What have you done today in the Garden?

Mel— we take the lillies out of the ground just after the first frost. Save them and plant them out again at the end of Spring.

 

Sjoerd, sometimes I wonder if the "Defensive gardening" takes away some of the joy of gardening. It certainly adds to the work, and I'm not as up to that as I used to be.

But I love the process of growing my own fruits and vegetables. I love the flavor. There are some that are mostly unbothered, but most have a herbivore of some kind. I was thinking figs dont, but then I recalled yellow jackets, which are dangerous and quickly destroy the entire crop. Between the voles, rabbits, deer, coddling moths, raccoons, slugs, and my own chickens and ducks, if I'm not willing to protect a crop, I shouldn't bother growing it.

Some of the fruit trees do well despite the animals. Plums and pears are examples. Potatoes do pretty well, rarely losing a spud to a vole. A lot of flowers are fine, if I make the right choices.Zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, four-o'clocks, crocosmia, geraniums, rudbeckia, lavender, echinacea, gladiolas, tigridia, buddleia, all of those have virtually no problems with herbivores. I count my blessings

 

I took 3 buckets of peppers, tomatos, cucumbers and squash out of the garden. I trimmed the yard trees and got 6 garden carts of limbs. I need to spray a garden fungicide as the humidity is letting nothing dry out. Next year I will plant the squash in the pathways and let them crawl up onto the hillrows. They are always doing the opposite of what I want them to do.

 

Daniël— I am in complete agreement that defensive gardening detracts. It detracts in several ways, none of them are nice for me. The worst thing for me is the appearance of the various structures that I must use. I am realistic enough though to realise that if I do not take steps, my harvest will suffer. Sadly the numbers and types pests increase every year.

I like your flower choices, we favour the same types.

 

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I think you are absolultely right about the voles. Funny that I only figured out what those little beasties were the last few years. I can't grow tulips for the same reason. I may have a little more luck in the rock garden by the house away from the open fields. This last year they have done a number on my memory garden where the lilies were. The peonies, hydrangia and pasque flowers have been hit hard. Thanks Daniel.

 

I didn't think of doing this Sjoerd. If I could be organized enough to do this before the ground froze, that would lovely. Do you keep them as a tuber until spring?

 

We had unexpected but most welcome company for two days. This warranted an exploration of the carrots, peas, broccoli and potatoes for dinner. We have had very thick smoke for three days so I could only venture out for any length without a small particulate mask...which was just as hot and yucky as the air. But it did make the garden possible for a brief period.

The smoke has lifted dramatically for a brief period( we could not see the trees across the yard for the last four days) and the hope is to garden and harvest early tomorrow. The beets will come out and the last of the early cabbage. Beets will be frozen, and pickled. A cauldron of Borscht will happen in the next day or two for the winter. The potatoes are ready to come out and will be harvested, shared and stored. The last of the cauliflower must be picked. The first picking of raspberries will happen as well as peas.

It has the potential to be a busy day and I'm eager to get on with it. Then those parts of the garden can be fallowed for the year. I've called ahead to the two neighbours I share my garden with and they are eager to recieve their care packages, so that is a motivator to brave the smoke as much as possible, safely, and harvest what can be harvested to date.

@Sjoerd - I have good success harvesting, blanching and freezing cauliflower. It was a learning curve however. I am sure to have a very large pot of boiling water and an even larger pot of ice cold water. I use a very large tote for this, and am lucky to have the porch and have very cold from a verydeep well. I also only use the blanching times as a guide, not a rule. Once the veg turns colour/appearance, it is blanched in my books. Then it gets skimmed into the ice water. The cauli is air dried, individually frozen on a tray and then bagged. Cooking is also important for me, to only steam and carefully check firmness to done, as they do over cook quickly if left unattended. We've been doing it this way for about 15 years, and really enjoy it in winter. Three years ago a head of Cauliflower was $12.99. I was pretty happy to have some in the freezer

 

Mel— yes, kept as tuber until Spring. Cool, dark and dry. Wrapped in newspapers. Do what you have to to keep the fungus off the tubers. Do nit wash them. When I say, “we”, I mean us but it is the way many dutch people keep the. Like how dahlia’s are kept over.

I see how you do your caulis. That technique sounds the right one. They are great to have in the winter.

 

Potted on some more wallflowers, going to run out of compost but hubby will get some more next week.

Sjoerd I've thought of lifting the lily bulbs just like gladioli, i could store them in the garage.

 

With lilies, I prune them down to about 2ft once they've finished blooming. So I know where there are when I'm behind the azaleas and rhodos, pruning the quince.
This dries off before the winter and becomes brittle so I break them off and tread down the top to stop the frost getting in. It seems to work. The problem with lifting them is that they are usually a long way down and it's easy to damage them trying to get them out.

 

Loggie—I am a scaredy cat with precious tubers, so if I am really fond of a particular plant, I will go to the trouble of lifting the tuber and storing it. If they fall out of favour, I leave them to their own devices.

 

I moved some of the containerized plants to the Northeast side of the house. Maybe they wont dry out so fast. Plus, that's within reach of the garden hose, no carrying watering can there.

Some produce. It's just starting.



Cinnebar moth caterpillar on tansy ragwort plant. Yay!



Tomorrow I'll have to work early, or not work outside. It'll be too hot for me later.

 

Oo, that’s a nice harvest, Daniel. I grew that yellow one with a green tip once. The plants were prolific producers.
That caterpillar is a real looker, isn’t it.
Great posting, as usual. Mate, you protect yourself from the heat. We hear that things are terrible there, heat-wise. Please, please be smart and careful.

 

Yes that's a good idea, i left them in the ground but something ate the top of one, have trouble with lily Beatle here.

 

Those beetles can be a real nuisance.