tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post6145341266161137606..comments2024-03-17T05:30:42.919-04:00Comments on The Gardening Me: Main Garden Update - Early OctoberMargarethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-64935569547746693052015-10-11T21:38:40.584-04:002015-10-11T21:38:40.584-04:00Eek...not sure I would want to eat a tomato off of...Eek...not sure I would want to eat a tomato off of one of those ;)Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-58068145243369729382015-10-11T16:17:56.485-04:002015-10-11T16:17:56.485-04:00You still have lots happening. There are always lo...You still have lots happening. There are always lots of tomatoes growing on filter beds ar water filtration works from seeds that have passed through your sewage system.Sue Garretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164518448098182276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-25099093526928142032015-10-11T10:53:49.482-04:002015-10-11T10:53:49.482-04:00Since I wrote this post I have actually ripped out...Since I wrote this post I have actually ripped out all of the plants except for the Juliet and Mountain Magic but the tomatoes are moving along so slowly I'm getting a bit impatient - I'll probably wait another day or two as we are having some lovely weather, but then it will be time to put that bed to "bed".Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-40769138956600284442015-10-11T10:47:44.233-04:002015-10-11T10:47:44.233-04:00Oh how lucky - I'm actually wondering what kin...Oh how lucky - I'm actually wondering what kind of a microclimate the hilltop garden has. I'm thinking of leaving a pepper or two in the hilltop beds just to see if they are affected by frost in the same way as the beds down in the main garden. It's been a couple of months since we have had fresh lettuce from the garden again and I really miss it - it's one of those veg that really surprised me in terms of how much I loved it compared to what we purchase in the store.Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-22908031022781117202015-10-11T09:57:49.637-04:002015-10-11T09:57:49.637-04:00You have a lot of lovely greens growing there! Tha...You have a lot of lovely greens growing there! That carrot bed looks especially lush. I hope they size up for you in time. It's interesting that Mt Magic is holding on for you. Just the other day I was noticing my plant was one of the last cherry types producing, though it's really too big to be called a cherry. I'm a fan too!Dave @ HappyAcreshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03441364543023807886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-76367451381222859352015-10-10T22:38:14.446-04:002015-10-10T22:38:14.446-04:00It's been very mild here, too. No frost yet an...It's been very mild here, too. No frost yet and it looks like the first spotty frost might come next Friday. But usually when that happens, we don't get it because our house is up a bit from a valley. Your lettuces are filling in nicely--how great to have fresh lettuce into the middle of fall! Those Tomatoes look interesting and yummy, too!Beth at PlantPostingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10473637655960119672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-9885200526576803022015-10-10T21:24:53.245-04:002015-10-10T21:24:53.245-04:00Thanks Rachel. I'll probably harvest the leek...Thanks Rachel. I'll probably harvest the leeks this week sometime as they don't really seem to be getting any bigger. I've never had homegrown leeks before - can't wait to taste them!Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-56174864300463138892015-10-10T21:23:18.454-04:002015-10-10T21:23:18.454-04:00I usually start by putting the blighted tomato pla...I usually start by putting the blighted tomato plants in the garbage, but that can get tedious when there are so many of them, so I turn to burning them instead. I think that I may just burn them from now on instead of adding to the land fill. I suppose that means lots more volunteers in my future!Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-23455397454107638762015-10-10T21:20:11.291-04:002015-10-10T21:20:11.291-04:00It does seem like almost anything makes a good pes...It does seem like almost anything makes a good pesto! I've never had a volunteer tomato before & it was such a nice surprise. I also enjoy seeing such a lovely, green tomato plant when all of my purposeful plantings are keeling over from blight. Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-30199862073792041712015-10-10T18:31:14.484-04:002015-10-10T18:31:14.484-04:00Your fall garden looks wonderful! Leeks are always...Your fall garden looks wonderful! Leeks are always hit or miss for me, but they taste good no matter what size.