October 2017

October is a month of mixed feelings.  It's a transitional month where the garden is waning and Winter is coming. This year the garden has been prolific up until the very end it seems.  I am finally just pulling out the tomatoes and green peppers because I have no where to store the continuing production of the plants.  I guess that's a good thing as the garden is totally over run with weeds.

 October 7

 Tired and wrong tomatoes were a great disappointment this year.  Over and over again I've said and written about the miss labeled package that wasn't Rutgers but cherry tomatoes. They look pret-tee sad don't they. Next year will be different.

October 9

The potato harvest was more than I expected. My guess is about 50 pounds from just a couple pounds of potatoes.  These were Walmart potatoes. 

This doesn't look very nice but under all that weed mess are the potatoes.  This year's weed control was a disaster.

Wow, this bed cleaned up good. The potato bed is done for the year.  It's all cleaned up and ready to be covered with yard waste.  The pathways are in terrible shape and I'm beginning to think it was a mistake to put down mulch over the carpet. Another year will tell if mulch was a good thing or not.

This is the potatoes that will be stored in the basement storage room. They will last until about February or March before starting to get squishy. I'd say there are about 15 pounds in each box. 

Those potatoes that were stuck by a fork while digging were canned in the pressure canner.  They will be used for soup during the Winter months.

The green peppers excelled at producing this year.  Last year I didn't get a single pepper from the plants.  This bed was not a good producer from the very beginning.  I did direct composting last fall and spread bags of manure and sprinkled lime on the this bed last Spring.  After digging it in, the bed was mulched with fresh grass clippings and a irrigation setup was built for the bed.  It was hooked up to be watered every day in June. I have so many green peppers stored away in the freezer that I'm wondering if I will be able to eat them all over the Winter. I finally just pulled them out because I didn't want any more peppers.

Yea, finally the green pepper is finished producing.  It's all cleaned up and ready for Winter. The garden beds look great when they are cleaned up.  Now if only I could keep them that way.  I just need more time but it seems that doesn't happen yet.

Saturday October 28
Not much happening in the garden today. The killing frost finally came last night with a vengeance. The low temperature was 15 degrees according to the weather channel. I'm hoping to get things wrapped up at Terra Nova Gardens and Urban Ranch soon.