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Saturday, October 22, 2016

Fall in the garden

There has been little more than nothing going on around here, but fall has definitely arrived in the garden.

My kale was so covered with white flies that I stopped picking it weeks ago.


When the forecast showed a frost coming, I cut down the worst of the two plants in the hope that the flies wouldn't survive and I could still harvest some kale from the other before winter.


That first frost was over a week ago, which is a good two weeks before our average first frost date. Temperatures were back in the 70's within a couple days and have since leveled out in the 50-60's, which is perfect fall weather.

Some of the cabbages that I planted and then gave up on are staging a slight comeback.


The peanut plant (the big green plant in the above photo) is still growing, so apparently the squirrels are better fall gardeners than I am. There are so many holes in my garden beds that I'm afraid they'll be filled with peanut plants next spring, unless the squirrels actually remember where they buried all those peanuts.

The radishes look good, and I even picked a few before the frost.


Most of them, however, haven't actually formed radishes, but rather just have slightly large roots.

There's one cabbage next to the radishes that didn't succumb as quickly as the others. I've picked several caterpillars off of it, and it's starting to form a small head, so there's a slight possibility I'll get a cabbage this fall.


The marigolds are still going strong and every time I think about cutting them down, I see a bee or butterfly on them.


I need to remember next year that I probably only need one or two plants, not five or six.

I planted a pea and oat cover crop in one of the empty areas, and it has really done well.


The peas had the most beautiful purple flowers, but I forgot to take any pictures of them.

Bell peppers always seem to end the year with a flourish, and this year is no different.


One plant has several small peppers on it.


I covered all of them with plastic before the frost, and they are still doing well, so I will probably be picking a handful of peppers in the next few days.

I've been slowing cutting down the tomatoes.


They all look like crap but still have quite a few fruits on them.


I picked about five pounds of green tomatoes before the frost, and they have all since ripened inside. The plants survived that frost quite well, and I've even picked a few more tomatoes since then. I've completely removed two of the seven plants so far and trimmed the others back considerably. I will probably get a couple more cut down this weekend.

The tomato plants have been going out to the curb as yard waste, but even so, my composter is already full. It isn't big enough to accommodate too much, so I might have to build another one next year.


Last but not least, the nasturtiums that I planted late on a whim have done very well.


 I haven't paid much attention to them all summer, but they've been quietly thriving in their corner.

It's probably time for me to get out there and get to work on those tomato plants.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

The garden seeks balance

The pests have really gotten to me this year, but it turns out that some of them were on my side.

While trimming tomato plants the other day, I came across another tomato hornworm. This one, however, was having a very bad day.



The white things on this hornworm are the larval stage of a parasitic wasp. If it had been earlier in the year, I would've left the worm so that those wasps could take care of any other hornworms on my tomatoes. However, since the tomatoes are about done and it's time to cut them down, this guy ended up in the yard waste like the last one I found.

I'm very conflicted about hornworms because I love butterfly moths. Also, I have never had extensive damage to tomatoes because of hornworms. I read once that cardinals eat hornworms, and I have often witnessed cardinals spending time by my tomatoes over the years, so maybe my bird feeding habit has been beneficial in more ways than I thought.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Progress on the master plan

Between work, weather, and the fact that it's getting dark earlier, I haven't been taking many pictures lately. I have been picking tomatoes every few days, but I can't seem to get myself organized enough to make a Harvest Monday post. But, I will accept my shortcomings and just post what I have been able to capture.

The morning glory I planted by my mailbox has become a beast. It's a sure miracle that three tiny seeds can turn into the mass that is this morning glory. It's also a miracle that the post office hasn't stopped delivering our mail. I've trimmed it a couple times already, and Saturday it was time for another trimming. Sadly, I didn't actually take a picture of the morning glory that day, but here's a picture from a few weeks ago. It was probably 30% larger than this on Saturday.


Once I trimmed it up, so it looked a lot like the above picture again and the mail could be delivered safely, I decided that I would pull out the landscape fabric lurking under the mulch in this garden bed. I bought 50 daffodil bulbs and wanted to put some in this garden, so the landscape fabric had to go.

Before I knew it, the fabric was gone, and I had started trimming the yuccas.


I absolutely despise yuccas, and this yard was full of them. I dug out about five from the herb garden last fall, and the plants in this garden have been in my crosshairs ever since. Yuccas have their place, but it isn't my flowerbeds.

After considerable effort, I had removed a couple clumps of yucca and a huge root.


Don't ever let anyone tell you it's easy to get rid of yuccas. It takes considerable effort, and I'll be fighting these plants for years. Any piece of root that is left in the ground will sprout. I've been pulling sprouts out of the herb garden all summer, and I know there are some big ones lurking under the zinnias even now.

Speaking of the herb garden, once the yuccas were gone, I dug two clumps of black-eyed Susans out of the herb garden and stuck them where the yuccas used to be.


I had no qualms about digging up the black-eyed Susans. I successfully transplanted several of them this spring, and they grow like weeds in my yard. The next day I planted daffodils and crocuses in the empty area.

I can't wait to see what this garden looks like next spring. Remind me that I don't want to plant morning glories by the mailbox again.