November gardens

[prairiewindmomma]

How is your garden?

[Miss Tick]

Frost nipped, but not dead yet! The nasturtiums are really loving the cool weather and that the squash and tomatoes have pulled back and are letting some sunlight in now. DH keeps harvesting all the tomatoes when we get frost warnings, but then the next set plumps up and starts reopening. The sweet potatoes are looking sad. I want to go dig them up and see if they set any potatoes.

Even though things aren't technically dead, it is time to pull everything out and clean it up.

I'm curious to hear from people warmer than my 5b!

[Faith-manor]

Totally dead. It froze at night for several days. The last of the apples dropped off the tree, and the tomatoes finally gave up entirely. The basil has been inside for a while and is doing well. So my winter garden is going to be window pots of chives, basil, mint, and bean sprouts in a canning jar. Since I am in Alabama with the grandkids, Mark winterized my raised beds, piling them deep in leaves, and then covered with tarps. I do have a small little greenhouse stand for this spring, and in April will start plants from seed for May planting.

[prairiewindmomma]

October was a rough gardening month for me. First heavy wildfire smoke kept me out, then COVID. The hydroponics starters I had in the house went unwatered for several days while I was in isolation and died.

The winter rains have returned, and now it’s very muddy. So, I am still in tidy up the garden mode. The weeds are crazy.

The last of the tomatoes have been cut and hung to vine ripen. I still need to pull the zinnias and basil. The zucchini got powdery mildew really badly and got pulled long ago. 
 

My cabbage heads are staying small, even though I am not growing a dwarf variety. The kale and turnips are coming along in succession crops. My cover crop of fava beans and rye is about 5” high now. 
 

We still haven’t had a frost yet, so the roses are going. The lavender and rosemary look very happy and are very fragrant. We have highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s with rain daily, but we should be having our first frost in the next few weeks. The mountains are starting to get snow again, so I think our weather is on track once more.

Indoors, I have hydroponic lettuce seeds started. I need to expand our setup, but am waiting a bit to do so. I am going to dabble with some Kratky jars but really need some more light to grow what I want to grow.

[Miss Tick]

19 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I was in isolation and died.

This made me sad.

I can almost smell your roses, lavender and rosemary. Will the rosemary overwinter for you? Mine would die, but does ok inside in the one window I have that gets sunlight. When I lived in Phoenix rosemary was a landscape accent behind my parking spot and I loved brushing past it.

[Carol in Cal.]

Still bringing in tomatoes and pomegranates.

Fuyu persimmons are almost ripe.

[prairiewindmomma]

20 minutes ago, Miss Tick said:

This made me sad.

I can almost smell your roses, lavender and rosemary. Will the rosemary overwinter for you? Mine would die, but does ok inside in the one window I have that gets sunlight. When I lived in Phoenix rosemary was a landscape accent behind my parking spot and I loved brushing past it.

Your snippet made me laugh...leaving out "hydroponic starters" changes the sentence dramatically. 😂

Yes, my rosemary will overwinter. So will my sage, greek oregano, and some of my other woodier herbs. I can usually pick fresh off of the sage and oregano plants until January or so, and then they will drop their leaves. I can pick my rosemary year round. 

My lavender has fresh blooms right now. It's feeling refreshed with the fall rains. Even though I water through the summer, there's something about the steady slow rain that really helps everything bounce back.

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

October was a rough gardening month for me. First heavy wildfire smoke kept me out, then COVID. The hydroponics starters I had in the house went unwatered for several days while I was in isolation and died.

The winter rains have returned, and now it’s very muddy. So, I am still in tidy up the garden mode. The weeds are crazy.

The last of the tomatoes have been cut and hung to vine ripen. I still need to pull the zinnias and basil. The zucchini got powdery mildew really badly and got pulled long ago. 
 

My cabbage heads are staying small, even though I am not growing a dwarf variety. The kale and turnips are coming along in succession crops. My cover crop of fava beans and rye is about 5” high now. 
 

