down. Then we will be ready for Thanksgiving and putting the garden to bed for the year.
Be good, be safe and be organic.
The garden is slowly finishing up. We harvested lettuce today and will most likely be able to continue to cut fresh lettuce until the next frost. Seems we don't have a next frost scheduled for at least another 10 days. We also took the advantage to digging the last of the beet greens. I will wash them well and then saute them with a little garlic and oil on Tuesday night.
Have all the beds tilled (hand spaded) except for the brussel sprout (#7) and lettuce (#8) beds. These will go sometime in the next couple of weeks. Dug #9, #10, and #11 on Saturday and spread green sand and rock phosphate on Sunday.
I also broke sod on #13, #14, and #15 which will be 30"x 16' beds in the Elliot Coleman style (30" bed with a 12" path.). These will be pepper, brussel sprout, and onion beds for next year. I'll take a hard look at adding two additional beds for 2011 depending on the success that 2010 brings. The sod was pretty stout, but the tree roots were even more interesting. I will definitely be challenged with tillage in the spring. We won't rush, but we will do it right.
The weather was so good this weekend, I also got a chance to grind leaves that my neighbor Mike brought. They were exactly the right moisture, dry, but not tinder try. I ground 13 full bags of leaves. For perspective, a full bag will cover a 32 sqft bed about 6 inches deep in ground leaves. By covering the asparagus beds, it builds soil and keeps the weeds down. Putting leaf mulch on the tilled bids creates an environment that the worms really like and adds substantially to the tilth of the soil. I'll keep adding on an annual basis until somebody a lot smarter than me comes along and says stop.
The #1 leaf bin is full (~80 cuft) of leaf mulch/grass clippings (compost). #2 leaf bin is about 2/3 full (~70cuft) of rougher leaves and other garden waste. I also have one of the black compost bins filled with leaf mulch.
Also got a chance to put up the protective wire cages around the blackberries. Last year I was too late and we suffered with substantial damage from the rabbits. Not this year.
Over the next two weekends, I will get the rest of the leaves cleaned up from the yard, mow at least once more, and put my final winterizer fertilizer down. Then we will be ready for Thanksgiving and putting the garden to bed for the year.
Be good, be safe and be organic.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Nov1 and the lettuce is still growing!!!
Having spent our anniversary in NC with friends and family I have been gone for almost a week. We had a great time in Asheville, NC see how life happens in Western NC. I find it hard to believe that GB can not even support a whole food / organic market. Asheville is 80,000 people and they have 4 markets doing a booming business as well as 2 food co-ops. FRUSTRATION....
We got home this past Thursday. The rain was just starting on the drive home from the airport. It continued to rain all day Friday and at least until mid Saturday morning. Spent Saturday cleaning out the garage and made great headway to get both vehicles back inside. Let the winter start.
Sunday was spent in the garden. Lots was accomplished.
1. Picking of vegetables
Picked about a point of broccoli side shoots. They are nearly done and will most likely get pulled and sent to the leaf bin next weekend. Great results for late season. Will definitely do this again next year.
Cut swiss chard (bright lights), beet greens, and a big dish of lettuce. Yes, I know it is hard to believe but the greens are still growing. I am making every effort to not cover them but still feel that the fact that we even have greens is a win. A really big win. I will cover as long as we continue to stay above 25. We will get a good killing frost soon, but probably not this week.
Cut a big bowl of collard greens to make dehydrated veggie chips with them. Still have two plans left to trim. The collards were mixed with swiss chard, olive oils, Braggs Amino, and nutritional yeast . 12 hours in the dehydrator and yummy, yummy, yummy.
I still have about 9 brussel sprout plants that are still holding onto their prizes for me. Great place to store these little gems. It will be at least another week until we have to start thinking about what we are going to do with them, other than Thanksgiving.
2. Asparagus cleanup.
Cut the fronds down for all 4 beds. Also took the opportunity to weed and clean up the beds. Actually in pretty good shape. Spread 13 oz of GreenSand and 12 oz of Rock Phosphate in each bed. Had a garbage can of potting soil that I needed to find a home for. Fit nicely as a top dressing for the beds. Will spread some leaf mold after the ground freezes.
3. Storing of the leaves
Mike, my great neighbor is really enjoying that fact that he has a place to empty leaves without making his front yard a mess. He collects the leaves with his JD riding lawn mower and dumps them out of the 3 pt carrying bin right next to my leaf bins. While we were away last week he brought over 3 dumps worth. They had some rain and actually stating fermenting. I cleaned them up and finished filling leaf bin #1.
By the time I had everything cleaned up, he had already dumped another load of fresh leaves. Time from bin #2. This bin is 4w x 6d x 4 h. #1 is 4w x 4d x 5h. Between cutting grass/catching leaves from my lawn and what Mike brought over, #2 is now full. It will settle and will take at least another 2 good fills. Who knows, we might even need to put up #3.
All in all, a really good weekend. Seems that winter is getting closer.
Have a great week
Bill
We got home this past Thursday. The rain was just starting on the drive home from the airport. It continued to rain all day Friday and at least until mid Saturday morning. Spent Saturday cleaning out the garage and made great headway to get both vehicles back inside. Let the winter start.
Sunday was spent in the garden. Lots was accomplished.
1. Picking of vegetables
Picked about a point of broccoli side shoots. They are nearly done and will most likely get pulled and sent to the leaf bin next weekend. Great results for late season. Will definitely do this again next year.
Cut swiss chard (bright lights), beet greens, and a big dish of lettuce. Yes, I know it is hard to believe but the greens are still growing. I am making every effort to not cover them but still feel that the fact that we even have greens is a win. A really big win. I will cover as long as we continue to stay above 25. We will get a good killing frost soon, but probably not this week.
Cut a big bowl of collard greens to make dehydrated veggie chips with them. Still have two plans left to trim. The collards were mixed with swiss chard, olive oils, Braggs Amino, and nutritional yeast . 12 hours in the dehydrator and yummy, yummy, yummy.
I still have about 9 brussel sprout plants that are still holding onto their prizes for me. Great place to store these little gems. It will be at least another week until we have to start thinking about what we are going to do with them, other than Thanksgiving.
2. Asparagus cleanup.
Cut the fronds down for all 4 beds. Also took the opportunity to weed and clean up the beds. Actually in pretty good shape. Spread 13 oz of GreenSand and 12 oz of Rock Phosphate in each bed. Had a garbage can of potting soil that I needed to find a home for. Fit nicely as a top dressing for the beds. Will spread some leaf mold after the ground freezes.
3. Storing of the leaves
Mike, my great neighbor is really enjoying that fact that he has a place to empty leaves without making his front yard a mess. He collects the leaves with his JD riding lawn mower and dumps them out of the 3 pt carrying bin right next to my leaf bins. While we were away last week he brought over 3 dumps worth. They had some rain and actually stating fermenting. I cleaned them up and finished filling leaf bin #1.
By the time I had everything cleaned up, he had already dumped another load of fresh leaves. Time from bin #2. This bin is 4w x 6d x 4 h. #1 is 4w x 4d x 5h. Between cutting grass/catching leaves from my lawn and what Mike brought over, #2 is now full. It will settle and will take at least another 2 good fills. Who knows, we might even need to put up #3.
All in all, a really good weekend. Seems that winter is getting closer.
Have a great week
Bill
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)