October 10, 2013 - The Garden in October

 It's still touch and go with the sugar snap peas.  The vines blew off of the trellis during our last windstorm, but there are some blossoms showing on the few upright vines.  I see just one pod developing so far.  

 The raspberry canes have been transplanted.  Eventually this should be a more productive bed than the old bed, as it is nearly twice as long as the old 8' bed.  Right now the canes share their spot with carrots, onions and the snap peas, but they'll have all that space to themselves before spring arrives.

 There are still a lot of green tomatoes on the three remaining plants, but I'm only finding a bit of color on four or five a week now.  Night temperatures have been dropping into the high 30s this week, so a frost is probably not far off.

 The two new beds have been built, but the far bed still needs some soil and compost to bring the level even with the top.  I put a few spinach transplants into the near raised bed, but next spring both beds will hold the tomato plants.  There are still two broccoli plants giving me a few side shoots, the recently transplanted strawberries are looking strong and healthy.  

 The north garden is looking quite empty, but many of next year's planting beds have been cleaned up and prepared.  

 The east garden is empty, except for a few parsnips and nasturtiums along the fence at the left, and two or three lettuce plants, along with a few bunching onions in the net covered bed.  The ground is littered with walnuts from the neighbor's tree.  Too bad they're wormy and unusable.

 A view of the north garden from the patio.

The garden shed has been cleaned up, and most of the tools have been cleaned and stored for next year.  I've been busy washing buckets and containers for winter storage.


Yaya update:

 Great grandbaby Amaya Christine (Yaya) with proud daddy Aaron.

All dressed up for her trip home from the hospital.  Mama says she's doing fine, a very good baby, just eats, sleeps and poops!

32 comments:

  1. Oh, sweet little precious baby---you lucky lucky gal!

    You're garden is winding down---what are you gonna fill the days with? Big plans? I know you're not heading south this winter . Is it spoil Mr. Granny time? Oh wait----that's EVERYDAY!

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    1. Sue, I think I'll spend a lot of time spoiling that baby. Mr. Granny can take care of himself! In my spare time, I'm hoping to tackle some interior painting and light remodeling of one of the bathrooms.

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  2. Congrats on the new baby! Your pepper seeds arrived a few days ago, thanks! Are you interested in any hybrid tomato seeds? I am going to order Martha Washington and Pink Beauty from Johnny's, they are both F1. I can send you a few if you are interested.

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    1. Sure, Dan. I can always use a couple more varieties for next year. It sounds like they are both really good flavored tomatoes, with good disease resistance.

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  3. It looks like you are almost ready for winter. I've got a few beds done, but most of the garden is still a mess. I've got to clean up the paths too, but I was waiting until after I'm done with the bulk of the compost piles as that makes such a mess itself. And what a cutie. I dream of the day I get to become a grandparent. But it doesn't look like it is anytime soon.

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    1. Daphne, I'm never ready for winter. I do not like cold weather! If it gets under 70, I'm freezing.

      I came down with a bad cold, so not sure when I'll get to hold and spoil the little one. Of course, I caught it from her family, so I'm sure she's already been well exposed to it.

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  4. Congratulations - what a sweet little doll!

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    1. Thanks, Becky. I can't say it's because she looks like me, LOL!

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  5. Beautiful baby! Are you happy or sad about the garden almost being done? You are so neat and tidy in everything! Nancy

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    1. Nancy, I welcome the rest, but not the weather. Actually, I'm already bored, even though I still get out there just about daily.

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  6. I love the wire cage things. I should make some... They would alleviate the problems I have with foxes.

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    1. Mark, the large one is our unused dog kennel - see http://tinyurl.com/7ndmppv

      The small one is actually covered in a plastic mesh fencing material to keep birds from destroying my lettuce. I also have problems with leaf miners here, so I plan on making two more small structures for next year, but will staple tulle to them to keep out the leaf miner flies. I've been using the tulle just clipped to supports, but it's a pain to have to remove and replace all the time. The long box, with a light weight removable top would simplify it somewhat.

