Around the Run
On Cultivate Simple, our podcast, we have an Around the Run section each week. In this section we talk about what’s been going on around here. For those of you who don’t listen to the podcast, I figured it was time for an update. The weather is leaning more towards winter on the scale than fall. It’s been getting COLD, down into the 20’s at night and in the high 30’s during the day. There’s a burning bush out front that is still blazing red, the last remnants of fall in the garden. On Monday I noticed a few snowflakes falling from the sky. It won’t be long now until we’re snugly tucked under a blanket of snow.
Now that there’s a nip in the air, I’ve been working to cover my fall crops with my low hoops. So far, only the celery and Japanese bunching onions have been covered. Hopefully the rest of them will be put up by this weekend. (if you’re interested in how I made these hoops, here’s my how-to post).
I’ve also been busy cooking up delicious seafood, making sourdough biscuits, staying warm by the wood burner, and putting in many hours of work in the office. Truth be told, most of the meals we eat don’t take long to prepare since they’re fairly simple. When you have fresh scallops what more do they need beside searing and generous amount of butter?
I still need to get my garlic planted. The plot is prepared thanks to some help from the chickens, but the garlic sits on my table waiting. Hopefully that will in by this weekend. It’s a good thing garlic is so forgiving.
Sometimes, I wish fall wasn’t this busy. I’d love to have a little more time for hiking and exploring the new areas around me. I’ll have plenty of time to do that this winter and over the coming years. That can wait, the garlic can’t.
Do you have any impending chores that need done ASAP?
Filed under Around the Garden | Comments (16)
I also need to plant the last few garlic bulbs and then it will be on to the clean and tidy up of the kitchen garden plots.
to Mich's comment
I need to make my chickens heated waterer. Why do anything in advance that you can do after you need it. Ugh!!
to jennifer fisk's comment
Yeah, my waterer was frozen yesterday too. Gotta get out the heated one.
to Susy's comment
I’m using the one shown on the blog at henboggle.com
to jennifer fisk's comment
My garlic also is waiting to be planted,and now we are expecting a little nor’easter tonight into tomorrow. Guess it will have to wait until the weekend.
to Kathi Cook's comment
We need to cover the shrubs to keep roof snow-slides from doing a number on them, and we started up a little orchard this summer so those trees need some fencing to protect them from the voles over winter. We also need to get/install some coat hooks by the back door (kitchen chairs just aren’t cutting it as coat-racks) and tidy up the garage to park the cars in during winter.
to Kelly H.'s comment
I’m giving serious consideration to expanding the garden by quite about, about double! Besides that, I don’t have much beyond yard clean up and raking leaves into the garden to do.
to Songbirdtiff's comment
Winterizing the chicken coop. And, well, our house too.
to kristin @ going country's comment
Enjoy getting things crossed off your list!
I’m visiting my sister in NC, and I need to get her lettuce planted this week.
to daisy's comment
This is slightly off-topic, but do you know what would be a neat experiment? They say that sourdough’s flavor is heavily influenced by the the species of wild yeasts local to the area where the starter lives. I’ve always wondered how much of that difference can be easily detected by the human tongue.
I assume you brought your starter from Ohio to Maine. It would have been neat if you’d made a loaf of bread before leaving and froze it and then, after a few months of your starter living in Maine, made the same loaf and compared the taste of the two.
I know…it’s a totally random idea, but there you go. :-)
to Justin's comment
Thank goodness for Election Day! The kids were home from school, and without one bit of fuss, they helped me plant the new strawberries for their raised beds, clean out the last two beds that I’ve been procrastinating about (the peppers were still going strong, but a frost is coming), and plant five varieties of garlic plus shallots. OK, the did complain a little bit about the smell of the garlic, but they were wonderful helpers. However, while we planted, the girls roamed in the forest, came over to us, and started feasting on my lettuce and chard! My daughter spent much time shooing chickens out of the garden.
Tonight, I need to cover the hoops over the beds and I still have pansies and a few shrubs to plant. The never ending life of a gardener in SC! ;-)
to Julie's comment
Wow, you moved to Maine! Wooo hoo, very cool. I have not read many blogs as of lately. Love the town you moved to. You are only about 30 minutes away from us…maybe we will meet up someday! ~Kim
to Kim's comment
Yesterday I noticed my garlic is up–a bed full of perky green stems waving hello because of the very warm fall we’ve had here in North Idaho. It will be twenty degrees by the weekend, will it survive?
to maggiewann's comment
I still need to plant my garlic too.. I have pots I need to put to bed for the winter & tuck some others under the deck.
Today I started ripping out a wild rose that was growing on my garden trellis. I need to bag it up and do a lot of outside clean up. The front yard is done but the back is in bad shape. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice & sunny & I can get myself out there.
to KimH's comment
Not garden related: my toenails need trimming but I can’t bend to reach them. A pedicure won’t do because I’m ticklish.
to Maybelline's comment
i still need to clear out one garden bed and finish planting garlic. we’ve only gotten as low as 32 here so i still have some more time. now if i could only get the energy to do it.
to Laura's comment