Garden Friday

Welcome to another edition of Garden Friday!
The weather has been steadily moving toward winter,
with morning temperatures in the 40's!
We are still getting a good amount of rain
these days, so I'm grateful not to have to water the garden by hand.
We have disconnected our outside spigots,
just in case we get an unexpected freeze.

The carrots sown in this bin are getting bushy.
The first time I planted seed in this,
it was sitting on the ground,
and don't you know that some bunny came along
and ate all the tops right off?
Heck, it could have been a whole family!
It now sits on top of a couple of tree stumps
and I haven't had a problem since.
Some critter troubles are easier to solve than others.

The Sugar Snap Peas don't mind the cooler temperatures.
In fact, it looks like they are getting close to flowering.
In a few weeks, we hope to be enjoying these sweet morsels.

A lone Premier kale plant is finally starting to get off the ground.
I can hardly wait to taste this variety.
Elsewhere in the same bed, there is Lacinato planted,
and a tray of Vates kale awaits sowing.
I love me some kale!

The garlic planted a couple of weeks ago
is now about 8 inches tall.
The germination rate on these bulbs was spectacular,
and the 9-month wait for home-grown garlic will be well worth it.

More lettuce has been started in cell packs
and I've been trying something new with these starts.

I used some of our worm castings to make a slurry
and used it to give them a boost the past two weeks.
Time will tell if it makes a difference.

The sweet potatoes were ready to be harvested.
Although I still saw some new leaves on the teepee,
I needed the bins for the leek that should be coming in the mail soon.
The teepee was taken out of the tubs and the vines cut off.

Then I dumped the whole kit-and-caboodle onto a tarp.
This will keep the soil all together and make retrieving it much easier.

The roots looked pretty good.
This was the first time I've grown sweet potatoes in a bin.
I'm all about experimenting in the garden!

With the soil nice and loose,
it was fairly easy to dig out the taters.

I got about a half a bucket full from the two bins.
Next year, I will plant more, as they store quite well.

Most of the crop was on the small side,
but those will be great additions to stews, soups
and used for hash browns on a cold Sunday morning.
The larger tubers will be eaten as a side or as baked fries.

The dirt was recycled back into the tubs,

where they will remain when the leeks are planted.
Last year the leeks did well in containers,
and these tall bins will make it easier to "bank" the stalks
for that nice, white portion that tastes oh, so good.

Unbelievably, we still have color out there!
See the pops of brilliant orange?

The tithonia is still going strong,
despite the chilly weather.
They are so cheerful and make great flower arrangements.

I recently transplanted some liriope from the nearby workbench area.

One of the best ways to transform your property

is to take plants you already have growing,

and relocate them to other areas.

Just make sure to plant them according to their lighting requirements.

It's like redesigning your home with your own furnishings!

I'm helping a neighbor with the back parcel of her yard.

We are talking about turning it into a secret garden.

These bricks were found piled up and she offered them to me.

They came in handy at just the right time.

The butterfly bed that I installed earlier this year hadn't been completed

because I was trying to figure out if I wanted to continue the red bricks

or use something else for the border.

I made use of what was on the property,

but there weren't quite enough to finish the perimeter.

Well, it sure made it easy to decide that the brick looks just fine.
Faye's contribution allowed me to finish the butterfly bed,
and continue the pattern on the mailbox bed.
Free is good!

This weekend is our town's Apple Festival.
Hopefully, if we don't get rained out,
I will be able to share the event next week.
I hope the sun is shining wherever you are today!