November gardening. Who has winter gardens? Who has micro greens in their windows? And dear friends in the Southern Hemisphere, I am counting on you to keep me going with your plant stories!!

[Faith-manor]

I put some leaf mulch in my beds today. Thus ends my exploits except for keeping my indoor basil plant alive for year two. I am considering trying too some bean sprouts in a jar. I have not been able to buy bean sprouts for my stir fries. No one is stocking them locally, and have not had them for over six months. I love bean sprouts. 

Is anyone using hoop houses to extend your season? Anyone with their own greenhouse?

I feel like I am going to be at loose ends until the end of February when I start some seeds indoors. I do need to do a bunch of sewing, so maybe I will get back at that. Mark thinks I should learn and memorize a new Chopin Polonaise or Ballad to fill my time. But frankly, that is hard work and not very amusing. I told him my repertoire was big enough. 😁

[Rosie_0801]

My neighbour's cactuses have been flowering, which is a wonderful thing I look forward to every year.

My nearly dead from the frost banana plant is about to throw a second leaf.

Sunchokes are coming up.

The lime tree I planted the other year has it's first little, baby fruit on it!

But no summer crops. Everything I've tried has been eaten by bugs, mostly before the cotyledons have made it above ground.

 

At present I have the last broad beans to harvest and I'm waiting for the borage flowers to turn pink. I want to pull them but the bees are still enjoying them so much I haven't the heart.

I'm sure @Melissa in Australia will have a heartier report. Her climate is better for summer gardening than mine and she's a much better gardener.

[prairiewindmomma]

We had our killing frost last weekend and we are ripening the last our tomatoes and such. We are traveling a lot this winter, so no outside garden for us. Ds, who is managing the house while we are gone, can manage our aerogardens so we’ve got those going to keep us in fresh greens. 

[Carol in Cal.]

I am bringing in Fuyu persimmons every day and eating at least 2-3.  No sign of running out of them!  I keep meaning to try dehydrating them but have not done so.  I have two cross country trips scheduled for this month, so I don’t think this will be the year.

Our pomegranates are not ripening well this year, and despite that someone is stealing them.  It’s so annoying.

[Indigo Blue]

@Faith-manormaybe in a few weeks, I can show you ds’s fig bush and holly tree when he moves. And maybe a before and after of the crape myrtle. It’s in bad shape right now. 

Edited November 4, 2023 by Indigo Blue

[Faith-manor]

39 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

My neighbour's cactuses have been flowering, which is a wonderful thing I look forward to every year.

My nearly dead from the frost banana plant is about to throw a second leaf.

Sunchokes are coming up.

The lime tree I planted the other year has it's first little, baby fruit on it!

But no summer crops. Everything I've tried has been eaten by bugs, mostly before the cotyledons have made it above ground.

 

At present I have the last broad beans to harvest and I'm waiting for the borage flowers to turn pink. I want to pull them but the bees are still enjoying them so much I haven't the heart.

I'm sure @Melissa in Australia will have a heartier report. Her climate is better for summer gardening than mine and she's a much better gardener.

I am so excited about your baby lime!

[Faith-manor]

21 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I am bringing in Fuyu persimmons every day and eating at least 2-3.  No sign of running out of them!  I keep meaning to try dehydrating them but have not done so.  I have two cross country trips scheduled for this month, so I don’t think this will be the year.

Our pomegranates are not ripening well this year, and despite that someone is stealing them.  It’s so annoying.

There should be special jail for stealing pomegranates. My grandsons LOVE them so much.

[ikslo]

I am on my second batch of fresh squeezed lemonade.

Passionfruit are getting bigger; I’ve been pollinating all the flowers by hand since the first two flowers shriveled up and died without fruiting.

Still getting peppers.

My gooseberries out front withered in the summer sun, but a plant I had in a pot hidden in the back under the papaya I had forgotten about and is bearing fruit. So all is not lost there.

Papaya that had come down in a storm last year sprouted new trunks and is once again growing fruit.

Planted some Quenepa seeds on a whim and three or four have come up.

All my other fruit trees are growing. I didn’t lose any this year that I can think of.

I tried planting orange leaves in dirt/sand mix after seeing a YouTube video, and two of them rooted, so I replanted those today.

Edited November 5, 2023 by ikslo

[Faith-manor]

4 minutes ago, ikslo said:

I am on my second batch of fresh squeezed lemonade.