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  7. Excellent, Granny! Garden looking clean and organized, great granddaughter looking clean and cute, I'd say you had a great week! :-)

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    1. Yes, Mrs. R. A great week that ended with the cold from hell. Nose running, head aching, chest hurting, sore throat hell. But I did get out and plant the garlic today.

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  8. Congratulations on the new great granddaughter. She's adorable. Garden clean up is not something that I look forward to, but it's a must do. I still have a ton of green tomatoes and peppers left. I think I'm going to water bath some of my green tomatoes for Fried Green Tomatoes this winter.

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    1. Thank you, Rhonda. Isn't she absolutely precious?

      I wish I could find way to prepare green tomatoes that we'd eat. We don't like them fried, I don't need any pickles or relish, and I still have green tomato mincemeat from last year. I'll probably just pick them all and hope the eventually ripen.

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  9. That new great-grandbaby is just perfect! I envy you, no grandchildren and none likely to come. But I can still dream and miracles do happen. Your garden is looking great, nice and cleaned up! I'm just getting started with the clean-up and dragging my feet about it. Can you bottle up some of that energy you have and mail it to me?

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    1. Oh, Nutmeg, can I bottle up this cold and send it off instead? Not wishing it on you, but maybe it could get lost in the mail, LOL! Now Mr. Granny has it, so there is no visiting with the new little one, and very little gardening going on here.

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  10. Thanks for sharing your info. I really appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your further write.
    vegetable garden toowoomba

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  11. Some days I wish all I had to do was eat, sleep, and poop. And that I would be considered "good" for only doing that! Ahhh, newborns have all the fun.

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  12. You going to rent out the Garden Shed, Carol? Pay for those upcoming seed catalog purchases. ;)

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    1. LOL, Cloud. I think it's already "rented" by a field mouse! I heard something scratching behind a wall the other day, and I saw a mouse in the garden just before that. The little stinker came under the fence from the neighbor's garden, saw me standing there, turned and ran back to the other side of the fence. I need a Kiki!

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    2. You would have to wrap that field mouse with a 'cookie' (cat treat) in order to get, Kiki, to bother to do anything. ;-)

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  13. I don't know why I look at pictures of your garden. Mine looks like a weed bomb went off.

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    1. Well, IG, you do have a job (I think) and a bad knee. You must remember, I have no life other than gardening and spoiling dogs, babies and Mr. Granny.

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  14. Hey Gran, thanks so much for checking out my new blog. It's feels nice having an old buddy write the first comment. I'm looking forward to returning to the blogging world after more than a year off.

    I hope you're doing well. Little Amaya is beautiful! :)

    oxoxo,
    Thomas
    PS - Your soil looks fantastic! All we have is subsoil and rocks in our backyard. :(

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    1. I am so happy you are back, Thomas! I really have missed you.

      Isn't Amaya adorable? We call her our little MexAmerAsian baby! Her mama is Mexican/Caucasian, and her father is Laotian. She's just a perfect mix of the three. I got to spoil her rotten a couple of times this week. Darned near kissed the top of her head bald, and got lots of rocking chair time in, LOL!

      I hauled an entire yard of cow poo into the garden (a bucket full at a time) this summer/fall, I also spread on a lot of chopped leaves through the season, and expect to add more before winter. The soil is looking pretty good, but plagued by nematodes and wireworms. I solarized a bed to hopefully grow decent carrots in next year. This year was a real bust as far as the carrots were concerned.

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  15. Stopped by to visit you and noticed you have not posted in quite a while...I've been out of town, so I can say I have not posted either. I bet you are busy with your new grand baby...or putting your feet up to rest after all your hard work this season! We had snow today....so now it is time to rest a bit:-)

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    1. I noticed your snow, Robbie. I was trying to ignore it, LOL! We've actually been having some lovely weather these past two weeks, so I'm kind of regretting tearing out so many of the plants.

      I've kind of hit a writer's block, so I'm stepping away from it for a bit. I'm still here though, and yes, spending as much time as I can spoiling that new baby! I'm quite bored now, what with no blogging and no gardening, so I'm trying to think of a winter project to keep me busy. So far it has been bread baking, but I must keep that under control because what I bake we eat, and we don't need all that much bread!

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