Fall Cleanup 2018

This is possibly the last yard tour post here for the year.  Everything is done growing, and the recent frosts have leaves looking like they are melting, so it is time to clean it all up for the year.  The burning bush, however, is peaking red before all the leaves fall.



Kate took care of the garden, bringing in a few onions, some oregano and a few catnip leaves.  She tilled the compost soil into the east garden and used hay to mulch the raspberries and strawberries.  We also added mulch to some of the flowerbeds.  With the wet fall, the late date and all the garlic we got from the last batch Kate decided against planting it this fall.


I emptied the right side of the compost bin into the garden and filled the left side with plants I cut down.  All the hostas and the lily of the valley by the garage had the string trimmer taken to them, just to help them break down back into the soil for next year.

Yard tour after the break:

Last Look Around, 2017

We had unseasonably mild weather yesterday, the day after Thanksgiving, and I took advantage of it to get some outside chores completed.  Cleaning out the gutters, mulching leaves, run the lawn mower out of gas, test out the snow thrower, vacuum and put winter mats in the car, you get the idea.  This may be a last look at the yard and gardens for 2017.  I took these pictures before noon and you can see by the shadows how low the sun gets at its highest this time of year.  The wood has been scavenged from the roadside over the last few weeks for next year's fires.  More after the break.

Late October Cleanup

It is late October, almost Halloween.  We've cleaned up the yard some, and the gardens, but we're still waiting on the leaves left to fall.  Everything is on time, I'm just anxious to get everything set for winter since I know it is inevitable.  The hanging plants, front and back, have been tossed as well as some of the potted plants.  And I've mulched many of the poor looking hostas so far, frosts will kill the rest and the lily of the valley greens along the garage and I will mulch them with my string trimmer, too.  Leaves will be added eventually.

Kate got the west garden strawberries and herbs laid out with straw for the winter yesterday.






And in the east garden she got the garlic planted and covered with straw and a screen last weekend.  Also the other day she mulched plants and replanted some stump flowers to the garden for winter.  If they make it then they get replanted in spring.

Another look around the back after the break.

Garden and Yard, Winterized

This may be the last post on the garden site, at least for this year.  I've barely kept this site updated this year.  I was hoping that my wife would enjoy posting here, she did a few posts, but that has not happened.  I guess I'll just have to see what happens here next year.

The east garden got the last of our straw a week or so after the last post.  I had to get more so we could add some to the west garden.








We have more than enough garden space and have not been utilizing it to its fullest.  Time is a big factor, so is laziness.  No berries for us this year.

All leaves have been raked, mulched  for the flowerbeds or mowed into the lawn.  Gutters are clean, composted dirt emptied and deterrent spread for whatever has been shitting in my yard.  Only the gnome and a few decorative stakes have yet to be put away.  Some dead plants will have to be removed in spring, this fall has been so mild I let them continue on.

The last yard tour of 2016 after the break.

End Of Season Pictorial

Yes, we have ignored this site for too long.  Not a whole lot has happened to report, but I have tried to keep regular posts going for our records.  Kate has been busy with school and life, I have been lazy - I haven't even posted much at my main blog.  I promise a catch-up post soon.

In the meantime, Kate harvested the parsley yesterday and spread hay over the garlic and some around the raspberries.  It has been an unusually warm October and now November so far.  The garlic started to sprout so we need colder temperatures soon or I don't know what to expect from it.  The garlic is still covered with the screen to protect from squirrel interference.







The winter onions or spring onions above it are meant to stay over winter, I guess.  I don't know the difference and I don't really get it and I don't think Kate does either, but we will find out in the Spring.  A friend from work and her husband recommended them to us.  They gave us some back in late August, if I remember right, and we were to plant them right away so they would be established before winter.  We must also be careful, I guess they like to spread.  I guess we'll see.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.


Pictures of the yard and other remarks after the break!

Catching Up Before Winter

I had been without a computer for a bit so here are the last pics of the garden and yard for the year.

First, the lemon pepper plant being harvested before removal for winter.

And the burning bush peaking.

The garden and yard all prepped for winter.

Finally, the garden as it looks right now. We just came off 10 straight days of below freezing temperatures. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be wet and warmer, temporarily.

Barring anything unforeseen, this blog will be shut down until spring. Let's hope for an easy winter!

Fall Chores, Day 2

Again we took advantage of the nice weather to get the yard and gardens ready for winter, you can read more at the regular site.


Kate planted the garlic in the west garden, in rows above the monster lemon pepper plant (I'm thinking of a pictorial side story on that).  She also spread leaf mulch throughout the flower beds and hay to the garden. 

