November 13, 2016 - There's a Shift

Daylight Saving Time ended. 

So, it's pretty dark in the morning and the evening so there isn't a lot happening out in the garden. This is not a surprise as I had already anticipated this happening. It just means that we are now shifting attention to things that we have been neglecting until now. Inside projects which really means getting ready for the holiday season to arrive. 

However, there is one outdoor project that needed to be done (or a couple). The low tunnel has been flapping all over the place since we first got it set up. Today was the one day that we didn't have a lot going on and a little time to get out there and secure the hoops and get the cover reattached, in a what I can only hope, is a better way.

Everything at this point is an experiment and the plants seem to be fairly happy...

purple broccoli in the front and the flower sprouts in the back

Chinese Cabbage & Pac Choi are hanging in there

The low tunnel should look good for about 5 minutes...hahaha. The wind can whip around the back side of the shop, so we'll see how long this stays looking nice and secure.

We are hopeful that this experiment will turn out well and at some point we'll be harvesting something more than just the kale - which we have a TON of.

The remainder of the items that I started for fall is in one of Mary's boxes and we had to kind of slap something together to protect the plants from the four-legged critters that came around and topped of every single romaine lettuce in the garden. They also included the spinach. Fortunately those are growing back and now that we have this not so great looking cover on them, they might actually thrive just a little more.

We'll see happens. I'm pretty sure that we'll need to come up with another set-up, but this hopefully will deter the deer from walking across the plants and leaving their prints behind.

Since the lettuce was taken all the way down I decided to start some more last week. When I first got them ready I didn't have a lot of confidence that they would actually germinate - it hasn't been terribly warm. I was wrong, after a few days I spied several of the seeds had sprouted - SUCCESS!! Then after a couple more days this is what the seedlings look like.

Amazing! Once these are good to go I'll be planting them in the hoop house where we will have a better chance of getting some decent greens.

Ashes from the fireplace, mushroom compost and blood meal have been added.

I'm pretty sure that the hoop house crops will do well. It might be our ticket to some fresh greens outside of the regular spring/summer season. 

Next week will be quite busy and I will have almost no time to do anything in the garden other than look at the plants in passing. The week of Thanksgiving will be my time to get out there and pay attention to the plants. 

I'm amazed at how quickly fall is passing us by, soon it will be winter and then shortly after it will be time to start planning the veggies that we plan to grow and the next big project that we want to accomplish.