10 Fall Garden Tasks

1. Compost disease-free or frost-killed annual plant material, or work it into the garden soil to decompose before spring. 
2. Weed. Weeding helps keep them at bay and not getting a strong hold in the garden.
3. Add compost or manures to the fall garden soil so they have time to mellow before spring planting, feeding beneficial soil microorganisms over winter.
4. Mulch fallen leaves with a mower (bagger on) or a leaf sucker, so they break down more quickly. Incorporate mulched leaves into beds or compost. Leaves increase organic matter, which helps soil absorb and hold water, as well as feed soil organisms. 
5. Cut back perennials. If you live in a wet winter climate, cutting back in fall can help plants from staying too wet and rotting.
6. Clean tools. Remove any soil left on tools with a stiff, steel-bristle brush. Remove rust by scrubbing your tools with steel wool until the signs of rust are gone. Then rub the metal and wood with mineral oil, and store in a dry area.
7. Make notes. As gardeners, we’re already thinking about what to do differently next year.
8. Soil test. Fall is a great time to do a soil test. Look to your local county Cooperative Extension Service, which often performs soil tests, or can advise you on a local place to submit your test.
9. Store seeds in a cool, dry area. This is a good time to take inventory, creating a reorder for next year. 
10. Request seed catalogs!!!

For further reading got to: Essential Fall Garden Tasks

Fall Garden Update 2016

Now is the time to start planting your veggies for fall harvests!  Here is a great article explaining what to do and when to do it! 

Fall Garden Vegetables

Here is what I have planted so far in my fall garden:

• broccoli
• carrots
• beets
• turnips
• lettuce
• kale
• arugula
• peas
• bush beans
• cilantro

These are growing alongside the vegetables that are still producing in the garden like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. 

 

My pumpkins are also coming along strong!

Growing Herbs

Here is a great article that explains how to grow herbs and which ones are the best to grow in your own yard!

Growing Herbs in the Garden

Garden Weeds: 8 Most Effective Ways To Get Rid Of Them For Good

Here are some ways to keep the weeds out of your garden without resorting to nasty chemicals that will damage the quality of your crops and your soil.

Natural Ways to Kill Weeds

Not Too Early To Start Planning Fall Crops

It is that time to start planing what you are going to grow and harvest this fall!  Here is a great article at one of my favorite websites for gardening tips!

Fall Garden Planting Guide

Growing Zucchini

I LOVE zucchini and this year I have planted some in a raised bed I made from landscape edging and garden soil.  

June Garden Chores 2016

June Garden Chores Included:

1. Weeding, Weeding, Weeding
2. Watering regularly
3. Watching closely for bug invaders...so far none...keeping fingers crossed that this holds true for the rest of the summer.
4. Built 2 more raised beds and planted zucchini and cantaloupe in them. They are growing quickly...must like the HOT weather!  I have caged a couple of the zucchini to grow them vertically and protect them from critters!
5. Planted 3 sweet potato slips in 2 grow bags...hoping that this works.
6. Planted cucumbers and built a simple trellis for them...going vertical with them this year.
7. Harvested the beets...planted onions in their place.
8. Harvested the sugar snap peas from the container...replaced with green beans in same container.
9. Planted more sugar snap peas near the trellis in the large raised bed.  Hoping that they sprout and do well.
10. Planted more lettuce and spinach to extend these harvests.
11. Planted some spaghetti squash...seeing if this takes...never have grown this before.
12. Planted all the tomato (12) and pepper plants (19) I was gifted.  Holy cow I hope these all take!
13. Transplanted and thinned the tomatoes I started from seed.  Have given away 12 of them.  Still have over 80 in starter pots.  Holy Moly...that is a ton of tomatoes!!!
14. Harvest the potatoes.  I was excited because this was the first time to grow potatoes.  I will need to plant more next year! Planted some bush beans in the place of the potatoes.  
15. Harvesting the herbs as needed.  Planted another round of cilantro from seed. I need this for my salsa when the tomatoes and peppers and onions are ready!

Lovely Lavender

I am so excited that the lavender that I planted this year is starting to bloom!  It smells heavenly and I hope it is helping to keep the bugs away from the patio area. So many possibilities to use this medicinal herb in the future!!

May Garden Updates 2016

This weekend I accomplished these garden tasks:

1. Ordered some grow bags for the sweet potatoes.  They should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.  I am hoping that these work since I cannot till the west area because it is too wet still.
2. Added holes for drainage to 3 new containers in the container garden.  They contain beans, carrots, and onions.
3. Weeded. Weeded, Weeded
4. Added the kitchen scraps to the compost pile.  I now need to stir it and add more brown layers.  Wish I had more dead leaves around here...ugh!
5. Picked a few ripe blackberries.  They are starting to ripen now!
6. Trying to figure out a new plan for the cucumbers, cantaloupe, zucchini, and the watermelon.  I am thinking I will try pallets for the zucchini, cantaloupe, and watermelon.  I might put the cucumbers in one of the 3 grow bags I ordered since I only need 2 for the sweet potatoes.  I ordered 3 because they came in a 3-pack.

