What have you done today in the Garden?

Today I hauled ten 5-gallon buckets of soil, from the garden bed I am decommissioning, to the raised bed that had the Roma tomatoes. That raised the level to the top edge. It's good soil, has never grown garlic or onions, and that bed will be planted with garlic in a couple of weeks. I'll add some leaf mould and mix it all together before planting the garlic.

I moved some deck flowers in containers, from the East side of the house, to the west. Now that it's cooler and the days are shorter, it's a better spot. They will also be enjoyed more there.

Picked more figs. This is a figgy year!

Planted the last of these Muscari bulbs, all in containers.


While pulling out the Roma tomatoes, I saw this Dwarf Chocolate Champion tomato tempting me in the other tomato bed. So I brought it in.



Was there ever a more beautiful tomato? I think not! LOL.



And the flavor! That puts the "T" into BLT! And it's a great reason for growing a garden . I saved a spoonful of seeds from that one.

@Sjperd, I think there are plenty of seeds! I can only handle about ten Roma plants. For the slicers, one or two each. It just seems odd, to save only two seeds, so I saved a bunch.

I don't remember the variety name, But I think these celosias were my favorite new plant this year. That's a lotta red. I wonder if it's easy to save their seeds?



Not the garden, but Rufus always likes snooping by the fence where these big lazy dogs hang out. He can't understand why they don't want to play.

 

We went apple picking today. There was a bird's nest in one of the trees. Not a real good picture. I tried uploading it from my phone and it said it was too big. So took a picture with my tablet of the picture on my phone.

 

Planted up a big tub with 25 daffodils.

 

Those will welcome the Spring for you Logan!

 

Those birds will help keep insect populations down, Willow!

 

Today I worked on one of the larger raised beds. Pulled out all of the green bean plants. Got just a few more beans.

It was interesting to see the nitrogen-fixing nodules on the bean roots. They were very plentiful.



The soil came from a raised bed that I repaired two years ago, that had inoculated bean seeds planted. So the beneficial bacteria lasted two years, at least.

I chopped the bean plants, covered with a bag of leaf mold, then added 6 buckets of garden soil to bring up the level. That's at least half of the area. Then I planted nemagon mustard seeds for winter green manure / ground cover.



Those didn't grow last year. I think that was a month later, so maybe they will this year.

I roasted the recent bowl of chestnuts, using an air fryer, some oil, and a bit of salt.



They tasted a lot like French Fries! Chestnuts are mostly starchy, so in a way that makes sense.

 

Thank you Daniel, still got a lot of bulbs to plant.

 

Too wet to do anything today, so looking ahead, I know I'll have to lop six inches to a foot off all the way round on this tree again in the winter in our tiny front garden, as I do every year, to keep it this size. The top is as high as the eaves of the roof of the house.
I like this lollipop shape, but if I left it a year, it'd end up looking like a pincushion as the branches grow at different rates.

The leaves are just beginning to turn so there will be a lot to collect in the meantime.






The problem is that my Barnel telescopic pruner is having an increasingly hard job getting through the branches where they've been cut back several times before, as the ends of the branches from where the new growth starts, are progressively getting thicker. I have to be careful with it as it is easily damaged trying to cut something too thick for it and I've busted one before and they are expensive.

I have an old Fiskars lopper which is far too short and no longer cuts too well despite my having sharpened the blade many times.

So I've ordered a longer one. A Fiskars 86, which extends to four metres.

With a combination of that and this very versatile ladder, I've had for nearly twenty years but rarely use, I'll still be able to manage it.

 

Daniel—Great hearing how you are topping-off that raised bed for garlics, as well as your movement of the containers. The Muscari are lovely-looking— pure as the driven snow.

What a thrill ogling that tom was— “puts the T in BLT”. Heh, heh, heh, well said.
I was just curious about your seed collecting. Keeping only two would not be wise, you are right about that.

Your Celosias look impressive. I am also curious to know if you can successfully save their seeds. Didn’t they turn out well ! I gave seen them in various neon-like colours.

It was good of you to show the N nodules on the bean plant roots. It is always a dilemma for me—should I leave the roots in the ground for the plants that rotate into the plot or do I toss them into the compost bin. I have done both and am still not sure which choice is preferable.
I do give consideration to what will rotate in; however, sometimes when the plants are lifted at the end of the season they are placed, roots and all on a plot as winter much, other times they go into the compost bins, as I said.

