Thursday, October 9, 2008

October 9, 2008

Well, something's wrong with my blog. I couldn't edit my last post. I just gave me an error and didn't show anything.  So here are the pics of my hoop covers and other cold weather protection efforts in the daylight.



And here are my potatoes and cantaloupe tent.



Any one taking odds on the on the cantaloupe maturing?  My ignorant guess would be not likely, but it's no skin off my noes if I cover them and water them or not.  Growth has occurred.  It's a start.


And finally I think I mentioned the wind damage to my rose.  Well here is what it looks like!  Maybe if we tie it up it will grow right again after we prune the heck out of it?



Now on to this week's to-do list.  It'll likely be the last comprehensive to-do list for quite a while since I will be helping move my folks and then prep their house for sale.  Boy I hope I can come up with more than just this list but I'm not big on forward thinking into uncharted territory.



  • I still can't find the plastic for the original hoop cover.  I may need to buy more.  Grrr.

  • Buy some 1/3s to create that box under the compost cover.  It'll mean dismantling it but in the long run it should be better to be able to open and close it, not to mention smoothing out the low points.

  • Make some pickles. I've got tons of pickling cukes ready to go.  Maybe past ready.  Plan is for that to happen tomorrow.

  • Mow my yard.  I had hoped to have leaves all over the place first so I could get a great compost mix of carbon and nitrogen all in one pass of the mower.  For some reason it hasn't happened despite the foul weather clearly signaling to the rest of us that it's fall.  I may fluff it again after I take apart my cover, or I'll just dump a new pile in the empty bin to compost over the winter.  Not sure.

  • Figure out how to use my corn bed for fall/halloween decorations and gut the bed.  Since corn is a heavy nitrogen feeder, but I fed it liberally while it was growing, so do I need to feed it more? 

  • Um, is it rhodie planting season? I am not sure.  I need to plant one in a bare spot in the front yard rhodie hedge between the neighbor's property and mine.  If you recall, I'm looking for a blue one.

  • And drum roll please! Harvest potatoes! Dry them and bag up the compost.

That just about does it. I'll try to figure out more for this weekend, but for now that looks like quite a bit.


Enjoy your garden and stay warm!

4 comments:

  1. I think you're going to have a cantaloupe!!! Bets are on LOL! I think that if you have it protected that it will continue to grow.

    Sorry about the rose.... it is a beautiful plant. I don't know much about roses though so I can't help you with any tips.

    When will it be time to check out those potatoes? I can't wait...

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  2. Annie's Grannie mentioned her leaves haven't fallen yet either. Must be something in the air. There are no leaves on the ground in my neighborhood (letting me delude myself into thinking that fall is not really here) but 15 blocks away there are so many leaves on the ground I want to grab the leaf vac and clean up somebody else's yard.

    I read that you can make roddies bloom blue by adjusting the ph, although I never grew them myself.

    Looking forward to the potatoes too.

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  3. Annie's Grannie mentioned her leaves haven't fallen yet either. Must be something in the air. There are no leaves on the ground in my neighborhood (letting me delude myself into thinking that fall is not really here) but 15 blocks away there are so many leaves on the ground I want to grab the leaf vac and clean up somebody else's yard.

    I read that you can make roddies bloom blue by adjusting the ph, although I never grew them myself.

    Looking forward to the potatoes too.

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  4. Sinfonian - I seriously doubt the cantaloupes will mature in time.....Sorry. Five weeks after fruit set seems like an eternity. I kept waiting, and waiting for mine....Oh well, there's always next season. I wish I had some cucumbers to pickle...man! Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete