Cleanup
This past week I’ve been doing my fall cleanup in earnest. No doubt many of you are doing the same. Pots are being collected from throughout the garden and are being stowed in the garage. Tender potted plants are being brought indoors for the long winter. Compost piles grow taller and taller as the weeks go by. Of course there’s always an animal by my side helping out.
I really want to seed a few containers of herbs for the winter, but I’m finding it difficult to find the energy after a long day of work and chores. It’s really not a huge deal, I will find the time to do it after the snow starts to fly.
Are you doing fall cleanup around the garden?
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Little by Little
Back in Ohio I expanded by gardens a little each year. That helps keep things manageable. This year I expanded the main garden in the back by about 2x. Next year half of it will lie fallow under a thick layer of mulch. I’m working on expanding the boundaries of the back potager to integrate stones walls, a greenhouse, a perennial border, and a small greenhouse. That plan will take years to come to fruition, but it will be very manageable because a small piece will be finished each year.
This year I’m focusing on expanding the edges out and eradicating the quack grass that has been creeping into the garden from the lawn. My favorite way to expand a garden is with the lasagna gardening method. It takes longer than digging up the space, but it’s much less work overall.
Yesterday I layered cardboard down on the areas I want to kill the grass, then I added a healthy dose of compost on top of that. I plan on adding chopped leaves and grass clippings on top of the compost to help keep any erosion at bay over the winter. By next spring, the grass underneath the cardboard will be long gone and the compost will be moving into the soil via earthworms.
I’m hoping to expand the border on each side of this garden by at least 4 feet this fall. The only problem is my fence that perfectly surrounds my 25×25 garden will be too small!
Do you ever use cardboard to smother weeds and grass in the garden?
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Fresh as Daisies
This past Saturday I cleaned out the chicken coop. I follow the deep litter method here, as outlined in Harvey Ussery’s book The Small-Scale Poultry Flock. Once a year, usually in the fall, I clean out the coop. That happened last Saturday and now it’s fresh as daisies.
I actually enjoy cleaning out the coop because I know I’m harvesting loads of great manure for the garden. This year I put the bedding onto my asparagus bed. Once I spread this out I’ll add an additional layer of shredded leaves on top to help speed the decomposition of the shavings.
When I clean out the coop I always wear a respirator, these things come in handy for a wide variety of chores around the house. I love this one because it works for fumes and dust – it’s also comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
The chickens are always very curious when I’m cleaning out the coop, they like to come in to see what I’m doing. No doubt they’ll appreciate the nice clean bedding and I appreciate all the valuable garden fertilizer they provide in addition to eggs.
What’s your favorite garden fertilizer?
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Why Not?
I was out working in the garden yesterday and noticed my Johnny Jump Ups are still blooming like mad, their last hurrah before the snow starts to fly. While harvesting greens for our salad, I decided to pick some lovely blooms as well. Why not? Salads should be beautiful and tasty.
I also think that the flowers are healthy and add their own vitamins and minerals. I know violet are high in vitamin C. I love adding flowers to my salad, I think the splash of color really adds a lot.
Do you ever add edible flowers to salads? Which is your favorite?
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A Sunny Afternoon
Yesterday afternoon was a lovely time in the garden. The night before it was cold, down in the mid 20’s – BRRRR. The chicken water was frozen and I needed a hat and boots to stay warm during my morning chores. That afternoon it was very pleasant, around 50 degrees and sunny, the perfect day for planting garlic.
The Sweets though so too, she was out helping me plant garlic all afternoon. She rubbed on my legs, stole cloves of garlic to bat around and searched for moles and voles.
I soaked the garlic overnight in liquid kelp, drained it and let it sit overnight again. It was raining on Monday when I planned on planting it. When I started placing the closed in the ground I was amazed to see that they were all developing roots, exactly why soaking in kelp is a good idea. It gets them off to a strong start right away, these guys will have a strong set of roots to get them through winter.
Loads of garlic went in the ground. I planted 8 different varieties and ended up with three 55 foot long rows of garlic.
This year I also saved all the small cloves and planted them close together, next spring/early summer I’ll harvest them as garlic scallions. I’m not sure where I heard about this, but I thought it was a great idea.
Are you planting garlic this year?
