Fall

Today is the first day of Fall. Where did the summer go? We had a horrible winter which went to a soggy wet spring and a rather cool (for us anyway) summer. Not one day over 100 and very few hot humid days. Usually we have a stretch of hot humid weather about a week or so long, but not this year. There were a couple of days, but not the knock you out humidity.The garden is starting to die back a bit. The cucumbers are pretty much done as well as the zucchini, we are still getting a few patty pan squash. I have a second planting of green beans that are starting to produce so hopefully will get a nice amount off of them to put in the freezer. The swiss chard is still going like gangbusters, tomatoes are good and have gotten several to put in the dehydrator. Once it warmed up the jalapenos and green peppers have really started to produce....since the spring and summer were so cool I was worried that we wouldnt get any since the plants just stayed so puny. Peppers like warm weather to produce and grow well....it just took a while to get there. I also planted galic in the spring, it was an experiment as I have never grown it before. Dont know why as it was just like putting onion sets in the ground. I am just hoping that it will be done. After doing some reading online about garlic it looks like it is supposed to be planted in the fall so if it fails maybe I will buy more heads to try planting in October. Like the onions they dont take up much room so I just planted the garlic in between the pepper plants. We also have beets that are doing well, the broccoli I didnt put fencing around and the chickens have pretty much pecked it apart, the cabbage was also a first time for us. The cabbage moths and cabbage loppers are horrible. I dont like using pesticides on the garden and havent had to, but if I wanted any cabbage using some was going to be a must! The little green caterpillars devour the leaves and just make a mess. You can tell where they have been by the droppings that they leave behind. I did try to hand pick them off and giving them to the chickens, but that was a losing battle. Next year I think that I will give a row cover a try. Something to cover the row of cabbage so the moths cant get in there to lay their eggs. Something that I really need to get in gear is my cold frame. I would like to give some fall plantings of spinach, lettuce, maybe more swiss chard a try. Once the garden is done the chicken wire will come down and then the chickens can go in there and eat any produce that fell off the vine....I had a horrible time with volunteer tomato plants this year. Lots of tomato plants everywhere. When the chickens are done I will add what I can to the compost....the zucchini and cucumber vines I will give to the goats. The squash borers got to some of the zucchini plants and I dont want to keep those buggers around. We are blessed here to be able to grow and expand in our garden. If you dont have the same luxury there are lots of things that you can grow in pots. One of my favorite places to buy seeds is www.superseeds.com They have lots of interesting seeds at a pretty decent price, along with a nice selection of container plants. Happy Plantings!