9/26/13

The First Week of Autumn!

Welcome to autumn!  Thanks for stopping. Clearly, things have been slowing down in the garden.  The good news is that the garden is still productive. The seeds we planted on August 5 have matured and are producing a healthy amount of produce. In the past ten days we've picked more than 12 pounds of vegetables - peas, peppers, butternut squash, zucchinis and raspberries 

 

The raspberries remain productive

 

 It would appear that the plants will continue to be at least somewhat productive through mid October. At that point we will have had an active garden for nearly seven months. The lettuce below will become a crisp salad later this week and then we will have to rely on our local markets for that vegetarian staple until next spring.

 

                                                   Last of the late lettuce

 

Mother Nature continues an active role in the garden even as the season gets late. The autumn change of weather brings gardeners a wonderful bounty of future compost material as she sets the trees in motion to drop their leaves. Our city property has no trees so we will be raking leaves from our neighbor's yard. This is a help to both of us since they have no garden and they would have to be bag the leaves  for the city collection.  I really enjoy the synchronicity of the relationship. 

 

I'll be back from time-to-time over the fall and winter as topics come about that might be of interest to you.  If you have comments, ideas for new topics, etc., please use the link below to get in touch. 

 

Chuck

 

chuckscards42@hotmail.com

 

                                                      Summer's End!

Hello again! Thanks for stopping by.  You may remember that we put  zucchini, pea, and green bean seeds in the first week of August.  The beans are all now setting flowers and some beans are beginning to develop. The zucchini is developing fruit and we've already picked two that had reached a nice medium size. We should be able to pick the last of this year's vegetables in the next week or ten days. At that point, we will have reached roughly 200 pounds of produce from this year's garden.  That's down from 300 pounds we've had in past years, but we deliberately cut back on zucchini and cucumbers this year rather than growing enough for the neighborhood!

Lois made a zucchini pie. You're seeing it before it went into the oven.

 

The last of the green beans for this year!

 

We've had very few problems with local critters getting into the garden this year. This week, a hungry squirrel caused more damage in one feeding than we've had in total all summer. I suppose it was after the butternut seeds. But we have been extremely lucky! 

 

Hungry squirrel damage. Or maybe the possum?

 

And, finally, another sign that autumn is near...the chrysanthemums are in bloom.

 

Mums 

 

Misty watching me in the garden taking a picture of mums which are just below him. He's a stray that calls our garden area home.

 

Time to go back outside and put a fire in the fireplace which is one of the joys of fall!

 

Hello again!

Well, the Blogger site was down yesterday and most of today so I was unable to post on my usual schedule.  But chucksgardenspot is back and I'm happy to be here!

                                                            Weed killer

 

I was busy for a few days last week cleaning out a garage for a local charitable organization. It was very clear very early that no one had cleaned the place in many years, well before the current occupants ever took control of the property. Aside from junk lumber, assorted trash, and a few tools, there was a spray container of "weed killer".  An unopened small booklet was attached to the container.  The booklet, among other things, gives directions on what to do if it gets in eyes and also supplies "emergency medical information" and "hazards" to animals and humans.  As a side note, it is believed by many that the widespread use of "weed killers" on lawns, golf courses and many other places has been a major factor in the decline of the honey bee population. It instantly reminded me of how fortunate we are to be tending our small garden in an organic, environmentally sound manner.

 

 

Considering the fact that it's getting to be late in the gardening season, we were very pleased last week to have continued bringing in fresh vegetables.  The haul included bell peppers, lettuce, zucchini, and potatoes.  The peppers, zuke, and lettuce are in the garden proper. The potatoes were in a 5 gallon container.  We had planted them in early May and only one "eye" of a potato was placed in the soil filled bucket.  It yielded two pounds of "New" potatoes.  Yes, they are small, but it was rewarding just to have them as "parsely potatoes". And I honestly don't think I've ever had a potato that tasted as good as these fresh from the garden versions. Lois turned this batch of bell peppers into "stuffed peppers" the day the came into the kitchen.  Plus, we are still picking the second round of beautiful raspberries.  Delicious!

 

                                                         Fresh bell peppers

 

We will have more vegetables coming in from the garden for the next few weeks, but it's clear that the season is growing short!

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to see you again next week!

 

Chuck

 

 

                                              The Three Season Year!

Happy Labor Day to all!  It seems incredible that we've moved from Memorial Day to Labor Day in what seems to be the blink of an eye. "Summer" as we think of it seems to be bracketed by these two holidays.  But the gardening season is not defined by the calendar in the same manner. We begin in late March as daylight grows longer and warmer. It then proceeds through much of September as the last crops mature in waning light. The absolute peak in our garden production this year was a 10 day period from July 21 to 31 when we brought in 50 pounds of fresh vegetables. Somehow, I've defined our year as having three seasons...autumn, winter, and gardening season! 

Our second crop of raspberries has begun ripening.  They are delicious but not nearly as plentiful as the first crop, but that's to be expected. The bell peppers have begun maturing. We brought in the first batch today.  The leaf lettuce planted in early August is doing well, as is the zucchini.

                                                    Just picked bell peppers
                                                    
We also have three rows of green beans and three rows of peas coming along. They were planted on August 5. We're hoping they mature by mid/late September.

                                    Peas and green beans - one of three rows

Some of you may know that we had a cherry tree until recently. Unfortunately, it wasn't doing well and we took it down in late spring.  I cut the trunk into small pieces and let them dry a bit over the summer. A few weeks ago I drilled and chipped out holes in some of  them and made "candle holders"!  This idea came from an article Lois read earlier this month. Looks like I need to shim up the one on top of the box!

                                         The cherry tree lives on in new role

 Lois made up  batch of "butternut" ravioli this week. She has a ravioli "press" and fills them with mashed butternut squash. Vegetarians are soooo creative! 

One final note for all the bibliophiles out there. The Lancaster County Library is holding its annual book sale on September 13, 2013. They will feature thousands of books, including lots of gardening titles at very low prices. Our Rodale "Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening" was a $2 item I bought there some years ago.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you again next week!

Chuck