The Fall Garden is Still Strong

Bob Bauer

November 10, 2016 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

November 07, 2016

The bumblebees are still visiting the hollyhock flowers, which seems rare for November 7th. It's been a warm fall, with no frost and warm rain, so we still have an abundance of insects to enjoy. Lots of broccolini , the small florets that form after the main head gets picked, are ripening but the cauliflower seems to be taking its dear sweet time. The tomatoes are still ripening but the zucchini leaves are such a pale green that I think it's done for..

Best fall garden ever, and I'm getting a mouse every night in the mouse trap inside the squirrel trap. The mice are getting smaller so I guess I'll be emptying the nest again..

November 08, 2016

The bottoms of my butternut squash are getting moldy and cracking so frost or not they have got to get picked. We had a warmer and wetter October this year and that may have allowed the mold to get an upper hand. It may have been because my moldy hay mulch already had the spores in it, and the lack of chilly nights didn't interfere with its germination..

Global warming is making subtle changes in our environment that we are unable to predict the consequences of, so us gardeners are going to be required to be more observant and not totally rely on the gardening tomes of the past..

November 11, 2016

I don't think my last planting of corn is going to make it. It's about 3' tall, tassels and ears, but pollination got interrupted. November corn is a bit much to expect, but it looks pretty. A worthwhile experiment as it turns out because I learned that a 3' wide walkaway is a waste of space. I had 14 corn seeds leftover and the only place to plant them was in a 3' pathway..

The pathway is a relic of the time when I thought I needed to get a two wheeled cart through the garden. I now realize that you only need enough space for a wheelbarrow, about a foot wide. It's better to make two trips with a wheelbarrow than one trip with a cart in order to have more plantable ground..

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