Passionfruit are getting bigger; I’ve been pollinating all the flowers by hand since the first two flowers shriveled up and dies without fruiting.

Still getting peppers.

My gooseberries out from withered in the summer sun, but a plant I had in a pot hidden in the back under the papaya I had forgotten about and is bearing fruit. So all is not lost there.

Papaya that had come down in a storm last year sprouted new trunks and is once again growing fruit.

Planted some Quenepa seeds on a whim and three or four have come up.

All my other fruit trees are growing. I didn’t lose any this year that I can think of.

I tried planting orange leaves in dirt/sand mix after seeing a YouTube video, and two of them rooted, so I replanted those today.

Awesome!

[Lucy the Valiant]

I dragged a crepe myrtle all the way north from a Zone 8a to a 5b . . . she survived the (somewhat chaotic) trip quite well, including a 2-night stay in a hotel bathtub, and after settling in comfortably, is now preparing for Her First Winter. Fingers crossed. 

First killing frost last week, so all dahlias are down, and I'm giving the tubers a week to settle before digging them up. They'll over-winter in the basement and go back out in spring.

I'll start up my indoor windowsill salad garden all winter, once I get the fall stuff put away. I just can't help myself. 

And I just discovered this truly lovely book Edible Houseplants, which gives me encouragement for our little indoor citrus grove (which is an overly-generous name for the too-clumsy pots we tuck here and there indoors from November-May). The Meyer lemon blooms are the highlight of January. But that library book helped me realize that I definitely need an indoor coffee plant. 😄

Attempting to water-root some hydrangea clippings . . . not sure how successful those will be, but if they do root, I'll baby them through the winter indoors. 

(Editing to add . . . we do have a hoop house that we use as an unheated greenhouse, but by this late in the season, we're just tired. It will sit there mostly neglected until we tap the maple trees and fire up the evaporator in Feb. 🙂 My gardening style could be politely described as . . . "experimental," LOL.)

Edited November 5, 2023 by Lucy the Valiant

[Faith-manor]

13 minutes ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

I dragged a crepe myrtle all the way north from a Zone 8a to a 5b . . . she survived the (somewhat chaotic) trip quite well, including a 2-night stay in a hotel bathtub, and after settling in comfortably, is now preparing for Her First Winter. Fingers crossed. 

First killing frost last week, so all dahlias are down, and I'm giving the tubers a week to settle before digging them up. They'll over-winter in the basement and go back out in spring.

I'll start up my indoor windowsill salad garden all winter, once I get the fall stuff put away. I just can't help myself. 

And I just discovered this truly lovely book Edible Houseplants, which gives me encouragement for our little indoor citrus grove (which is an overly-generous name for the too-clumsy pots we tuck here and there indoors from November-May). The Meyer lemon blooms are the highlight of January. But that library book helped me realize that I definitely need an indoor coffee plant. 😄

Attempting to water-root some hydrangea clippings . . . not sure how successful those will be, but if they do root, I'll baby them through the winter indoors. 

(Editing to add . . . we do have a hoop house that we use as an unheated greenhouse, but by this late in the season, we're just tired. It will sit there mostly neglected until we tap the maple trees and fire up the evaporator in Feb. 🙂 My gardening style could be politely described as . . . "experimental," LOL.)

I need to get that book!

[prairiewindmomma]

My coffee plant is coming up on her fourth year so 🤞she blooms this year. I highly recommend getting a moisture meter—-she is very thirsty, always, and she is quick to drop leaves if she dries out at all.

[prairiewindmomma]

Thanks for the book recs! My library has them.

[Lucy the Valiant]

13 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Thanks for the book recs! My library has them.

We love almost everything Storey Publishing has ever put out (they're in a similarly northern climate, so that may have something to do with it). Practical instructions, gorgeous photos, intriguing ideas. 😉

[Lucy the Valiant]

17 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

My coffee plant is coming up on her fourth year so 🤞she blooms this year. I highly recommend getting a moisture meter—-she is very thirsty, always, and she is quick to drop leaves if she dries out at all.

Have you ever harvested the beans?

[prairiewindmomma]

Had anyone built an indoor greenhouse out of an IKEA cabinet? I am semi-seriously considering it. 

[prairiewindmomma]

5 minutes ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

Have you ever harvested the beans?

