Now That the Leaves Have Fallen Off

Bob Bauer

November 12, 2017 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 2 minutes

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November 12, 2017

Now that the leaves have fallen off the grape vines it's a good time to cut them back. It's much easier to see where you want to cut . I don't think there's a right way or wrong way trim them unless you're a commercial grower. Grapes only form on new growth, so they cut them way back. My vines are for privacy so I let the outside of the fence grow and only trim the garden side. If I'm in a hurry I'll use a machete but I'm more inclined now to use a trimmers..

Snip snip is preferred to hack hack. I cut them all the way back to the fence to increase the sunshine, but still lose a lot of growing ground along them. It's interesting to see how plants will lean away from dark colored plants that also block the sky. They get lots of photons from the sky as well as the sun..

November 13, 2017

Like the leaves we gather to enrich our garden soil we too recycle through the earth. Mother Nature is the Alpha and Omega of life on this planet. Being cremated contributes to air pollution so I think we should be freeze dried, sanitized, pelletized and spread on the corn fields. Although 30% of the corn grown goes into making ethanol, which you know is a bad thing..

We take free energy in the form of sunlight and turn it into pollution. That's as bad as if we were to add pollutants to our aquifer. Wait, we do that too? No wonder Steven Hawking said we may only have 600 years left to colonize another planet..

November 14, 2017

I picked three more artichokes today from the same plant that I got the last three from. None of the other plants have produced yet this fall. The plant that's producing is the one that almost drowned last spring with all of our rainfall. It has shallow roots on a clay footing. It produced the smallest chokes of all the plants last year so I should consider moving it. Artichokes should be thinned every three years..

Mine are over due for a relocation. Kale seeds keep germinating in my kale patch. I've got three inchers all the way up to three footers. I don't know the optimal size for overwintering but I'll know by next year..

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