May Garden Chores

May Garden Chores Included: 

1. Weeding all flower beds and containers.
2. Planting the salsa garden raised bed.
3. Taking pictures of all the flowers and growth.
4. Putting out and keeping filled the Oriole feeders.  They love oranges and grade jelly!!
5. Harvesting herbs.
6. Planted more herbs.
7. Adding more herbs to pots.  I found some wild chives that I added.
8. Finding some volunteer cilantro plants while weeding and transplanting them to the pot of cilantro.  I have 2 pots of cilantro.
9. Planting all seedlings from their little greenhouses.
10. Improving the soil in the large raised bed and replanting spinach, carrots, radishes, broccoli, and sugar snap peas. 
11. Harvesting the lettuce and planting some more for continued harvest all summer.  
12.  Adding more containers to the container garden.  Planted tomatoes (some plants and some from seed to extend the growing season), carrots, bush beans, more basil, and seedlings from the mini greenhouse. 
13. Added pansies to the rock garden area in 2 pots.
14.  Planted another large blackberry bush that I got at a great deal at local nursery.
15. Weeding, Weeding, Weeding

Salsa Garden Raised Bed

Finally got my salsa garden raised bed finished!  Tomatoes, sweet peppers, and jalapeno peppers!

Milkweed Planted

On May 21 I planted more milkweed in my new planters I made.  Hoping it grows quickly for the Monarchs!

Growing Cherry Tomatoes

If you grow nothing else this summer, treat yourself to one cherry tomato plant and savor their flavor!

https://www.almanac.com/blog/gardening/gardening/gro

wing-cherry-tomatoes

Growing A Salad

The lettuce I planted in March was ready to harvest!  Growing a salad is fun and tasty!!

April Garden Chores

April Garden Chores

• I planted  strawberries (I will keep the blossoms pinched off the first year so they develop strong roots)
• The last average frost date was this month. That means I could plant warm-season annuals (tomatoes, peppers, basil, marigolds, petunias, and the like) since all danger of frost has passed.Still working on finishing these tasks due to spring rains.
• I will wait to plant seeds for corn, green beans, squash, cucumbers, okra, sweet potatoes and other heat-lovers until the soil has warmed to 60 degrees F. That's warm enough for you to walk on it comfortably barefoot. This should be very soon!
• Also worked on flower garden areas and getting all the perennials and annuals planted there.  Still need to add rocks to the rock garden area.
• I have 1 more flower garden area to weed and thin out.  That will be done in May because of April rains!
• Weeded the herb garden and the mint garden areas.
• Built a trellis for the sweet peas in the container garden area.

Happy National Wildflower Week

National Wildflower Week takes place each year in the first week of May, which signals a time when most of the country is bursting with blooming wildflowers. This week-long celebration was started by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. As Johnson once said, wildflowers “give us a sense of where we are in this great land of ours.”

THE BENEFITS OF WILDFLOWERS

• Wildflowers are extremely easy to grow. They create easy, low-maintenance color in almost any sunny spot, needing little water once established.
• Wildflowers help our pollinators. Native and non-native wildflowers are integral to pollinators' survival. Planting a wildflower meadow gives bees, butterflies and hummingbirds a nectar buffet to feed on all season long.
• Wildflowers are good for the environment. Instead of spending your time and resources on mowing a huge lawn, replace half of it with easy-to-grow wildflowers that only require mowing once per season.
• Wildflowers provide spectacular color. There’s nothing more awe-inspiring than a wildflower garden or meadow bursting in bloom, and we carry over 240 individual species and 50 mixtures for any garden, big or small.
• Wildflowers are fun. Whether you’re a new gardener or a seasoned pro, growing, caring for and cutting wildflowers for summer bouquets is a lot of fun.

For further information see this link:

http://www.americanmeadows.com/blog/2016/05/02/happy-national-wildflower-week/

How much should you plant in your garden to provide a year’s worth of food?

Check out the great article that gives some great advice and lists of how much do I grow!

http://www.wellfedhomestead.com/how-much-should-you-plant-in-your-garden-to-provide-a-years-worth-of-food

Cold Hardy Veggies Raised Bed Update April 2016

As of April 24, 2016 the raised bed with the cold hardy veggies is not doing so well.  I am hoping to see if I can fix that over the next few weeks.  I am thinking it may be a soil issue... will see if I can add some compost to it to improve the situation.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I do not lose all the vegetables I have planted there..ugh!

Container Garden Update April 2016

I have gotten most of my containers ready and planted in...just a few more to go!  Here are some shots of what  I have gotten done so far!

Lettuce Garden Raised Bed Update

Here is what the lettuce looks like this week!!! Pictures taken on Sunday April 24.

Marigolds 2016

I got a great deal on some Marigolds at the local garden center!  I got them planted on Saturday April 23 and Sunday April 24. Hoping they help keep the bugs at bay this summer!!!