November 24, 2017
The row of Swiss chard that I let go to seed has new plants up now large enough to harvest. I'll move my mini greenhouses over them when the weather turns cold and see if we can't have chard all winter again like last year. It's been such a warm November that all the cauliflower came to head and the two rows of transplanted Brussels sprouts are forming sprouts. The original row of Brussels sprouts are twice as tall as the transplanted rows with lots of sprouts, but they are mostly loose heads. It's the perfect time of year for them to be ripening so there's something I'm missing in order to get tight heads..
It may be a potassium deficiency or too acidic soil. I think having my soil tested would be a good idea. Years of mulch with leaves acidifies the ground so l would be safe to just go ahead and lime it..
November 25, 2017
The garlic and onion sets are already coming up. That's got to be a new record. The warm days and nights of November gave them no time to go dormant. I wonder how early flowering bulbs will be this year. They will probably come up under the snow. I like the new lIfe in the garden, it looks like spring time..
The last five tomatoes have ripened on the kitchen window sill. We had tomatoes until Christmas last year. It's highly unlikely we will have as wet a spring as last year according to one source, but the weather pattern in the Pacific is shaping up the same as last year. Global warming is making climatic predictions more difficult. Us gardeners will have to just bumble along..
November 26, 2017
November is a good time to transplant your ground covers and succulents because you won't have to water them again until summer. You can dig them up shallow like sod and spread them everywhere. I have Babytears encroaching on some of my pathways and started moving them around until I realized that the birds were spreading them too. Now I move them out of the garden like I do Creeping Jenny. I consider ground covers maintenance free because they only get watered when the veggies do, and get runnoff water down the pathways..
They add structure to the garden that is most noticeable in the winter when the garden is less abundant. Succulents seem incredibly hearty. They keep coming up everywhere and always look healthy. I don't think I've ever killed a patch..
