Gardening Gardening

I mentioned earlier about our local Farmers Fair. With the mild fall we have had everyones gardens are stihl kickin. Lots of entries in all the categories. A few pics to follow of some of the things I entered.

 

Market basket.

Gourd basket.

 

Fantastic Steve!!

 

Thanks Jason . Took this pic for ya. What you have to shoot for next year.

 

78lbs?

 

Not a gardening thing but I saw this at the fair in the kids shoebox division.

 

Still picking pole beans green beans .

33ºF at night and they're still blooming.

 

Looks good. My bush beans are long gone now. Pole beans on the shed are looking rough after light frosts. I have plenty of pods to dry for seed for next year. It is so darn wet here, I had to bring them in to dry properly.

The only things I am still harvesting are leeks, carrots and kale.

 

First time I grew pole beans. I've always grown bush beans. Just a few on a whim and I've given half away and frozen more than enough for the Winter. From (I think) 15 plants.
The deer haven't found my few carrots yet. I like to leave them in the ground but voles ate every root last Winter.

 

Well, old man frost is killing my pepper plants and I don’t have the time/means to prevent it. So I harvested all I could. 4 bags full!






Can’t imagine this fella is very good at this point. We’ll cut it open and find out later.

 

Had a couple straggler tomatoes, for got to take pics.

 

Nice looking peppers though even if they are green.

 

Yep, not a fan of the more bitter green ones. I always plant yellow/orange/red, so hoping these ripen up a bit before I process.

 

Last of the peppers for the year. I hope!!
2 bushel this morning .

 

Planted the last of garlic today before church. I had put in about 280 in early October, but decided on experimenting with a later than normal planting. When I pulled back the leaves on the bed and it was loaded with worms on top, which is a good sign. Jumped a coyote within 20' from me that was under one of my spruce trees. He must have been laying there planning to stay until his dusk hunting rounds.

Any fall leaf hoarders? I am picking up 30 bags at my cousin's home tomorrow and my neighbors have supplied upwards of 40 bags so far, plus the 2o or so from our yard is a good start. The paper bags used commonly nowadays can be easily incorporated into the compost pile as well especially after they have sat out all winter, and have gotten good and soft.

I have incorporated my own 20 bags as mulch on my beds and another 30 have been placed in a huge pile in my compost area. All the leaves so far are mixed with grass clippings from being mowed and then bagged. According to my compost thermometer the current pile has already hit 100f, and will be going a lot higher before our outside low temps get down below zero.

I like to have at least 50-60 bags stored for the following spring/summer to mix with my grass clippings, kitchen scraps and other greens throughout the gardening season. The later leaves I will be saving are largely devoid of grass because from now on the grass will be dormant.

This yearly practice makes for a rich loamy finished compost/soil and eliminates any need for fertilizers.

Some folks also just pile up leaves and let it sit for a few years to slowly breakdown into a leaf mold amendment. That is a very valuable resource as well. Some look at fall leaf cleanup as a curse, but I liken it to hoarding time for "gardner's gold."

 

Still pulling carrots.
I’ve got 75% of the row still in the ground. I’m thinking of buy a ball of hey to cover them to keep the frost out as long as I can.
Have about as many parsnips. Those seem to over winter pretty well so I’m not so concerned.

 

I've covered them over with about 6-12 inches of leaves and stored them there all Winter, digging them up as needed, but last year voles found them. They ate every single one. I had tried a little (light blocking) low tunnel to help keep the soil dry around them. I even found a ball of fibers that looked like a mouse nest.
Always something.


edit: Oh yeah, the other reason for putting a low tunnel over the carrots was because the deer were hopping the garden fence and eating the carrot tops. Not that the carrots losing their tops was a big deal at that point, I just didn't want to be feeding the deer. There. Nor my carrots.

 

I’ve tried the leaves but the blew away. And the critters find them too. Wire worms mostly