When I leave them in situ they present a problem with schoffeling (because they are hard), and thus a place for weeds to take off from.
—Like I said, a dilemma for me.

Interesting about those mustard seeds. I wonder how they will work.

I hope you enjoyed those chestnuts.

Rufus hanging out with those large, un-playful dogs…poor guy, what kind are they anyway, sheep dogs?

That is a big job, Riley— I can see that it requires special kit. Please be careful when you do that work.

 

Did the final preparation of the garlic bed, now it's ready to be planted. Also harvested the last of the basil. The plants would probably have lasted another month and given another harvest, but we have plenty of basil and just didn't want any more. Also picked the apples. The drought was not kind to our apples--fewer apples and smaller, but we do have apples!

 

Today I hauled dirt from Area B to Area A, then from Area C to Area B. This was because I continue to top off some raised beds. Area B has not had nightshade family crops for four years, and will have squashes next year. Area A is a raised bed that will have tomatoes next year, and needed the soil level raised. Area C had potatoes this year, so the soil is nice and loose, but next year will be grass. I needed some nice soil to fill in the big hole left in Area B where I obtained soil for the tomato bed.

Whew! Complicated! That leaves dug out potato trenches in Area B, which will be filled with poor quality soil that was removed when we had the new sidewalk installed. It doesn't need to be good quality soil.

Having topped off next year's tomato bed (Area A), I noted that next year's garlic bed (Area D) had settled a bit after I topped it off last week, and there was rain. So I hauled two more buckets of soil from Area C.

(Not to scale. I'm a terrible artist).



OK, so now Area A is topped off nicely. I sowed more mustard seeds for winter groundcover, on the half that I topped off today.

Area D got a scattering of coffee grounds - maybe 1/4 pound - and a big scattering of eggshells- maybe 2 pounds. Those will be dug in before planting garlic next week. I'd like more coffee grounds, but there won't be a lot before then.

I also pulled tomato plants from the slicing-tomato bed. About 1/3 of them.

I picked apples. This tree was sold as Urban Apple Tasty Red, but I think it's Urban Apple Blushing Delight. They are nice, big, sweet apples.



I was going to make and freeze an apple pie filling, but was much too tired LOL.

I also harvested some radishes, planted in late August.



Sjoerd, on the bean roots with Rhizobium nodules, I just turn over the soil with them there, so they mix in. My rationale is that if I leave them there, they might benefit future beans. No proof. It's probably fine that way, or pulling them, either one.

 

@Doghouse Riley be careful with that ladder!

 

Went out and picked a small amount of different things. I picked the Mr Stripeys early to beat the wild critters. As you see in the picture; if I leave them too long, they decide it's their very own salad bar.
I'm planning on freezing apple pie filling, canning applesauce and canning pears today. I might make a batch of vanilla pears. I haven't decided.
Wow! Daniel, you're more ambitious then me. I did plant garlic with the kids at school. Upper El weeded before we planted, adolescents dumped more dirt in their bed, then we planted. Home Depot contributed all the potting soil for the bed. It was so low it took six bags and could have used a couple more. But it is pretty good, now. I'll have the kids cover the beds with leaves, when they fall.
Doghouse; does anyone hold the ladder, or check on you when you're up on the ladder?

 

Oh Daniel, I forgot to mention; I went to my favorite coffee shop (chai lattes.....yummm) and asked them for grounds. About two or three hours later they called and told me my bucket was full. They filled a 5 gallon bucket in just a few hours! (I can't get rid of it now!) You're in Washington, there should be a Starbucks nearby. They should do the same. My place also grinds their own beans, so that's where I get my burlap as well. Seattle's Best used to grind their own coffee, but Starbucks was too much and they eventually sold out to them.

 

Daniel, any cafe or coffee shop will be happy to fill your bucket with grounds, and call you to pick it up.
Don't haul those heavy buckets of soil--get a garden cart! I couldn't garden/live without ours. The cart has a let down front (for dumping), bicycle wheel on each side, and a sturdy handle for pushing or pulling. We do make the paths around the gardens wide enough to accommodate the cart, which is about 3' wide. That accommodates us, too!