Garden Friday

Welcome to Garden Friday,

where we share what's happening in our Piedmont garden.

The weather has been absolutely delightful,

and the best autumn so far since we moved up here.

Row covers were added to several beds in order to foster germination, 

because we've had mornings in the 40's and 50's.

So far, it's not looking good

and this may be the first year that I'll have to purchase starts.

It's a joy to see the pollinators enjoying the weather too.

This week, the garlic was planted.

I ran a bit short, as one of the bulbs that we saved

from last year's harvest, was found to be rotted out.

No matter, we filled most of a 3X8 bed with cloves

and are looking forward to watching it come along.

 

 

Rather than plant by specific spacing,

I decided to put five cloves in each 1-foot square.

 I keep seeing the picture in my head 

of what it will look like when it comes up,

and that seemed like a good design.

We'll see.

 The cover crops were also sown this week in last year's garlic bed.

This raised bed mix is a blend of several crops

including oats, buckwheat, peas and a few other things.

I noted on the label, the last item listed

was Noxious Weeds:  none. 

 

It's the first time I've used this blend,

although each winter I do sow one bed with cover crops

just to give it a boost.

The hope is that extra nutrients will enable 

whatever is planted there to do well.

 

 One of our chooks, Wilma, is looking a sight.

She has lost most of her feathers due to molting,

and just looks so pitiful.

I've been keeping Gandolf away from her as much as possible,

as it can be very painful for them to be touched without their feathers.

The rest of the chooks seem to have gotten all of their feathers back,

and I'm glad it happened before winter sets in.

 

 

I've taken to using the shavings from the coop

(with accompanying chook poop and feathers),

around shrubs and trees.

I'm hoping it will act as a natural fertilizer

and  helps me put it to good use.

 

The beautyberry is loaded with berries.

I hope that the birds will relish the treat over the next few months.

 

The loofah is not as prolific as in past years,

but we'll take what we can get.

They have not started drying on the trellis yet,

but as they do, they will be harvested and most given away.

 A row of spiderwart was uncovered while weeding a path.

I added a bit of wood chips to finish it off.

There's nothing like mulch to dress things up.

Looking forward to working on adding plants to the landscape

in the spring.

This weekend will find me outside tending to things

that have been ignored over the heat of summer.

I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do 

about the yellow jackets around the yard waste pile.

Nearby is also my leaf mulch pile,

which I will need to start filling up.

A gardener's work is never done,

but you'll not hear me complaining!

Enjoy this glorious autumn!