No, I haven’t even had blooms yet. They take 3-4 years to come to maturity. I started with a baby plant in 2020. She’s grown a foot taller and wider since then. She’ll get transferred to a much larger pot soon that will be her permanent home. Peak bearing years are years 7-20.

ETA: mature height is like 6’ tall and 3-4’ wide for an indoor plant—-15’x15’ for outdoors. Getting the temperature and humidity right is key, and I don’t know if I will be able do that when she is bigger. But, she is very pretty!!

Edited November 5, 2023 by prairiewindmomma

[maize]

I tried dehydrating jujubes for the first time (it's the first year I've had more than a handful that we ate fresh)--they really do taste surprisingly like dates when dried!

[Rosie_0801]

15 minutes ago, maize said:

I tried dehydrating jujubes for the first time (it's the first year I've had more than a handful that we ate fresh)--they really do taste surprisingly like dates when dried!

Really? I've only ever bought them from the Chinese grocer and they taste like dried apple.

[Loesje22000]

Where I live November is the month to put bushes and trees in the ground.

I ordered in September several local bushes and trees and am able to pick them up half november, so afterthat the wintertime will start gardenly wise.

I bought quite some indoorplants this year too, so my challenge will be how to survive them through winter with all the indoor heating..

[DawnM]

My oldest son wants a greenhouse to grow things year round.   Once we get settled in our new house, we will be getting one for him.   I can't wait.   

I am going to make a new year's resolution to learn to can.   My BFF cans all the time and has a huge stash.    She hasn't been able to can as much now that she is taking care of elderly relatives, but she still has a huge stash.   Unfortunately, she lives on the other side of the country.

 

 

[Faith-manor]

10 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Had anyone built an indoor greenhouse out of an IKEA cabinet? I am semi-seriously considering it. 

My nearest IKEA is a 3 hour drive one way. So unfortunately. I have no experience but I am very intrigued. If you do it, please post photos.

We are slowly replacing windows, eight, in one portion of the house. Mark is saving all the storm windows for making a small greenhouse/cold frame for next year.

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

My oldest son wants a greenhouse to grow things year round.   Once we get settled in our new house, we will be getting one for him.   I can't wait.   

I am going to make a new year's resolution to learn to can.   My BFF cans all the time and has a huge stash.    She hasn't been able to can as much now that she is taking care of elderly relatives, but she still has a huge stash.   Unfortunately, she lives on the other side of the country.

 

 

Dawn, I am a canning machine. So if you ever want pointers, let me know. I am glad to help. Also, Melissa in Australia is a big canner, probably way bigger than I am. If memory serves, she has two, maybe three, gardens the size of tennis courts!

[cjzimmer1]

3 hours ago, DawnM said:

My oldest son wants a greenhouse to grow things year round.   Once we get settled in our new house, we will be getting one for him.   I can't wait.   

I am going to make a new year's resolution to learn to can.   My BFF cans all the time and has a huge stash.    She hasn't been able to can as much now that she is taking care of elderly relatives, but she still has a huge stash.   Unfortunately, she lives on the other side of the country.

 

 

Another big canner here as well.  If you have any desire to do meats or other items that require pressure canning, I can't recommend this machine enough

Amazon.com: 12 Qt Electric Pressure Canner: Home & Kitchen

I could never get things right using a stove on the pressure canner, but the electric one just adjust the temps for me and I just have to adjust the regulator when it tells me to.  It makes pressure canning so simply that I often leave my kids in charge of it once I get the loaded jars in. You can also waterbath pints in it (unfortunately it's not tall enough to waterbath quarts so you would need something else if you want to do that).

[cjzimmer1]

Spent a good chunk of yesterday cleaning up the garden, putting away the tomato cages, pulling some of the dead plants raking leaves and starting to add them to some of the beds.  Didn't get finished as we had to divert our attention to fence work when one of the dogs found a new way to escape the yard.  Hoping to get the rest of the leaves raked an into beds.  There are still quite a few dead plants to be pulled but I will probably leave them till spring as they are in my overflow beds so those areas won't get mulched and the plants are much easier to pull once they've spent the winter breaking down.  I still have kale and parsnips growing but there is no hurry to pull them yet as the weather forecast for the next 10 days still has highs in the 40's and 50'3 and neither of those minds the overnight frosts.

My indoor garden is coming along nicely.  We've been picking cucumbers for a couple of weeks now and the lettuce is just about ready. The tomatoes are setting fruit too but the plants from last winter are still producing so they will cover the gap until the new set starts ripening.

I've got to find time to mix up the soil and fill some more containers.  I want to get arugula, spinach, basil and more radishes planted at a minimum.

Faith-manor's mention of sprouts reminds me I should get some of those going too but since those are so quick I just have to remember to dig the supplies out and then it's much easier to get batches started when it's staring me in the face.

[maize]

8 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Really? I've only ever bought them from the Chinese grocer and they taste like dried apple.

They taste sort of like apples to me when fresh but definitely have a date-like flavor when dried. 

[ikslo]

A male cardinal just visited my bird pepper for a bit of breakfast. Two minutes later a bluejay came by and was hopping around the fence, hanging out in the bananas, and pecking at my pots. As I am typing the female cardinal is visiting the bird pepper. Popular plant with the cardinals!

[Halftime Hope]

Northern hemisphere here, but I highly recommend that anyone entertaining the idea of small citrus trees that can be overwintered indoors plan ahead for Costco having a bazillion citrus in the February timeframe. I had just started thinking about trying my hand at citrus, didn't realize what a steal they were, much bigger than what was available everywhere else and at a lower price, and I missed the opportunity. 

I did end up getting a small lime bush from HomeDepot in April, and it has absolutely knocked itself, blooming in May & June, setting tremendous amounts of tiny fruit, keeping about 8 of them, and as soon as we were out of blast-furnace levels of summer heat, re-blooming a bit, and putting on about a foot of growth. Oh, my, what a super-star performer of a little tree. I'm babying it, feeding and watering it well, and making sure to keep it decently hydrated so the mature fruits -- may be ready in the December/January time-frame -- are plump and juicy.   We'll need to bring it inside to overwinter.

My brassicas and peas are in love with the cooler weather.

[Faith-manor]

43 minutes ago, Halftime Hope said:

Northern hemisphere here, but I highly recommend that anyone entertaining the idea of small citrus trees that can be overwintered indoors plan ahead for Costco having a bazillion citrus in the February timeframe. I had just started thinking about trying my hand at citrus, didn't realize what a steal they were, much bigger than what was available everywhere else and at a lower price, and I missed the opportunity. 

I did end up getting a small lime bush from HomeDepot in April, and it has absolutely knocked itself, blooming in May & June, setting tremendous amounts of tiny fruit, keeping about 8 of them, and as soon as we were out of blast-furnace levels of summer heat, re-blooming a bit, and putting on about a foot of growth. Oh, my, what a super-star performer of a little tree. I'm babying it, feeding and watering it well, and making sure to keep it decently hydrated so the mature fruits -- may be ready in the December/January time-frame -- are plump and juicy.   We'll need to bring it inside to overwinter.

My brassicas and peas are in love with the cooler weather.

Jealous of your lime! Guess who is going to Home Depot early spring to look for one. I think if I keep it inside from mid September through Mid April, I might have some luck. We have plant lights to help with that. How big do you think the bush will eventually get? I have to tell my DD. She has some wonderful, huge south facing windows at the Alabama house and would only need to bring it inside for late December to late February. She will be thrilled.

[Halftime Hope]

4 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Jealous of your lime! Guess who is going to Home Depot early spring to look for one. I think if I keep it inside from mid September through Mid April, I might have some luck. We have plant lights to help with that. How big do you think the bush will eventually get? I have to tell my DD. She has some wonderful, huge south facing windows at the Alabama house and would only need to bring it inside for late December to late February. She will be thrilled.

I don't know how big it will get. Everyone online that overwinters them treats them like a bonsai, i.e. they are more of a bush habit, pruned that way intentionally, and up-potting them every couple of years until they hit the max pot size desired. (And I'm guessing citrus aficionados could tell you what to do for them once max pot size is achieved, maybe do root-trimming and re-potting every couple of years, but that's just a guess. I don't have any experience with long-term citrus...yet.)

For your daughter it may be a bit different: depending on where she lives in AL, she might be able to plant them in-ground and use some of the tropical fruit growing measures used by the Millennial Gardener on You Tube. He is in South Carolina and is overwintering tropical fruit trees in ground, by using a few measures that keep them just above the danger zone. (We'll see how he does this winter since we're supposed to have a harsher winter than normal this year.) He uses C9 Christmas lights, frost cover, sheltered zones in his yard, planting next to a south-facing brick wall for the winter thermal mass benefit, and barrels of water that also collect heat from the sun and then provide thermal mass in a microzone right next to the trees. He has quite a few avocados this year, well north of where they should be able to grow. 😄

One more note: the Costco citrus trees are pruned in a tree-form, were about 4-4.5 feet tall, and were $30 in a 3 gallon bucket. Everything in the nurseries was no more than 18-20ish inches tall, also tree form, and about $50-60. So the ones at Costco were a year to 2 years more mature, and very, very healthy. The little lime from HomeDepot was about 20 inches tall, in bush form, and was $38. I picked through the pots and found a specimen that had strong stems going in several directions so that as it grew, I'd be able to prune and end up with symmetric growth in a nice bush form, that would look good from any angle. (I had to pick through to find what I was looking for.)

 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Halftime Hope

[Lady Florida.]

Fall is one of our best planting times here. All of my vegetables are in containers because of where I live. No photos yet because it's all just dirt as I wait for the seeds to germinate. Everything is from seed so far but I might visit our local nursery and see if they have any starter plants I want.

So far I've planted a salad bowl lettuce mix and a Grandma Hadley's lettuce. I'll succession plant more in a few weeks so we can have lettuce all season. It might be wishful thinking but I planted two kinds of tomatoes - yellow patio and rosella purple. Since they're both in containers I can move them inside if we get a cold snap. I also planted Bloomsdale spinach and some flowers - nasturtium and calendula.

This week I'll plant DeCicco broccoli, Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage, Savoy cabbage, and some carrots. I might also start some parsley in a starter pot.

I was really annoyed at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I ordered softneck garlic in early August but by late September it hadn't shipped. In order to grow garlic here it has to be vernalized in the refrigerator for 8-12 weeks, with 12 weeks being the better option. It needs to be in the ground no later than early December. I emailed them and asked for a refund, which they gave me with no problem. I later called to discuss the issue with someone. She said next year if I order garlic to add a note about my Central Florida location and ask that I be put on the early delivery list. 

[LifeLovePassion]

I've brought a handful of plants to my classroom at school to overwinter them. I need to wrap our newish tree trunks to keep away bunnies and deer and then wrap the small arborvitaes in burlap to prevent wind burn. I need to find a sunnier window for my african violet too. 

[*****]

23 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I put some leaf mulch in my beds today.

Please let me know if leaves work well as a mulch for vegetable gardens?  The first year I had a raised bed, I was quite happy with 5'tall and wide tomato plants and more zucchini than I ever had before.  So even with the success of my garden, my soil was actually pretty poor, I felt.  No worms and needed more mulch. It just didn't seem 'alive'. 

 So I overwintered with more manure, maybe added sphagnum moss and covered with mulched leaves. At planting time, I moved the leaves aside (but  mulched some in) then planted and may have mulched plants too early (to help retain moisture on top of soil).  It seems my garden didn't do as well in my 2nd year (except for green beans and carrots). Now after another fall clean-up, I'm happy to be seeing worms.  So I wonder if I had a nitrogen problem, thus the reason my tomatoes did ok, but not super. Even though I just covered the garden with leaves again, I am wondering if this was the best choice or should I have used straw? I now know not to turn the remaining leaves into the soil next spring and will wait until the soil is warmer before mulching on top.  Any advice is welcome!

[popmom]

I am getting some horse manure from the barn where my dd rides on Wednesday. We have so many leaves. I would like to do much more composting than I have been. It will hopefully all be ready for spring planting.

Our weather is being its typical crazy self. Early last week we were in the mid 80s. Then our first serious cold front came through at the end of the week, and we had two nights with a hard freeze. Now we are back up in the upper 70's. I covered by tomatoes because they have a good many green tomatoes on them. The plants were damaged but not dead, so I am hopeful. I was hoping the ground being so warm would help if I covered them. It did help with the plants I was able to lay on the ground. But some I wasn't able to extricate from their cages. They had the most damage. 

I am letting a couple of pods of okra mature for seed.

I planted turnips and cabbage (seed) right before the freeze. I have seedlings as of yesterday. 🙂 I need to plant my carrots asap. I have been working on amending the beds, so I'm late planting.

We are still in a severe drought. I don't have to water as much though because the temps have dropped. We are supposed to get rain mid month. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by popmom

[Faith-manor]

1 minute ago, popmom said:

I am getting some horse manure from the barn where my dd rides on Wednesday. We have so many leaves. I would like to do much more composting than I have been. It will hopefully all be ready for spring planting.

Our weather is being its typical crazy self. Early last week we were in the mid 80s. Then our first serious cold front came through at the end of the week, and we had to nights with a hard freeze. Now we are back up in the upper 70's. I covered by tomatoes because they have a good many green tomatoes on them. The plants were damaged but not dead, so I am hopeful. I was hoping the ground being so warm would help if I covered them. It did help with the plants I was able to lay on the ground. But some I wasn't able to extricate from their cages. The had the most damage. 

I am letting a couple of pods of okra mature for seed.

I planted turnips and cabbage (seed) right before the freeze. I have seedlings as of yesterday. 🙂 I need to plant my carrots asap. I have been working on amending the beds, so I'm late planting.

We are still in a severe drought. I don't have to water as much though because the temps have dropped. We are supposed to get rain mid month. 

I know you aren't in Michigan, but sheesh 32 or below to 70's in a heartbeat is just exactly the kind of thing we get all the time! 😱

I am frustrated with myself. I needed to pick up a bag of alfalfa pellets from the farm supply store. I only need 5-10 lbs. We won't be mowing again, but my leaf compost pile desperately needs some green matter. This was one thing a local gardener told me I could do since mowing season ended a couple weeks ago, and it rained before I could rake up glass clippings. I forgot to do it. Argh! So now I need to go back to town. 😜

[cjzimmer1]

6 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

Fall is one of our best planting times here. All of my vegetables are in containers because of where I live. No photos yet because it's all just dirt as I wait for the seeds to germinate. Everything is from seed so far but I might visit our local nursery and see if they have any starter plants I want.

So far I've planted a salad bowl lettuce mix and a Grandma Hadley's lettuce. I'll succession plant more in a few weeks so we can have lettuce all season. It might be wishful thinking but I planted two kinds of tomatoes - yellow patio and rosella purple. Since they're both in containers I can move them inside if we get a cold snap. I also planted Bloomsdale spinach and some flowers - nasturtium and calendula.

 

If you have grown the yellow patio before, be prepared to be overwhelmed with them.  We've tried lots of container varieties in our greenhouse business over the years, and have never had a variety that produces as many tomatoes as we got off the yellow patios.  I like the flavor of some other varieties (that aren't container types) a little better but for sheer yield the yellow patios were amazing. 

The plants do get a bit bigger than other patio varieties that we've grown though so don't skip on pot size.

Edited November 5, 2023 by cjzimmer1

[popmom]

6 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I know you aren't in Michigan, but sheesh 32 or below to 70's in a heartbeat is just exactly the kind of thing we get all the time! 😱

 

I wouldn't have thought you would have that this time of year! How long can you expect to get temps in the 70s? 

We will be like this until May. 

This was a bit early for such a hard freeze. It got down to the teens in some spots. We got down into the 20's. So as wacky as our weather is, 86 to 18 in 36 hours is always a surprise. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by popmom

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, popmom said:

I wouldn't have thought you would have that this time of year! How long can you expect to get temps in the 70s? 

We will be like this until May. 

This was a bit early for such a hard freeze. It got down to the teens in some spots. We got down into the 20's. So as wacky as our weather is, 86 to 18 in 36 hours is always a surprise. 

We are done now. But we had that about a week and a half ago. I am zone 4b but also in an area with insulation from Lake Huron so quasi 5a, so there is this kind of wild oscillation sometimes. So it was 33 degrees over night and then the next day warmed up to 71, then down to 45, and then it has just been not great and rainy and gloomy. Fun times...a bit like a roller coaster.

[mum]

On 11/4/2023 at 6:23 PM, Lucy the Valiant said:

I dragged a crepe myrtle all the way north from a Zone 8a to a 5b . . . she survived the (somewhat chaotic) trip quite well, including a 2-night stay in a hotel bathtub, and after settling in comfortably, is now preparing for Her First Winter. Fingers crossed. 

First killing frost last week, so all dahlias are down, and I'm giving the tubers a week to settle before digging them up. They'll over-winter in the basement and go back out in spring.

I'll start up my indoor windowsill salad garden all winter, once I get the fall stuff put away. I just can't help myself. 

 

Just ordered that book from the library!

[mum]

8 hours ago, ***** said:

Please let me know if leaves work well as a mulch for vegetable gardens?  The first year I had a raised bed, I was quite happy with 5'tall and wide tomato plants and more zucchini than I ever had before.  So even with the success of my garden, my soil was actually pretty poor, I felt.  No worms and needed more mulch. It just didn't seem 'alive'. 

 So I overwintered with more manure, maybe added sphagnum moss and covered with mulched leaves. At planting time, I moved the leaves aside (but  mulched some in) then planted and may have mulched plants too early (to help retain moisture on top of soil).  It seems my garden didn't do as well in my 2nd year (except for green beans and carrots). Now after another fall clean-up, I'm happy to be seeing worms.  So I wonder if I had a nitrogen problem, thus the reason my tomatoes did ok, but not super. Even though I just covered the garden with leaves again, I am wondering if this was the best choice or should I have used straw? I now know not to turn the remaining leaves into the soil next spring and will wait until the soil is warmer before mulching on top.  Any advice is welcome!

Not sure where you are located, but where I am (west coast) best practice is to cover a raised bed with compost or a cover crop. You could put straw or leaves on top of the compost. Best practice is also NOT to turn the soil. Soil has a structure, micro organisms and other life that if best left alone. If there's heavy clay or gopher runs you want to collapse, using a broad fork for aeration is useful. I'm not a die hard no-till person, but I work at an organic garden that is for food production and they do no-till and the soil is wonderful (despite being in an area of clay) and the harvest is impressive. We keep beds covered with compost and straw there.

[Lady Florida.]

5 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

If you have grown the yellow patio before, be prepared to be overwhelmed with them.  We've tried lots of container varieties in our greenhouse business over the years, and have never had a variety that produces as many tomatoes as we got off the yellow patios.  I like the flavor of some other varieties (that aren't container types) a little better but for sheer yield the yellow patios were amazing. 

The plants do get a bit bigger than other patio varieties that we've grown though so don't skip on pot size.

Thanks for this post. I haven't grown them before so this is helpful to know.

[itsheresomewhere]

Greenhouse is up, insulated and hooked to the heat source.  I added a solar fan to it and it works fantastic.  Next purchase will be solar grow lights for the really short days. Even with the heat off the other day, while outside was a chilly 28, inside the greenhouse went down to 43.  So I am happy with how it is doing.   I installed new sensors this year for temp/humidity monitoring and I am learning this new system ( imo the app needs work).   So my hibiscus, tomatoes, basil, money tree, special to me flowers and herbs are doing well.  plus, plenty of space to add more plants.  
 

In my cold frame- my peppers are doing well ( they will be moved to the greenhouse soon but are happy here now along with the eggplant and way too big to move tomatoes.  

 

 

[Corraleno]

I just have a couple of basil plants and two trays of micro greens on the windowsill, but I'm thinking of putting in some raised beds in the spring so I can grow more than just a few plants in pots on the deck, which is all I've done so far at this house. But I could use some advice from anyone who deals with a lot of critters!

I've had large gardens in both the UK and New Mexico, and the plants weren't really bothered by animals despite being in really rural locations, and yet now that I'm in a city I can't even grow a few plants on my deck without bites being taken out of all the tomatoes and peppers! My yard backs up to a bit of green space with lots of trees and there are always squirrels, raccoons, birds, gophers, possums, and other critters around.

Is there a way to keep critters out of a garden without having to build cages and green houses? I don't even mind a certain percentage of loss, but I figure if they're chomping on the stuff that's right outside my door on the deck, they're even more likely to eat vegetables growing a few feet from the fence and the trees. If you deal with a lot of critters in the garden, etc., what's the best way to deal with them?

[KungFuPanda]

On 11/5/2023 at 5:00 AM, DawnM said:

My oldest son wants a greenhouse to grow things year round.   Once we get settled in our new house, we will be getting one for him.   I can't wait.   

I am going to make a new year's resolution to learn to can.   My BFF cans all the time and has a huge stash.    She hasn't been able to can as much now that she is taking care of elderly relatives, but she still has a huge stash.   Unfortunately, she lives on the other side of the country.

 

 

What got me canning was learning that you could do it small scale. I put it off because the way my mom and Mamaw did it it was such a production. You can get canning baskets that fit in a large stockpot and books that have recipes for 2-3 jars of something. It makes the whole thing feel more like following a regular recipe and less of an all day event. 