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01129119492962711399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-75631697343851193382015-10-10T16:35:34.995-04:002015-10-10T16:35:34.995-04:00Your carrot bed looks very healthy, hope you get s...Your carrot bed looks very healthy, hope you get some sizable carrots before it's too late. At my old house, we burned the tomato stalks because we didn't have enough space for that type of composting so I used to get plants come up in the fire pit all the time - haven't thought of that for a while!Susiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354350096358468967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-43874524917969575092015-10-10T13:54:02.503-04:002015-10-10T13:54:02.503-04:00You have a lot of goodies left in your garden. Tha...You have a lot of goodies left in your garden. That broccoli looks great. I guess you could try carrot top pesto if the roots don't size up. (Is there anything that can't be made into pesto?) Crazy volunteer tomatoes, I get them volunteering in my gravel paths and they do produce little ripe fruits that the birds love to eat.Michellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07812702328134261533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-13558507515167296882015-10-09T22:08:01.999-04:002015-10-09T22:08:01.999-04:00Normally I make seed mats "a la Granny" ...Normally I make seed mats "a la Granny" when I sow carrots: (http://annieskitchengarden.blogspot.ca/2009/09/september-22-2009-home-made-seed-mat.html). This time round I just didn't have the time so I did it the quick and dirty way - created a shallow furrow with the side of my hand and sprinkled the seeds in and then covered them back up. The great thing about Granny's method is that thinning is nowhere near as tedious as when you sprinkle them in freehand.<br /><br />I would think that your lettuce would just sail through your winter, especially if it had a row cover on it. I was able to harvest lettuce until November a couple of years ago using a row cover and I have a feeling our November temps are colder than you February temps ;)Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-73307088219105286642015-10-09T21:59:53.386-04:002015-10-09T21:59:53.386-04:00I definitely have a love-hate relationship with my...I definitely have a love-hate relationship with my netting. It does the job so well - as you can obviously attest to! - but is a bit of a pain to get into. You may have noticed that I didn't remove it completely when I was snapping the photos for the post and beds that are netted always end up at the bottom of the list when it comes to weeding. And you are so right about Mother Nature - she never fails to give me a few surprises each season.Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-48437829993110332022015-10-09T10:23:57.821-04:002015-10-09T10:23:57.821-04:00That's a nice bed of carrots, hopefully they&#...That's a nice bed of carrots, hopefully they'll size up for you soon. And you're direct sown lettuces are doing great. How do you plant your carrots, do you sprinkle soil over the seed or do you broadcast seed and then rake them in?<br /><br />They're predicting our first frost for November 18th, which seems kinda late, and a very mild December. The lettuces and spinach I chose are supposed to over winter but I'll be trying row covers/garden fleece as well.Phuonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07658691564062044986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-67550163621431100032015-10-09T10:16:14.309-04:002015-10-09T10:16:14.309-04:00I think nets are a necessity on lots of crops thes...I think nets are a necessity on lots of crops these days, there's just so many pests around, and new ones being discovered every year. I used enviromesh to cover my carrots for the first time this year, it's expensive but it certainly did the job, that and the new raised bed have given me my best carrots ever. Isn't it funny how plants quite happily spring up here and there and yet we sometimes have so much trouble getting things to germinate. I definitely think Mother Nature knows best.Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17436932004631816039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-35358854667682610292015-10-09T09:38:58.571-04:002015-10-09T09:38:58.571-04:00I've never tried BT - I'm not even sure we...I've never tried BT - I'm not even sure we can get it here. It does seem like something that would be handy to keep on hand, so I'll have to look around.<br /><br />Ripe tomatoes from volunteers - wow! Now that I have a "real" compost pile instead of just a black bin, I may get a lot more volunteers like that in the future - it will be fun to see what comes up. Although my tomatoes are so diseased that all my trimmings and those I pulled last week went straight into the garbage. I do hate wasting all of that green matter, but what can you do.Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15949946977793864054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2884216770926932676.post-52151062317784703702015-10-09T09:04:43.909-04:002015-10-09T09:04:43.909-04:00Thanks for the update Margaret, it's always ni...Thanks for the update Margaret, it's always nice to see what you're up to. Don't despair about your leeks, mine look about the same size and will never reach baseball bat proportions, but they are tasty, and anyway, how much can you use? I can't stand row covers, but have had good luck spraying brassicas with BT. Funny about your volunteer tomatoes, every year I get them in my compost bins, and one year we even got ripe tomatoes from them!Eight Gate Farm NHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15877942009419912353noreply@blogger.com