We still haven’t had a frost yet, so the roses are going. The lavender and rosemary look very happy and are very fragrant. We have highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s with rain daily, but we should be having our first frost in the next few weeks. The mountains are starting to get snow again, so I think our weather is on track once more.

Indoors, I have hydroponic lettuce seeds started. I need to expand our setup, but am waiting a bit to do so. I am going to dabble with some Kratky jars but really need some more light to grow what I want to grow.

You are doing great! I am so sorry about covid. UGH!!!

Here in Alabama, we did get the fruit trees and raspberries in and when they had the three nights of frost, we covered them with sheets tied down around their trunks or anchored over the plants with rocks. Everything is looking good, and since it had warmed up, there is new growth. So in total, one nectarine, two peaches, one pomegranate, and two raspberries went in to join the two kiwi and one fig planted last spring plus the already established blackberries, blueberries, and mulberries. The rosemary is still going well, and Dd is still getting cherry tomatoes off the potted plant which we pulled inside when it was cold. She is going to try growing kale and chives inside as well as bean sprouts in a jar on the kitchen windowsill. I need to start plants for her. She is going to be down in March and won't be able to start her raised beds. She will have 8/ 4' x4' beds when we are done building them. She wants me to put in Amish paste tomatoes for her to can, cherry tomatoes, and a ton of green beans and brussel sprouts. She has wooden planters for salad greens and green onions. I figure that if she wants to make even 7 pints of salsa, 7 of pasta sauce, and 14 quarts for making her Mexican gumbo and her favorite chili, then she is going to need 15 plants in order to have enough ripe at once to be worth the effort to process. She does have room to freeze some of them.

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, Carol in Cal. said:

Still bringing in tomatoes and pomegranates.

Fuyu persimmons are almost ripe.

Carol, how old is your pomegranate tree? When did it start producing? The one we just planted is 3 year old stock.

[ikslo]

I’m picking lemons daily now. My winter crops are starting off well. May have carrots for Thanksgiving (planted late spring). Aji dulce peppers are still producing. Have two habaneros on some sad looking plants - they have some kind of mite infestation or something I haven’t been able to get rid of. No Seminole pumpkins yet but the vines look good. All the Everglades tomatoes starts are doing well and getting bigger.  Planted my passionfruit vines. Repotted some of my fruit tree seedlings. 
 

I need more dirt.

[ikslo]

Oh, and I have flowers on my cape gooseberries. Yay!

[Carol in Cal.]

1 hour ago, Faith-manor said:

Carol, how old is your pomegranate tree? When did it start producing? The one we just planted is 3 year old stock.

I can’t remember how old it is.  I really should have kept a garden journal.  Maybe 7-8 years?  We got one fruit the first year, and I was thrilled as I did not expect any for 3 years.  Then maybe 4-5 the second year, and lots annually since then.  The variety is called Wonderful, and it’s in full afternoon sun.  So the fruit is sweet.

[kbutton]

I picked a bunch of ripe tomatoes yesterday, and DH has been harvesting figs. He has to cover the figs on cold nights, but we haven't had a super hard frost yet, just light stuff. I might have some scallions to harvest also, but I keep forgetting to look. 

[ikslo]

I remembered two more things. We purchased two new blueberry bushes (Farthing), and my orchid cactus bloomed. I think this is the biggest bloom since we moved here (previous owners left it behind).

[cjzimmer1]

We had a freezing temps for 3-4 nights a few weeks ago.  The peppers actually faired better than I expected initially but on the last day/night a wicked wind kicked up and that did them in much faster than the temps.  I did bring one pot inside that has 2 plants in it.  They are a little rough because it was that last day with the bitter wind where I brought them in.  The bad leaves are starting to fall off but it''s got some nice growth coming too.  There was already several small peppers and blossoms on it when I brought it in so at the very least I hope to get those to develop.  I just bought a grow light and it should be here later this week.  My sunroom gets lots of light but with a northern exposure, I need to suppliment in the winter. 