The first pictures here are of the garden and I will dump a few more pics from today after the break.

Fall Is Here - Mid October Update

Last weekend Kate cleared out the tomato, cucumber and pepper plants from the west garden and potted the thyme.  We have yet to add more soil mostly due to the wet conditions.  It will dry out soon and we shall get more soil and compost added and Kate will get the garlic in for next season.

The east garden no longer has netting and the squirrels are having a ball digging around in the dirt and straw, as you can see, much to my wife's annoyance.

East Garden Update

We did a makeover of the east garden on Tuesday night.  On Wednesday after work we found that the squirrels had a heyday with the strawberry plants, as they have been known to do before, so Kate had to do a lot of replanting.  That made me not wait for the weekend and I stopped off after work today and got a bag of straw.  We use straw to protect the small plants and roots over these cool nights and ultimately winter.  In the spring we remove as much as we can and put it in the path between the gardens to inhibit weed growth.

Anyway, we got home tonight and amazingly the garden was untouched as far as we could tell.  Still, Kate put down some straw to maybe help keep the critters away by hiding the small plant sprouts.  And besides, we're probably not too far away from the first frost.

East Garden Re-Do

Last night we put some work into the east garden to get ready for next season.  It may be a little early, but that should give the plants some time to establish themselves after replanting.

 

 

Here is the final product, replanted and watered.  Also with bird netting in an attempt to keep the critters from digging in it.  It didn't work, Kate had to replant about half the strawberry crowns today after work and we lost a few.  Damn squirrels.

 

See the whole thing, start to finish, after the break!

A Nice Day For Finishing Fall Clean-Up

Yesterday was beautiful, sunny and in the mid-sixties.  We got several things done outside, including cleaning up the yard and garden.  We did not get to the east garden, there are just dead strawberry plants to pull, that can wait until Spring.

Before

What is left is the thyme in the lower left and parsley atop and oregano below more toward the middle in the 'after' pic below.   All around them are garlic sprouts that will probably get covered for winter.  We have a little bit of usable hay left, the bottom of the package is rotting so that hay I will probably use to cover the earth in the right side of the compost bin, the side we aren't using yet.  If you take a closer look, you will see a strawberry plant that is growing in the middle of the right side here.  My guess is maybe a critter left part of a berry behind the trellis that was there all summer, and it actually grew?  I shouldn't be too surprised, the chives pop up in odd places all the time.

Before October Leaves...

I'm a week late in my bi-monthly posts, but I wanted to document how it looks now because Kate is planning on some garden cleanup this weekend.  I expect that she will remove the pea plants and pepper plants toward the right and harvest what herbs she can.  The garlic that was planted for Spring is coming up already, but what can we do now?  I'll try to do a more detailed post this weekend, but for now, it has been relatively untouched since the last post other than I used the sweeper to blow all the leaves I could out of the garden area before I took this pic.

The side of the garden facing the camera has been losing dirt between the boards, especially when it rains.  Either this Fall still, or early next Spring I will have to seal that up.  What you see here and just the top inside of the east garden (not pictured) are the only areas where this is happening.

Preparing The Gardens For Winter

Today was a productive day in the garden.  We got the bags of dirt required, planted the garlic and have the gardens ready for winter.  I say we, but you don't see me in any of these pics.  Kate is awfully protective of me and my problems, she put in a lot of hard work and had the sore muscles to prove it.  Friday she harvested all the usable peppers from the plants she removed today.

Above is the (hopefully) finished product for winter.  She cut down the strawberry plants as much as she could and mulched it with hay, removed the pepper plants, added four bags of dirt and manure, and planted the garlic at the bottom of the west garden (top) and added hay over that as well.  Hopefully the squirrels will leave it all alone now...

More pics after the break:

A Day Before The First Snow

This may be the last post this year about the garden, unless I make it back there for some reason after it snows.  These pics were taken last night after work knowing that we will be getting our first snowfall of the season tonight.  I've heard anywhere from 2-6 inches when it's all done, so I guess we'll just see.  In the west garden the chives, thyme and parsley have been left for dead.  I'm not sure what will come back next year, but whatever does will probably be potted and controlled a little more than running wild in the garden.

The east garden, the strawberry patch, has been mulched with hay for the winter.  I did take the string trimmer out and we cut the tops off the plants, careful not to cut too much or damage the crowns.  Then we covered it in a layer of hay for the imminent winter snow cover.  It didn't take much, only 40 square feet of garden, so maybe half the package we bought from Ace.  I'm not sure what we will do with the hay in the spring.  I guess we'll see what it lookes like in the spring.  I'd like to say 'have a happy winter,' but I hate it too much.  So how's this; I hope you survive winter well!