November is here already. The weather hasn't turned bitterly cold yet but killing frost happens almost every night now. Upper to middle 20s are the norm. Gardening is definitely done expect working on fences and cleaning up the weedy beds. The garden got completely out of control again this year. It's not an easy thing to keep up with all the other things I do and tend to a garden that's as big as I have. I've started planning for next year and have three empty beds that I don't know what to do with. I might be downsizing a bit and just use those beds for building up the soil for the following year.
November 3
Yes this is bed three that had green beans in it. I had planned to harvest the bean pods but it was such a weed mess that it wasn't worth the effort. I weed whacked down the whole mess and covered the bare ground with the leaves I picked up off my front yard.
I'm not sure how that creepy reflection of me got into this picture. It really freaked me out when I saw the picture.
Kids had a good time breaking into my garden this year and messing around with all the stuff inside. This is the second section of fence that I had to replace because they just ripped it open and went inside. The old chicken wire fence needed to be replace anyway so it just stepped up the schedule. Now I need to work on the wooden part of the fence that they damaged. It too was starting to look crappy so this Winter I'll be making a new sign for to cover up the damaged area. In the mean time I'm putting steel fence over that section as well to keep them out as well as wild life. It's not that wild life have any thing to eat inside right now but I don't want them to get into the habit of being inside the garden.
This is a closer look at the fence replaced. I still have to shore up the bottom of the fence to keep critters from digging under the fence. I should have just bent the bottom two sections of fence to a right angle when I installed it but I didn't so now another way will have to do. I'm amazed at how much the Rugosa Rose bushes have grown in the last couple years. Four years ago they were just little sticks that came in the mail. They are really starting to do what I hoped they would do.
Here's a look at the cleaned up section. One more bed was cleaned up after fixing the fence today. This year I don't have any time to do Fall digging of the beds. I just get rid of the weeds down to the bare dirt and cover the bed with yard waste. Next Spring I'll bury the yard waste and prepare the beds for planting. I've discovered that bare beds in the Spring are a good thing. As the weeds sprout, cultivation can be done easily and quickly. It takes about three or four times of cultivation before mulching and planting.
This is the last bed to be cleaned up in the formal part of the garden. Eventually the pathways of this part of the garden will be all poor man's brick and with rock around the beds. There's still much to do but each year I've accomplish quite a bit. It will be exciting to see what will happen next year. I never know what I'll have time to do when the season begins.
This is pretty sad isn't it? All the work and effort that went into the design and building of these sections of the fence are now falling apart. I suspect the demolition kids of the neighborhood helped this along some. I've put a steel welded fence over the sections to keep the critters from getting used to making their way in and out of the garden. Then as time permits the sections will be covered with plywood that's been primed and painted. I hope that lasts longer than the pallet sections did.
This is the haul of squash for this year. Seventy five in total. It's a bit more than I really expected. I'm cutting back next year to half the plants. I'm not sure what I'll be doing with this stash. Hopefully, I can give much of it away.
Monday November 7
Bed 4 where the Eggplant, Zucchini, and Chard was planted has been cleaned and dug. It will get a cover of yard waste when I pickup a couple loads this Thursday from the neighborhood.
So, this is it for the Formal part of the garden. I've started on the inner garden by removing the slanted wire fence that had squash but was supposed to have cucumbers. All the steel posts have been removed. It's a real mess back there. Two of the beds have been cleaned and dug but the others are going to be tough.
The mulch laid down last Fall before the inner steel welded fence went up has pretty much composted down to dirt. I'm going to remove that and just leave the carpet bare. That seems to be a better way of pathway weed control.
I've decided to burn the garden debris. I'm not sure just how I'll be doing it but it seems to be the best way to deal with the pile of debris that comes from the garden every year. It takes too long to compost down and that leaves big piles of weeds and grass laying around. I've thought of a burn barrel but have decided that maybe a permanent burn pit would be better. I have enough rocks to build one. I will have to find out what the requirements are for burning inside the city limits. After research, burning weeds, grass clippings, and leaves is illegal any where in Nebraska. Bummer.
Tuesday November 21
Garden clean up continues as long as the weather holds and the time is available. This is the beginning of the cleanup for beds that are inside the electric fence. This is bed 11 and 12. Bed 11 was the cucumbers and squash. Bed 12 was the first sweet corn bed. I'm thinking that next year I'll only have two sweet corn beds. I was so inundated with sweet corn this year that it buried me. I didn't even harvest the fourth planting at all.
This is beds 9-12 after cleanup. The trimmer, rake, and hula hoe can work wonders on a bed and pathway.
So here's the next three beds that will be the last challenge. It's a real mess. Hopefully, I can get it cleaned up before the snow flies.
