What have you done today in the Garden?

We've had rain off and on both yesterday and today. Yesterday I knew it was supposed to be in the low 40s, high 30s so I went out and picked all the green tomatoes and pulled the plants. The tomatoes are now on a paper bag in the living room and the plants are worm food. It was cold enough yesterday we actually turned on the heat. I guess fall is truly here. I also brought in the cat grass and ginger plants.

 

Did some more bulb planting yesterday, just the Tulips left now for November.. Geraniums are all trimmed, potted up and snuggled away in the big cold frame.

Potted tender Fuchsias have been moved to a sheltered spot for now before finally being stored in the greenhouse, others are being dug up from the borders and potted up .
We've Winter proofed the greenhouse with bubble wrap and polystyrene and checked over the big and small coldframes both need a little bit of maintenance before fully stocking up, but nothing major.

 

Taken down the hanging baskets and gave all the plants a trim, just put them in the back garden at the moment. Can't do much else because it's raining.

 

Played golf in the rain, too wet for gardening!

 

Nothing ,we've been out all day.

 

I did a lot of work.

Finished clearing the slicing tomatoes from their raised bed. Removed the wire support towers and the cardboard mulch (to compost). Smoothed the soil a bit.



Then I spread crushed eggshells for calcium and nitrogen. I didn't crush finely. It's OK if they are "slow release".



Then I turned over the top six inches or so of soil, mixed, and raked. Now it looks like the first image again. Tomorrow I will plant garlic in this bed for next year's crop.

Tomorrow I need to do the same, for the sauce tomato bed. Also beed to harvest more green beans.

Here's the sage plant I dug up yesterday and moved.



And the Stachys that I accidentally took astart from. bIt already had roots.



And the "Curry Plant" split, also from yesterday.



I don't know how those will do overwinter, or if I can re-shape them next year. No harm trying.

Here's the pawpaw harvest. Not papaya but pawpaw (Asimina triloba).



I didn't pollinate them this year, and the crop was better than when I do pollinate them.



I continued to work on the xeriscape border extension, cleaning up, mulching, and arranging edging. No photo yet.

 

The leaves are dropping and it’s time for the daily leaf mulch routine. Lots of clean up. Mow/mulch/ leaf blower are all getting a work out.
Tackled the grape vines today , ripped off the leaves saving the vines to dry for wreaths.
Mowed part of the pasture in a few sun breaks between the rain.
Changed the oil filter and oil on the garden tractor. Blew out the dust from the carb air filter. Cleaned the belts and deck. Fixed a tire issue. Green slime plugged the tire leak, for now .

 

@Daniel W it sounds like you had an energy surge today. Not only are all your garden pics showing how productive you are but also planning ahead for future planting projects. Looks great neat as a pin, everything is neat and tidy and in perfect order. Always a good feeling by the end of the day.

 

Well Daniel— well done you !
I know how much that work was to do. You always do so much.

How often do you replace the soil in your raised beds? I’ll bet that keeps you busy. By the way, what is the story on that little collection of stones there on the corner of this raised bed?

it is a good time to split plants and relocate them, isn’t it.

Do you eat the paw-paws fresh, or do you make chutneys or perhaps jams with them?

Pac— you make me tired just reading about all your work. Gosh, you do a lot and varied work as well. —What a girl you are.

 

Cut down a big clump of Japanese anemone, got 4 bags of vegetation to put in the bin when it gets emptied tomorrow.

 

Sjoerd, and PacNW, thank you for your comments and questions.

I don't replace the raised bed soil. I do a crop rotation that I hope helps with insects and diseases, although there was that black flea beetle problem this spring. I think the annual tree leaf mulch helps a lot, and I add other organic supplements. I like to think there are beneficial mycorrhizal fungi that thrive due to adding leaves each year. Those fungi supposedly do best in minimally disturbed soil.

If I have room next year, I was thinking about including a fallow year for one of the beds. Maybe with marigolds or nematocidal mustards. Not sure, yet.

It might be helpful to get a soil test. It wouldn't surprise me if I over-did the supplements. But most plants grow very well, most years.

You are right about it being a good time of year to move and split plants.

Those rocks are just there to hold down the cardboard mulches.

I just eat the pawpaws fresh. They are a fun novelty, but not productive enough for me to make anything.

Today I planted the first batch of garlic. I mark the rows with bamboo, then dig a trench for each row. I add some organic fertilizer to the trench, mix it in, stick in the garlic cloves, then cover.



When it's all planted, I rake the soil smooth. I leave the bamboo markers in place so I know where I planted.



Then I raked a couple loads of red maple leaves, and spread them as a mulch.



