Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Around the Garden










The biggest news in the garden this week...the tunnels are up! At this moment they are covered with light frost protection covers, and as soon as the much colder weather arrives they will get a second cover with plastic. If all goes as I have read, we should be eating greens fresh from the garden well into winter.

As you can see, one tunnel is further along than the other. They were planted about two, maybe three weeks apart, so the second one should catch up soon, especially with the summer-like temperatures Mother Nature is gifting us this week. The herbs, parsley, sage, and rosemary, survived the transplant to the tunnels, and the strawberries, they just keep on coming. I picked a large handful on Monday morning, and there is another handful ready to be picked. If you plant strawberries, I highly recommend everbearing plants. Strawberries in June are wonderful, but when the second harvest is ready in September, it is amazing! They are also a little less work than June bearing strawberries because they don't produce a lot of runners, which some may not like, as it means less runners to replant for future years. These plants have been in production for four years, and will be dug up at the end of this season. I have moved the little alpine strawberries, and a few runners, to a new bed, and next spring they will be joined by new strawberry plants, everbearing, of course.

Other than that things have been pretty quiet in the garden. I picked up the garlic for planting at the market this weekend, but there is still another month before I will plant it, and I do need to cover all the beds in leaves, but not enough have fallen from the trees yet. So we are in a bit of lull, a good lull though. A little time to relax, and dream, before the last push.

How are things around your garden?

26 comments:

  1. yay! the tunnels are up! so do they get enough sunlight all day long? Like a green house? That's my guess. Love the idea of picking from a garden after the growing season is supposed to end :)

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    1. They are, and it feels darn amazing Karen. Yes, the protective covers let sunlight, and water through. And keep the bugs at bay, for the most part. A little something has been enjoying a little snack here and there :)

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  2. are the tunnels high enough to stand in? or do you crawl in to harvest? they are brilliant !!!

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    1. No, not tall enough to stand in. I harvest from each end, or can roll up the sides and reach in. I am not sure how this will be in the winter, especially if we get as much snow as last year. It will be a bit of an experiment this year.

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  3. Now it does look a bit more like an Autumn garden, with those tunnels up. How lovely to be still enjoying all that goodness for quite some time to come. We're having lovely warm sunny days here at the moment, but the nights and early mornings have suddenly dropped off a lot colder, it feels like a first frost might not be too far off. Are your frosty starts usually quite early in Autumn?

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    1. It does, doesn't it? We were well into fall weather, but this week we have returned to much warmer temperatures and lots of sunshine...we are soaking it up. Our first frost is usually at the end of September, beginning of October, but we did have our first frost warning last week, but it didn't happen, which made this homesteader quite happy.

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  4. I just got some garlic ordered too, but will wait until closer to Halloween. We have peppers still going, but not much else. I'm enjoying the slow-down, truth be told.

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    1. The slow down is nice, isn't it? It is all part of the rhythm of gardening.

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  5. Wow! Just look at all that life exploding out of your gardens! Amazing. Beautiful. And I am just green with jealously about those strawberries. Everbearing... Filling that away. Have a beautiful week.

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    1. It is pretty darn amazing, and I am loving the amount of green in our fall garden. Yes, file that away, you can't beat strawberries in late September. Thank you, my friend, you too! xo

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  6. Oh my goodness, I have missed so much, being away. What wonderful things you have going on in that garden of yours! xo

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    1. Thanks Meghann. Missed you around the blog world, happy to see you back. xo

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  7. Oh radishes, i can't wait to plant radishes. As you know the garden is really coming together now! I'm glad you having a lull!

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    1. And I can't wait to harvest the radishes :)

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  8. Oh exciting for you and I know you will enjoy all the fresh greens during the cold winter months. I need to get more kale planted before it's too late, it's on tomorrow's list.

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    1. You bet we will Tracey :) Have fun in the garden tomorrow.

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  9. Beautiful garden and, oh! Those strawberries! So wonderful.

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  10. Sounds like you are enjoying the nice weather that has and will be gracing us this week! :) We picked apples today - a "spur-of-the-moment" decision that proved to be just perfect.

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    1. We most definitely are. We went apple picking too! Such a wonderful day for it.

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  11. Hello, this post is very interesting. I also wanted to try to put a small tunnel, is the first time. The climate where you live how is? It's snowing, it's very cold? I live 656 meter above the sea level, in the mountains.

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    1. Thanks Melinda. Right now the weather is very summer like, but in the next few months the temperatures will drop, and then the snow will come. We receive varying amounts every year, with last year being a very heavy snow year. Temperatures are known to drop quite low, with some days feeling as cold as -30 to -40 with the windchill. For the most part we hover around -5 to -10 throughout the winter.

      This is our first year with the tunnels, so it is a bit of a experiment. We have done some reading, and research, and will give it a go. I will continue to update as the winter arrives and keep the blog up to date with harvests and how things are going.

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  12. Your fall plantings are simply amazing. We have started to shut down gardens. I did pick over 8 lbs of swiss chards for cooking and freezing yesterday and 6 little mini cabbages (savoy). They are all about the size of soft balls. We decided to stop production. We picked all the ground cherries we could and took the plants out. Last week's frost killed the plants. Still in the ground : herbs, radishes, beet greens, carrots and kale. Our cover crops are doing well. The fall rye is already 4 inches tall. Still picking calendula, bee balm and lavendar. But at this point, we are heavy into planning for next spring. Putting in 3 new beds, including a border garden along the drive way in the front yard. Very exciting!

    Happy harvest fried and yes! Yay for summer like days!

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    1. Thanks Yanic, they taste pretty good too :) Did you get a frost? We had a warning, and it dropped down to zero, but there was a lovely breeze, so not frost. Sounds like you have some exciting plans for next year, can't wait to see them all.

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  13. Your climate seems so much like ours but you get so much more out of your garden!! I think I need to invest in some tunnels (hubby thinks they will blow away!).
    Do you just cover your garden in leaves for the winter and leave it like that? Will you be covering your garlic with straw? F.i.L slowly coming around to the idea of a few raised beds!! - do you find that they help with keeping slugs at bay? Sorry for all the questions but you do this gardening thing so well!!!

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    1. I would think we are pretty similar Emma. As for blowing away, if you look closely at the first photo, across the top and sides there are black clasps. My hubby made them from some rubber tubing. They hold the row covers on, and once we put the plastic on, we will add more to hold the plastic on. They are also anchored at either end with rocks, and the sides will get weighted down for the winter with some 2 by 4's.

      Keep in mind, this is very experimental for us this winter. This is what I have read, and am putting it into practice. Fingers are crossed it all works out :)

      Yes, a good layer of leaves. They will decompose over the winter, and then I will mix them into the garden in the spring.

      Yes, the garlic does get covered in straw, a good thick layer.

      We don't have a huge problem with slugs, we do have some, but not a lot. Not sure if it is because of the raised beds or not?

      No problem at all. Happy to share what I know. Hope it helps.

      Enjoy your weekend.

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