Greetings All.
It’s been ~2 months since I posted. Late September my wife and I went overseas on vacation, and when I came back the garden was finished – the tomatoes from diseases, then we had a couple of hard frosts that killed everything but the hardier greens. Been busy cleaning up since, tidying up the beds and basically winterizing the garden(s) –both old and new. I didn’t want to leave any of the sick plant material around. Then I put away cages and stakes. Lastly I had to blow the water out of the underground irrigation pipes to avoid freezing. Only one bed left that has some nice Swiss chard and chickoree. Here’s how they looked a few nights ago after a very cold night (25 degF) but they’re perfectly fine now –they wilted a bit, but didn’t freeze.
greens-oct18.jpg
Plan is to cut a bunch later and make a couple of dishes out of them.
I had big plans to grow some garlic this year, but things got away from me. Then I found a few heads that I had purchased from a local farm, for eating –all natural, not sprayed with anything. So I prepped a small section of the narrowest bed and planted them. I doubt they’ll have time to grow roots before it gets real cold, but I had to try it -at ~zero cost.
Then yesterday I went to the old garden to harvest the small batch of potatoes that I had planted in the spring. Didn’t know what to expect, as they lost their tops a while back, and we’ve had tons of rain. I had planted those in 6 shallow rings made of cut out 2x trash barrels (3 rings/barrels.) See picture earlier in the thread. I was pleased to find enough for a few meals -filled a 5 gal bucket. But they were dirty muddy, so washed them off and left them out to dry. These will go nicely with the smoked meats.
taters-11nov18.jpg
Already thinking and planning next year’s. I hope you’re all doing good.