And for fun, I also brought in 2 peppers plants to winterize them.  They had been hit with the bitter wind but the stem still looked green so I figured I have nothing to lose.  I've never heard of this process before but basically you keep the root ball, clean off all the old dirt, cut the plant down to the main stem and a few branches with no leaves.  Pot it in fresh soil and minimal water it over the winter.  Basically you are just trying to preserve it in a dormancy state.  Then next spring you can start watering it and giving it fertilizer and it will start up again but you have a much more established root system.  Anyways it sounded interesting so I thought I'd try it even though I wasn't sure the plants were still viable at that point.

I also just bought some potting soil to fill my new inside pots (that I had bought in the spring) and will be trying my hand at indoor gardening.  My plans were to try cucumbers and tomatoes but with the lettuce shortages, I think I'm just going to skip the tomatoes for this year and play with cukes and lettuce.  That plus by peppers should at least give us salads for a bit.

My outside gardens are now about 85% put to sleep for the winter.  I planted garlic for the first time ever a few weeks ago and I've got all but one little section of the dead plants pulled out and we are currently mulching.  The garden still have kale, parsnips and leeks growing but I've got time to pull those as they can handle the cold for quite a while yet.  

If the weather holds decently, I may start ordering some raised beds.  I have plans to add about 5 more of them but I wasn't sure if I'd have time to get them up before the weather turned unbearable (I'm a wimp about cold).  My other projects are progressing well so I'm hoping I could get at least 1-2 done.  It's so hard to build new beds and get the planting done in the spring since I work in a greenhouse and work insane hours right when I need to be doing all my spring stuff. 

[SHP]

Someone was giving away irises and I took what was left of the boxes on the curb at 10pm. There were 50 rhizomes! Big beautiful rhizomes. We quickly expanded the iris bed and planted them.

Today my husband finished mulching. We just have to put away tools and pots and that about wraps up the outside work. 

[Faith-manor]

49 minutes ago, SHP said:

Someone was giving away irises and I took what was left of the boxes on the curb at 10pm. There were 50 rhizomes! Big beautiful rhizomes. We quickly expanded the iris bed and planted them.

Today my husband finished mulching. We just have to put away tools and pots and that about wraps up the outside work. 

I love irises! My paternal grandmother raised a half acre of irises and sold bulbs. People came from all over Michigan to buy her irises. As a child, I would help her dig them for customers, carry them to her car, and am fairly certain I learned to count money and make change from working with her, not at school. Happy times, happy memories.

[Rosie_0801]

I am eating my first ever rhubarb harvest as I type!

I found my tomato seedlings. The rain had washed the seeds away from where I had planted them so I thought they either hadn't grown or the snails had got them.

I have two pumpkin seedlings growing, but no luck out of the zucchinis, I think the snails got them.

And I am expecting two or three more dinners out of my broad beans. I love growing broad beans. They behave as though they are happy to be here. Mind you, they have grown so tall this year and the El Niña summer means I have snails like I've never had before. The buggers are all over my broad beans, like a sodding apartment block. I'm squishing every one I can find, and when dd takes a turn, she gleefully squishes them with her bare hands. So gross.

[ikslo]

Bare hands 😳🤢🤮🥴🤣

[Faith-manor]

20 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I am eating my first ever rhubarb harvest as I type!

I found my tomato seedlings. The rain had washed the seeds away from where I had planted them so I thought they either hadn't grown or the snails had got them.

I have two pumpkin seedlings growing, but no luck out of the zucchinis, I think the snails got them.

And I am expecting two or three more dinners out of my broad beans. I love growing broad beans. They behave as though they are happy to be here. Mind you, they have grown so tall this year and the El Niña summer means I have snails like I've never had before. The buggers are all over my broad beans, like a sodding apartment block. I'm squishing every one I can find, and when dd takes a turn, she gleefully squishes them with her bare hands. So gross.

