Tuesday, October 25, 2022

10/10/22 Got some new seeds from my cousin. Raspberries and greens. Supposed to get up to 77F tomorrow

 She came to visit and gave me some seeds out her order that just came in. It was her birthday I gave her a funny alien card. She's not sure if she wanted the mizuna as it's a mustard and could be spicy but she is going to try it. I can't wait to plant these seeds when I get home. I'm still in Colorado. Tomorrow it could get up to 77 in Wisconsin. Perfect time to finish caulking the exterior and wash windows. Unfortunately I'm not home. Oh well.

My husband has been making salad from the garden. His friend is visiting and eating the raspberries. His friend says we are getting a lot. A lot more than he is at home. So we are still getting food from the garden.






Monday, October 24, 2022

10/8/22 Heavier frost, 25 F overnight

 My husband called me to let me know. Fall crops look fine. Sunflowers and nasturiums don't look fine. It will be interesting to see how everything looks whenever I get back.

Sunday, October 23, 2022

10/3/22 Harvested volunteer pumpkins and volunteer cantaloupe

 I am heading out of town tomorrow and we're past due on heavier frosts so I know the pumpkins and cantaloupe will be no good if I leave them in the garden. Already their leaves have started to die back.







Saturday, October 22, 2022

10/1/22 Summer garden thoughts

This is a plan I will probably keep working on. I want to keep the west garden and patio garden beds and plant hardy low care maybe edible plants in other areas. I need to move the west garden beds out at least one more foot. I enjoy planting flowers and herbs behind those gardens. However once we fence out the rabbits an area of one foot of width is difficult to work in.

 









We had too many tomatoes. Next year just one bed of tomatoes except 2 plants by the neighbors fence for him to eat. I want more variety in the tomatoes so we get them early and into fall. Also I want to order another variety until I find one that is a good storing winter cherry tomato. The tomatoes will be put in northwest garden bed.

The summer greens were heavy on nasturium and kale. We did have green wave mustard with a hot wasabi taste too. I would like a milder lettuce along maybe more arugula in summer. Also more orache and Colorado wild spinach. I hope the seeds I collect sprout. I will have to watch for volunteers too. Maybe I need to grow one bed of greens and one bed of root crops. The new zealand spinach tastes good and crunchy when cooked. I really like red tatsoi. The green is pretty tasty too. I'd like to grow some variety of chinese cabbage so I can experiment making either sauerkraut or kimchi.

Carrots did really well in buckets and just OK in the garden. I am overwintering 4 colorado black carrot plants so I can collect their seeds next year. I plan to move the bucket into the attached garage if my relatives every come and get their stuff.

Peppers came late. I am going to try the overwintered ones in the west patio garden.

I'd like to grow corn and mardi beans in east patio garden.

I wanted to plant herbs like thyme, majoram, and oregano in front of the patio gardens to fight against the creeping charlie. Plus the bees really like them when they flower. However I didn't get around to it this year.

West bedroom garden was too heavy on volunteer Kale. Next year only allow 2 plants to grow. Not sure where I will put them. I want to convert this area to sedums. I think sedums keep down the weeds and help keep water out of the basement. The previous owner put rocks all around the house and it's very hard to mow next to the house. The 2 plants that were left in patio clover patch provide more than enough Kale.

I never can have enough raspberries. However I want to move them from a west garden bed to the northeast driveway garden area. Right now that's just sedums. The south east driveway area is a combination of sedums, wild strawberries transplanted from are lawn, and raspberries. The wild strawberries are spreading well. I am trying to spread them along with sedums in the area between the fence and garage which is weeds and stones.

Next year I want to plant cukes and pickles where the raspberries were. Maybe ground cherries too. Another fruit I really like and can't get enough of.

One of the beds is strawberries from my friend which are growing really well. I think I will let them spread out behind the garden bed.



Friday, October 21, 2022

9/30/22 planted some radishes in patio garden

 Morning frost. Sun 6:49am to 6:35pm so about 12 hours daylight. I want to plant more carrots and beets next year. They are very tasty from the garden. Planted some radishes in patio garden. Volunteer cilantro sprouting in crack next to patio garden. Erect marigolds grow very well. I actually cut back the ones behind west gardens next to the fence and use them as mulch. They don't seem to care. They are kind of stinky and have marginal edibility. Maybe could just use them as a colorant. Or just grow them because they are pretty.








Thursday, October 20, 2022

9/29/22 First light frost with early morning temperature of 33F

 Low temperatures didn't hurt fall crops, raspberries, gem marigolds, cantaloupe and pumpkin. However it hurt the dwarf tomato. Giving away some tomato and tomatillo seeds. We prefer cherry tomatoes and my husband didn't like the flavor of the orange dwarf tomato. I don't really like eating raw tomatoes so I grow them for their scent and decorative value. However my husband likes them so I grow them for him. Next year, only cherry tomatoes in one bed only except for the 2 overwintered plants that I will grow in east garden for our neighbor.













Wednesday, October 19, 2022

9/27-28/22 Starting to get arugula and romaine from fall garden. Last cucumber? Lots of raspberries

 Probably picked the last cucumber out of the garden. Lots of raspberries. I really like the many varieties of arugula and romaine in the fall greens garden. Large, probably non-native, praying mantis on bike trail. 










My husband retired 9/23/22 to work on his health. The 12-14 hours of night shift with only 5-6 hours of sleep per night was really hurting his health.

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Monday, October 17, 2022

9/25/22 Black eyed Susans on the bike trail

Freezing the tomatoes then putting in a bowl of hot water makes the skins come off real easy.






Sunday, October 16, 2022

9/23-24/22 Brought in pepper plants

 Made tomatillo sauce but don't really have a use for it. Probably won't grow it next year unless it comes up wild. Teacher came me some squash which I cooked up and froze in smaller portions.