Garden Goals: November

The days are getting shorter and the leaves are falling from the trees.  Normally I would be done with the garden after the first frost, but this year I'm trying to extend my season.  So, here's November's gardening goals:

• Clean up garden: I need to pull the eggplants and clean up the herb garden.
• Add manure to beds as they are cleaned up.
• Mulch: rake up leaves, get Jeff to mow them and add to beds
• Plant the winter garden: This is my experimental garden because I have no clue if seeds are going to germinate this late in the year, much less grow and mature.  I guess I will find out!
• Cover beds: since I ended up getting much more row cover than I originally needed, I'm going to make a cold frame for the broccoli.  The broccoli seem to be taking their time and I don't know if they are going to make it before it gets too cold.  I may make another frame for one of the fall beds too.
• Harvest and eat fall veggies!

Well, I guess this means I should get moving and get off the couch.  Happy November gardening!

Revisiting those October Garden Goals

A new month is sneaking up around the corner, so it's time to check on those October gardening goals.

• Clean-up garden:  I finally parted with the tomatoes, still have some paths to rid of weeds and grass.
• Harvest peanuts:  Peanuts are drying at the moment, one more week until roasting and eating!
• Dry herbs: Mint, basil, and oregano are currently drying in the potting shed.
• Plant garlic:  I didn't plan ahead with my garlic and did not order any, so I ended up going to the grocery store and buying a couple of organic garlic bulbs.  I've never grown garlic before and I'm hoping they will grow!
• Order bulbs: Sadly, bulbs did not fit into my budget this year.  I had some way too expensive car repairs (very angry at Toyota right now!!) and decided that flower bulbs were going to have to wait until next year :(
• Add compost: I got my alpaca manure and added it to the beds I cleared.  There will be more to do as the fall crops finish and I clear the eggplants and peppers. 
• Plant cover crops: I have three beds with cover crops growing.  Just planted the peanut beds with cover crops and hope they will germinate.  I had read about planting cover crops around fall crops.  I tried this with my brussel sprouts, but it seems the cover crops are taking over!  I do like the look of cover crops.  Nice to have something green instead of exposed dirt.

• Mulch:  The trees haven't dropped many of their leaves yet, so this is going to have to wait until next month.
• Make cold frame: I'm having two cold frames.  For one I am using the bottom of the trellis frame for the structure.  The other I assembled with plastic tubing and rebar.  I will be covering these with Agribon+ AG-19 row covers.  Hopefully this will work!

• Finish planting fall garden:  Fall garden planted!  I realized I've never grown turnips and even though they look smaller than I expected I'm afraid those lines might mean they are getting overripe.  Should I pull them??  

• Paint potting shed trim:  Definitely made progress, but not completely done.  One more side of trim to paint.

Not too shabby for October!  November should be a bit less busy, which is  good because I`m ready for a break!

Alpacas in the Garden

No I don't have alpacas grazing in my garden, but I am adding their manure to my soil.  I went to Happy Hills Alpaca Farm to pick up bags of manure and got to see, pet, and hang out with the poop providing alpacas.  They are so soft and adorable!  Just look at that face:

They also had several baby alpacas, including this one that was only three days old:

I wanted to take an alpaca home with me!  Like this shy and fuzzy little guy:

I've never used alpaca manure in my garden before.  Usually I get horse manure, but supposedly alpaca doesn't have weed seeds.  If that's true I love alpacas even more!  It also doesn't have high nitrogen so it can be added directly to beds without composting.  I'm planning on adding it now, planting my cover crops, and then have fabulous soil for the spring!  Seems like a win, win situation: nutrients for my garden and visiting adorable alpacas!