Rosie, I have heard rumor that a saucer full of beer next to your squash plants will take care of the slugs because they love the scent of beer so much they will crawl in and drink themselves to death or drown. I have no idea if this is true. But, I almost want to have a slug or two next year just to try it!!! 😂

[SHP]

21 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I love irises! My paternal grandmother raised a half acre of irises and sold bulbs. People came from all over Michigan to buy her irises. As a child, I would help her dig them for customers, carry them to her car, and am fairly certain I learned to count money and make change from working with her, not at school. Happy times, happy memories.

Was she a hybridizer? 

[prairiewindmomma]

52 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Rosie, I have heard rumor that a saucer full of beer next to your squash plants will take care of the slugs because they love the scent of beer so much they will crawl in and drink themselves to death or drown. I have no idea if this is true. But, I almost want to have a slug or two next year just to try it!!! 😂

I do this. The cheap stuff works. 

[Faith-manor]

41 minutes ago, SHP said:

Was she a hybridizer? 

Yes!

[gardenmom5]

rain and stormy weather have started.  I picked up a couple trees to plant, along with a couple doug fir and a western red cedar I grew from seed.  Just in time, as our uphill neighbor had a crew in to do major landscaping work and I'd like privacy from them looking down on us.  I plan on strategic placement of trees so it blocks their views of us (deck/pavillion and my bedroom window . . ) - but not "the view".

 

and a "how to root roses" video showed up in my feed . . . I may actually try it, as there are two I want (New Dawn, and its sport Awakening) , but they're not available.  But I have two (not sure if both are still alive or just one after being moved for landscaping work.)  That could get me the multiple of each I want - and any extras I could give to kids in their houses, or sell.

[Melissa in Australia]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Rosie, I have heard rumor that a saucer full of beer next to your squash plants will take care of the slugs because they love the scent of beer so much they will crawl in and drink themselves to death or drown. I have no idea if this is true. But, I almost want to have a slug or two next year just to try it!!! 😂

Works well for slugs but snails are teetotallers. 

[Melissa in Australia]

Late spring here. Garden is going full force 

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Works well for slugs but snails are teetotallers. 

This bums me out! I really wanted to get some snails totally snockered.

[itsheresomewhere]

The weather here has been interesting.   I had to open the windows on the greenhouse as it was getting too hot.  My one tomato plant outside I left is still producing cherry tomatoes.  My raspberries have started blooming again.  Thanks to the weather, my everbearing strawberries have been producing again.  It felt so odd to be outside picking strawberries in November today (and they were delicious).  
 

Up next to plant all the tulip and new iris varieties I bought.  And continue to clean out the garden and organize plants for winter.  

[SHP]

2 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

 

and a "how to root roses" video showed up in my feed . . . I may actually try it, as there are two I want (New Dawn, and its sport Awakening) , but they're not available.  But I have two (not sure if both are still alive or just one after being moved for landscaping work.)  That could get me the multiple of each I want - and any extras I could give to kids in their houses, or sell.

FYI if you do try it, I suggest inside. I had several rooted and going to town then a squirrel decided to dig and I lost all of them. 😒

[SHP]

My biggest complaint about this weather is that I am still pulling weeds. The weeds should be dead TYVM.

[Lady Florida.]

I'm late getting our fall planting done because dh had knee replacement 3 weeks ago. The time we normally would have spent planting he spent recovering and I spent nursing him.

I worked a bit yesterday and will be getting out there again as soon as I get off my laptop and get my butt out of the chair. I have a lot of seeds to plant - two types of carrots, bush beans, sugar snap peas, and broccoli. I plan to start some brandywine tomato seeds indoors to plant later. I bought some organic potatoes and am going to try and turn them into seed potatoes. Non-organic are treated and don't grow eyes.

Yesterday I bought some lettuces though I also have seeds. I'll get the lettuces in their planter today too. I also bought a sweet banana pepper plant. It will do fine in the container it came in so I plan to leave it there for now. All of my vegetables are container or raised bed grown due to my hoa.

My ornamental plants aren't doing well. I've spent time with the vegetable garden and neglected the others. The only ones not looking sad are the native firebush, the firecracker plant, some pentas, and one hibiscus bush. The native milkweed died back as it usually does in the fall. 

