Posted on 10/28/2011 5:05:33 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. We had our first frost last Friday but the weather has been beautiful ever since. I have been gathering leaves and other yard waste to add to my compost pile, which has grown nicely over the last few weeks and it is heating up and cooking nicely.
I hope all your Fall gardens prosper.
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Our Old English Sheep Dog also loves water. We have to keep her inside if we water or it rains. The wife likes to let her into the hot tub, and I wait on the patio with towels.
That one was pretty decent, raquetball/tennisball size or so. There were a couple of more about that. First year I’ve grown them, love the green/white skin and scarlet core and could almost could be a Christmas radish. Flavor is impressive too.
In fact with you down in Mississippi you could probably plant those about now and they’d be ready by Christmas!
The new front door is proceding. THey shoudl finish today, and the cement and brick contractor will come back next week. It looks marvelous from the inside. The outdoor look is still under consideeration. It’s very red. A lot redder than I had anticipated. But, since the white surround is not installed yet, that look will chnge. But, I am so sorry that I did not order the door in white.
They leaned the door against the house yesterday with the white side out. It was breathtaking. I never even considered ordering the door in white because I thought it would be boring. Not so, but I guess I could paint it if I hate it too much. Hate to do that since it has a factory finish.
I’ll have to plan lots of red flowers and containers next year to make this work.
I am about ready to harvest my last broccoli thanks to Mrs. Don-o and her generous offer of seeds.
I built a greenhouse on the back of my house - pvc and plastic sheeting. I already have lettuce and spinach seedlings - I hope I at least get enough to feed the chickens this winter.
My plan at night is to take a metal bucket of coals from my wood stove and see if it keeps it above freezing - I’m zone 6.
Of course since I worry about fire I will be checking on it all night long - I take naps during the day and my daughter tends the fire. :) My wood stove has a small capacity and tends to smoke at random times.
I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Your garden looks great.
Woke up to frost on the ground this morning here in Central Missouri. Garden is just about finished for the year. I’ve got some onions, leeks and salad stuff that will stay, and a row of red russian kale for winter greens. A few leftover brassicas still in the ground that I’m pulling two at a time and feeding to my chickens. We’re supposed to have nice weather over the weekend so hopefully I’ll be able to get my garlic planted.
visiting with my brother/wife in Oklahoma City. MUCH milder AND SUNNIER than NE Ohio right now. Dread the trip back.
To say they are NOT into gardening, yard & flowers is a gross understatement. A huge over acre lot with flower beds full of weeds. But grass is mowed.
Not everyone enjoys the yard/outdoors.
My brother & I have so much in common but this is one area we differ. I can walk over junk needing to be cleaned indoors to get outdoors to prune, preen, spruce ..
different strokes
Thanks ALL for the comments & info. I always love visiting this thread
Still have some jalapenos in the garden but it’s mostly gone to weeds. Can’t wait until next spring. Goofy Texas weather going from 100+ to snow in a month’s time. Halloween night usually brings the first chill. Tax day, April 15th, is usually the last frost.
Garden is still thriving, believe it or not. It’s in a somewhat protected spot and managed to avoid the frost last week. We’ll see how it survives this coming weekend though. Just to be sure hubby dug up all three of the ghost peppers, and one of each of other stuff to see how well we can keep them overwinter in a garage with grow lights.
I’ve taken some cuttings from various tomatoes. Thanks Ellendra (IIRC) for that idea. My daughter loves sungold tomatoes and I hate to have to buy seeds for that every year.
Hubby’s built little tents for the remaining squash still ripening. He took some fencing, cut about a 4ft section, bent it into an arch and we’ve wrapped plastic around it for a little tunnel. We put two of those over the squash and along 6-7ft of the vine itself. We’ve had amazing growth even though we’ve had somewhat coolish nights lately. We’ll definitely do that again, probably next spring to get a head start on stuff. Also keeps the deer away.
Onions (vidalia type) sprouting nicely in their little flats and broccoli in. Have plans to plant more lettuce for the raised beds today as well.
It’s all good right now.
Hadn’t heard that about Horseshoe Bay but they have the money to do it. Packsaddle and the other hills are nothing but dead cedar. Many think it’s fall color and say it’s pretty. Uh, helloooo! NOT! It’s all dead trees. I’ve noticed it especially on the west sides of the hills which I’m assuming is from the heat of the afternoon sun. Looking out the window I can see that many trees have already lost the dead leaves and are nothing but bare branches.
Yeah, the rains missed us - AGAIN. It’s still a tinderbox and will be for the next couple years even with rain. Still bans on outdoor fires, even household trash. There’s been wind advisories the past couple weeks, too. Fine by me because I can just see this place going up like Bastrop. There’s only one road out of here and it’d be directly into the fire, so we’d for real be up the creek. Twice in the past 2-3 weeks our idiot neighors had their outdoor fireplace going. Mr. B went down there and hollered at them and we WILL report them next time. Ugh, can’t stand weekenders. Next, we’ll have to worry about the deer hunters, sigh...
How fun- I would love to watch your dog playing in the rain. Down through the years I have had a couple dogs that loved the snow, the deeper the drifts the better the plowing with the nose straight through. I also had one that dearly loved to pounce on dandelions when the seeds were fully developed but not yet scattered. He conquered them and ate them.
Animals, gardens, great gardening threads- that is a great way to live. Albeit the hail, storms, and cold wet winters/way too hot and way too dry summers are a challenge
Don’t repot anything until next spring. Yes, they need light so place them by a window and leave the curtains open so sunlight will come in. Close the cutrains on freezing nights. As for water, it depends on the chemicals the city has added to your tap water. Just use whatever water you’ve been using since they’re happy with it. People have killed their container plants when using water softener water (hmm, buy a clue, if it kills plants and you’re drinking it...). Can you set out a rain barrel?
I had a DR appt last Monday and we noticed an area north of RM 620 near US 183 that has a bunch of dead cedar trees. The oaks are stressed, and some have oak wilt. Most of that area is undeveloped for now. If it ever catches on fire, it will go up just like the Bastrop area did. There is so much dead wood and cedar there.
We also noticed the fall colors are not what we thought. My wife made a comment about that on Monday. If the trees lose their leaves, they will come back. If the leaves stay on the limbs during the fall, they are dead. I can’t believe anyone is using a fireplace. It’s not that cold.
Algoflash, late season sun, and artificial light. Holiday tomatoes and hot peppers? We'll see...
While some areas in Missouri have had a frost, we are still frost free. So I am leaving the tomatoes in the garden and using row covers. The tomatoes are gradually ripening. Once they have a little blush, then I bring them in, and wrap them in paper to finish ripening. We had BLT’s several times this week, and lots of salad with tomatoes.
I just put up some wild rose hips to dry. Harvested some persimmons and am going to try to make some persimmon candy later today. Hubby still has some corn left to harvest. I will be planting some more garlic and lettuce this weekend for the winter garden.
If I have time this weekend, I will prepare 2 raised beds for winter wheat, and the others will probably get some red clover down the road.
Even though the harvest wasn't as good this year for some of our favorites, we still got plenty of beans, berries, corn,lettuce, onions, and finally some tomatoes. Life is good! Have a great weekend every one. God Bless.
You're waiting for catalogs??? I've already got my 2012 seed list organized...get with the program. :-)
It is ski season up here in the Colorado Rockies. About a foot of snow on the garden today.
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