[Faith-manor]

12 hours ago, Corraleno said:

I just have a couple of basil plants and two trays of micro greens on the windowsill, but I'm thinking of putting in some raised beds in the spring so I can grow more than just a few plants in pots on the deck, which is all I've done so far at this house. But I could use some advice from anyone who deals with a lot of critters!

I've had large gardens in both the UK and New Mexico, and the plants weren't really bothered by animals despite being in really rural locations, and yet now that I'm in a city I can't even grow a few plants on my deck without bites being taken out of all the tomatoes and peppers! My yard backs up to a bit of green space with lots of trees and there are always squirrels, raccoons, birds, gophers, possums, and other critters around.

Is there a way to keep critters out of a garden without having to build cages and green houses? I don't even mind a certain percentage of loss, but I figure if they're chomping on the stuff that's right outside my door on the deck, they're even more likely to eat vegetables growing a few feet from the fence and the trees. If you deal with a lot of critters in the garden, etc., what's the best way to deal with them?

This year I had trouble with a rabbit that wanted to nibble on our two, small, new blueberry bushes. I used 4 cheap stakes that I purchased from Dollar General gardening section, pounded them into the ground, dug out several inches around the perimeter of the plant then attached agricultural fabric around the stakes with the fabric shoved down into the trench I made, covered the bottom of the fabric with soil, attached to the stakes with a staple gun, and then further anchored at the bottom with a few leftover logs from a tree that went down. That ended the nibbling. Bunny had other things to eat, like grass, that was easier than working hard to uncover the blueberry bushes. 

I have raised beds now, very high raised beds, due to all the stupid ground hogs in the area. Prior to that, ground hogs would occasionally meet the wrong end of Mark's air soft pellet gun. If it didn't kill them, it most certainly sent them on a quest to find somewhere else to live. Stupid things would go after my much beloved broccoli plants.

I have heard some gardeners say that they make sure the menfolk of the family go out and "water" the perimeter of the garden at night on a fairly regular basis which they believe leaves a scent the critters do not like.

If you are not opposed to an outside cat, one that you get say from a local barn cat mama, they tend to thin the small critter problem quite nicely. Last year a mama rabbit had babies under our wood shed. The neighbor's outdoor cat had kittens, and then promptly fed her babies on mama rabbit's babies which was a little disconcerting to see when she decided to hunt them right in front of us while we were having a cook out, but sadly, bunnies are basically in the food chain foe the purpose of feeding other things. She also managed to nab the two squirrels across the street and thus ended the garden terrorists who were living nearby.

[Faith-manor]

Also, FYI for American and Canadian gardeners who want to use pallets to make raised beds:

A high percentage of pallets for domestic, not international, use are heat treated not pesticide treated or sealed. These pallets will have a marking on them of EPAL, KD, or HY. So if you find a source of cheap or free pallets, take gloves, and go sort through them looking for those markings.

We have a place that three times a year places their pallets out for sale for $1.00 each. Unbelievably cheap wood. Many of these pallets are just the heat treated ones with no chemical treatments because they were used for shipping food. We just picked up 24 more. We do take the time to sort them so we have matched pairs in terms of dimensions which makes it much easier to make raised beds out of them. Cobbling together two odd sizes is a pain in the neck.

 

[popmom]

I would like to overwinter my pepper plants. This one—a cayenne—I started in late summer. It probably needs to be potted up, but should I prune it? Cut the top off? Would that encourage it to be shorter and bushier? 

[Rosie_0801]

My life is a tragedy because the snails have eaten my rockmelons AGAIN.

But I have my first ever asparagus spear, so maybe claims of tragedy are overstated.

[cjzimmer1]

32 minutes ago, popmom said:

I would like to overwinter my pepper plants. This one—a cayenne—I started in late summer. It probably needs to be potted up, but should I prune it? Cut the top off? Would that encourage it to be shorter and bushier? 

I watched several you tube videos about overwintering peppers last winter.  I tried two different ways.  What I ended up with was a massive aphid infestation that I spent the entire winter battling.  I threw out the peppers mid winter and spent the rest of the winter trying to save all my other plants.  I've decided it's not worth it to try again.  I hope you have better luck.

[itsheresomewhere]

36 minutes ago, popmom said:

I would like to overwinter my pepper plants. This one—a cayenne—I started in late summer. It probably needs to be potted up, but should I prune it? Cut the top off? Would that encourage it to be shorter and bushier? 

Repot and don’t prune it.  It will grow a bit slower in winter.