Category: Gardening

It’s a good time to gather up your Swiss chard seeds before the November rains come. You can strip them right off the stems by the handful. I dry mine in the afternoon sun to get the morning dew to evaporate, otherwise they might mold in storage. My son went gung-ho in seed gathering this year with Swiss chard, hollyhocks, […]

The fall planted lettuce never got thinned so it’s now a short, thick hedge. It makes harvesting it with a scissors easy. It’s not as sweet as spring lettuce but only a buffoon would call it bitter :). It’s “tangy” ok? The dark color is because it’s full of chlorophyll, which some people think is so good for you that […]

I limed my garden yesterday. Well, part of it anyway. The six pound bag of lime that my wife brought home instructed me to apply 4-5 lbs per 100 sq ft. If you don’t know the pH of your soil, you don’t know how much lime to apply. I did an internet search and came up with another gem. It […]

The most important thing you can do for your garden during fall cleanup is to much. All the plants that come out will leave dirt exposed to the elements. Erosion and compaction can result when rain batters the ground. Covering exposed soil is the cornerstone to healthy gardens. You can use leaves, straw, hay, compost, tree shreddings, shavings and discarded […]

The first picking of fall planted spinach resulted in a large bowl full. They didn’t look like much on the ground, but just the outer leaves filled the bowl. We have another month before the hard November freezes when I’ll cover them with plastic covered hoops. Last year saw an overwintered row, so with luck and timing I may be […]

Yesterday I discovered baby carrots growing in the shade under the Jasmine Nicotiana. I had planted them in early spring and thought the slugs had gotten them. I forgot about them and some germinated, grew a bit, and then went dormant due to the lack of sunlight. Beets went dormant last year when the asparagus ferns grew over them. They […]

We are eating corn on the cob again :). After the freeze killed the stalks I picked all the ears and put them in the refrigerator. I don’t know if they ripened in there or just turn yellow when cooked. I don’t care, I’m loving it. It’s like getting back corn that was robbed from you. It may not be […]