 

On 11/1/2022 at 6:21 PM, ikslo said:

 My winter crops are starting off well. May have carrots for Thanksgiving (planted late spring). Aji dulce peppers are still . No Seminole pumpkins yet but the vines look good. All the Everglades tomatoes starts are doing well and getting bigger.  Planted my passionfruit vines. 
 

I need more dirt.

I miss growing Seminole pumpkins. One of these days I might see if I can find a way to grow them in my limited space. A friend gave me an Everglades tomato seedling. She had more than she needed and was giving some away. I'm looking forward to those little flavor bombs. My passion vine, planted for the caterpillars (zebra longwing and gulf fritillary) are dying and I can't figure out why. The fruit just drops and never reaches maturity either. I bought more dirt yesterday but might need more.

[popmom]

I planted 16 strawberry plugs today. I have 50 total. Not sure what I was thinking. I can't work out there for very long in a day. I prepped the beds for them last week, so the hard part is done. 

My rogue tomato plant is still going strong because we were spared the freeze. Poblano peppers still coming in as well as pole beans. I'll have to watch next week's weather closely.

Edited November 6, 2022 by popmom

[Rosie_0801]

On 11/5/2022 at 12:19 PM, Melissa in Australia said:

Works well for slugs but snails are teetotallers. 

So am I, so I don't have any beer!

 

 

 

I've just found out the chocolate lilies I've been waiting to flower for two years aren't. They're blue flax lilies that I wouldn't have bought, and if I had, wouldn't have put there. My heart is practically broken...

[Melissa in Australia]

13 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

So am I, so I don't have any beer!

 

 

 

I've just found out the chocolate lilies I've been waiting to flower for two years aren't. They're blue flax lilies that I wouldn't have bought, and if I had, wouldn't have put there. My heart is practically broken...

So sorry about your chocolate lillies

 I think you can make a mix of a little bit of yeast and sugar with water for the same drunk slug drowning effect. 

[ikslo]

4 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I've just found out the chocolate lilies I've been waiting to flower for two years aren't. They're blue flax lilies that I wouldn't have bought, and if I had, wouldn't have put there. My heart is practically broken...

😢

[ikslo]

I found a bag of potting mix in the garage yesterday. So once again today I am out of dirt. But I got some peppers moved out of my raised bed into pots and was able to plant my greens (broccoli and collards, I think) in the bed. 
 

I really should start labeling my seeds when I plant them. 🤣

[Loowit]

We have finally been getting our rainy weather back.  A couple days ago we got 4.5 inches in one day, at least according to the weather station of one of our neighbors.  We are supposed to be getting clearer and colder weather along with our first frost this week, so I will get a chance to winterize the plants.  I am hoping to put mulch around my roses.  They have been putting on new growth still and my sweet peas are looking green and happy with all the rain, but I am sure that the cold snap will cause things to calm down.

I am hoping things will dry out enough that we can do one more mow of our lawn before winter.  The grass is getting pretty tall, plus then we don't have to rake the leaves that have fallen.

I picked the last of the tomatoes before the big rains came so they wouldn't split, and they are ripening inside now.  They won't taste as good, but at least we can eat them.

[Faith-manor]

So in spite of spending part of the day helping Mark get two face cord of wood unloaded and stacked, I managed to rake up a huge pile of leaves and grass clippings into a new, large compost pile next to my apple trees. I am new to this though so I have questions. Should I cover the pile with a tarp to hold heat in while coming into the Michigan cold season? Or should I leave it to mother nature to take care of as is?

[Lady Florida.]

Well I planted a bunch of seeds yesterday and we're expecting a tropical storm this week. I'm going to have to cover the planter with a tarp so the seeds don't wash away or get pushed too far down into the dirt. I knew when I planted them it might be an issue but I wanted to get them started. 

