Putting the Garden to Bed

It was a mild day yesterday, so I took advantage of the lack of rain to start putting the garden away for the winter. First I cleaned out a bed and planted the garlic - seven varieties, the larges bulbs from each (Inchelium, Chesnok, Kahzakstan, Germany White, Germany Red, German Extra Hardy (which seems to be a soft neck variety), Crysalis Purple and Purple Stripe. Planted 20-27 of each variety.

Then I attacked the rest of the garden. Pulled out stakes, pulled out weeds, dug out weeds, dug out beds. I only got six beds done - the weeds were out of control. I really should weed in the summer, but this summer it was just so wet...

Then each of the beds I cleaned out (six down, ten to go, plus the new patch to prep if I want to use it next summer), I added my soil ammendments. Since I am still manure-short, I used greensand, rock phsophate, and domomite lime. I targeted the five beds that have had a sour smell since the first year I put them in (three years ago). Admittedly the smell isn't as bad, which means the soil must be improving, but every so often I get a whiff of it - a sure indication of acidic and generally poor conditions. Which also explains why the buttercups and other noxious weeds do so darn well here.

My day started at 9:00 AM, with a walk for the dog, followed by cutting up fat to render into lard. It ended at 6:30 PM with me pounding in posts for snowfencing to protect the cedar hedge from the deer this winter. Needless to say, it was a long day.

But, it's a good thing I did what I did, for this is what it looked like this morning:

That's the garlic, under the snow.

Crabapple bent under the snow.

After taking the dog for a very short walk, I turned him loose in the yard so I could knock the heavy wet snow off the apple trees. They still have their leaves (as you can see by the crabapple), so their branches were bent way down; the new apples were actually bent to the ground, an easy feat since they are mostly just a single whip of a stem.

Snow Falling on Crabapples

Potato Musings

Hm...after writing a detailed blog for the Adirondack Almanack about Colorado Potato Beetles, and having sprayed mine prior to the article, I was convinced that the spraying I did (using an "organic" insecticide) had been futile. Still, I haven't seen any CPB on my potatoes since. Hm.

Now, I will admit that I haven't scoured them for evidence. We've had rainy weather or hot and humid weather, or I've been rushing off to other engagements and haven't had time to really spend in the garden. Still, casual glances at the plants have not yielded any adults, or eggs (although the latter will be hiding under the leafs if they are there). And now the potatoes I planted have sent up leaves, so I really need to survey the crop and see what sort of infestation I can find.

Meanwhile, the rose cafers are back. >sigh< Encouraged by the potential benefit to my potatoes, I filled up the sprayer and hit the hops, viburnum, grapes, and current with the insecticide...and it rained within the hour. The buggers are back and breeding everywhere! The horticulture folks will say that these insects eat the white flowers, and while that is true (I lose the flowers every year on the viburnum), they also wreak havoc on the leaves of everything else!!! Picking them off is an endless task.

But not all news from the garden is bad. My peas are doing great - over a foot tall now and growing. And greens are coming up. Oh, and my beets have put in an appearance - a first for them. Carrots are up but Spartan. I need to transplant them, spreading the clumps out to fill up "holes."

Pumpkins and squash are also doing well so far, and the sunflowers, marigolds, cosmos, and herbs have started to sprout as well.

Waiting to go from seed to produce can be difficult. While we wait, we weed. Some weeds just don't get the hint.

Now, if only I could figure out the sour soil! I mentioned it a year or so ago, but still have no answer.