Now they are settled in for the fall and winter. At some point, I need to re- do the drip irrigation, but not now.

I wanted to harvest green beans, but rain was pouring. I did remove most of the cooking tomato plants from the next raised bed. That will also be planted with garlic, soon.

This year, I'm only planting "Music" garlic. I have been growing this variety for about 8 years. The cloves are huge, highly flavored, easy to peel, and last nearly a year. I think they adapt to the place where they are grown. That's why I set aside enough for planting each year.

I want to do a major rehab of my garden, this winter. I will make the paths as close to weedless as I can, and remove things that mostly just take room and effort but are not very productive. But first, the beans need to be harvested and the final garlic bed cleaned out and planted.

 

Daniel it makes me happy to see your garden beds. They look fantastic.

 

We had frost Tuesday night, and last night so far. So some things will be done for the season.

Yesterday, I worked in my veggie garden all day. I harvested my scarlet runner beans, and took down the vines, and mended their trellis. I composted the vines.

I harvested more parsley, it will grow most of the winter and come back in the spring. I harvested my chives also. I have them drying in paper bags, as it takes too long in the oven. I also got a few beets and butternut squash. The other beets are not ready yet.

I planted two kinds of carrots in separate beds. I planted Danvers in one bed, and the big long ones (I forgot the name already--had to go look. They are Imperators) in another bed. The Danvers is by my old asparagus, and the long ones by the new asparagus bed. I prefer the big long ones. Hopefully the Danvers get big also. I planted more chives just because. They are the kind with purple flowers.

I have dill coming up in several places. I heard tonight that it will do okay in the cold. I hope so.

I got two tiny bird house gourds from those two vines. There were a few tiny babies on the dead vines, but they went to the compost with the dead vines. I wont buy that brand of seeds again. The Danvers carrots were the same brand, and very few seeds in the packets. The Imperators were another brand, and had a good amount of seeds.

I have been pulling up weeds and grasses and cleaning things up. Horsey likes the grasses and a lot of the weeds. I give her the ones she likes. There were a few more small watermelons before the frost, I gave 2 to Horsey, and the other to the chickens. They were supposed to be the BIG LONG watermelons like we used to get when we were kids. They were smaller than those dinky things in the grocery stores. Those big watermelons used to sell for 10 cents a pound, and they weighed a lot. I want those BIG long watermelons full of seeds. I don't want those dinky itty bitty GMO things. I dont want square melons either.

I was going to work on the walnuts today but never got there. Instead, I decided to take care of my poor houseplants. That took all day, and I have more to do later. I counted at least 25 potted plants, but I had to make cuttings from some of them like my aloes and begonias and philodendrons. My philodendrons are the kind with small heart shaped leaves, and that pot was so tangled and root bound, that I had to cut them out of the macramae hanger. I decided to toss the plant into some compost, and root the cuttings for new plants. My kitchen sink was full of them. Now they are in the rack while I figure out what to do with them. I had to make cuttings from the arrow leaf plant also. I have a jar full of those. The pothos just got trimmed and curled around in their pots and new dirt. (soil)
I have about 6 pots of aloes now instead of four... I think. I also have a smaller pot that I had put outdoors over the summer. They tend to overgrow their pots and make hordes of babies.

I had washed curtains yesterday and today in my room. Maybe I will get a chance to wash the windows soon?

I have not done anything to my amaryllis plants yet. They have never bloomed for me. I grew them from seed from a seed swap on BHG's Garden Talk before coming here. They are supposed to be white with red stripes.

The Christmas cacti look good. The spider plants and Boston ferns look good too. Maybe I can get at the other house plants next week.

I need to move my canna lilies soon. They are too big in my herb bed. I will wait for a hard freeze, and then pull them out and replant in the new spot. That ought to give me a chance to decide where to put them...

Then there are leaves to rake. Some will mulch flower beds, or veggie garden, and some will go in the compost. Most leaves are still in the trees, so I have not hurried on them.

 

Daniel your beds look fantastic.
Not doing much today, going for my COVID jab in arm at 11am.

 

Have found real issues with vine weevil grubs in my pots this year. It's a good job that I always empty pots out when putting plants to bed for the Winter and replace with fresh compost, most plants have been saved before any real damage had been done....apart from one lovely red Begonia which was beyond saving unfortunately.
One good thing is that all the birds are enjoying a tasty treat .

Good luck with your jab @Logan . We had both of ours ( flu and covid) just over a week ago and normally they don't bother me but this time it caused so much discomfort that I couldn't sleep for 2 nights afterwards and my arm became very bruised looking....can still see the faded bruises even now !! Not sure why I reacted like this ...the actual process of having them was gentle and painless.