[itsheresomewhere]

30 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

So in spite of spending part of the day helping Mark get two face cord of wood unloaded and stacked, I managed to rake up a huge pile of leaves and grass clippings into a new, large compost pile next to my apple trees. I am new to this though so I have questions. Should I cover the pile with a tarp to hold heat in while coming into the Michigan cold season? Or should I leave it to mother nature to take care of as is?

Not in Michigan but in the north east. I don’t cover it and neither does my friend in Buffalo. My yard waste ones are just contained in chicken wire so it doesn’t blow all over the place.  

[Faith-manor]

5 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:

Not in Michigan but in the north east. I don’t cover it and neither does my friend in Buffalo. My yard waste ones are just contained in chicken wire so it doesn’t blow all over the place.  

Thanks! I don't have chicken wire, but I do have some snow fence left on a roll from doing a protected area on my mom's property where we were trying to prevent some drifting. I can use that to keep it all together.

[SHP]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

So in spite of spending part of the day helping Mark get two face cord of wood unloaded and stacked, I managed to rake up a huge pile of leaves and grass clippings into a new, large compost pile next to my apple trees. I am new to this though so I have questions. Should I cover the pile with a tarp to hold heat in while coming into the Michigan cold season? Or should I leave it to mother nature to take care of as is?

I would leave it. 

Question. Are you planning to use the pile in another area? If so I would create an open top compost bin. I have a 4x4 open top bin. We throw food and yard waste. Noone ever stirs it. It is fine.

If you are planning to leave it in that area then it is fine. I cannot recall if there is a formula for how much it will compact but we put down wood chip mulch 2ft thick on our herbaceous perennial bed and with settling it is now less than 6inches in the oldest area. Leaves are lighter and you will have more animals digging and spreading it for you.

 

I am unsure how close to your apple tree but never let mulch or compost touch the tree truck. You can kill the tree. Make a volcano to give the trunk room :)

 

 

Reminds me I need to go see the neighbors about mowing and bagging leaves to add to mine before everyone commits to the curbside lawn vacuum.

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, SHP said:

I would leave it. 

Question. Are you planning to use the pile in another area? If so I would create an open top compost bin. I have a 4x4 open top bin. We throw food and yard waste. Noone ever stirs it. It is fine.

If you are planning to leave it in that area then it is fine. I cannot recall if there is a formula for how much it will compact but we put down wood chip mulch 2ft thick on our herbaceous perennial bed and with settling it is now less than 6inches in the oldest area. Leaves are lighter and you will have more animals digging and spreading it for you.

 

I am unsure how close to your apple tree but never let mulch or compost touch the tree truck. You can kill the tree. Make a volcano to give the trunk room 🙂

 

 

Reminds me I need to go see the neighbors about mowing and bagging leaves to add to mine before everyone commits to the curbside lawn vacuum.

Thank you for all the help! The pile is about five feet away, under the high branches of a pine tree along the row that my apple trees are in so I think if I get it fenced with the snow fence, I can keep it away from the apple tree trunks. The pine tree is old and needs to come down in the next year or two. The compost still isn't anywhere near touching the pine tree trunk. But it did occur to me that maybe I shouldn't have pine needles in my compost. I am not sure if those are problematic. Off to figure that out. I am going to have my work cut out for me if I have to move the pile. I will do it though if that is best.

[prairiewindmomma]

Pine needles can be in compost, but because they decompose so slowly they shouldn’t be more than 10% of the volume of the composting material.

ETA: your acidic loving plants like hydrangea and azalea and blueberries really hate pine needles

Edited November 7, 2022 by prairiewindmomma

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Pine needles can be in compost, but because they decompose so slowly they shouldn’t be more than 10% of the volume of the composting material.

ETA: your acidic loving plants like hydrangea and azalea and blueberries really hate pine needles

Thanks. It should be a small amount of needles. The compost pile is under some dead branches of the tree that didn't get pruned this year so they didn't produce needles. What would be in the pile will be only that which the wind carried. I don't have any blueberries, azaleas, or hydrangeas on this property. The Alabama house has nine gorgeous blueberry bushes, and a ton of lovely hydrangeas.