What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

I got more done than I thought I would, including moving the two asparagus plants that were in bad locations. Now I can be done with the garden, or, get more compost/mulch out there to sit over the winter.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good afternoon gardeners. I picked all the frost sensitive leftovers this morning. A couple of handfuls of white San Marzanos, Two small bell peppers a head of curly endive and a 1/4 pound of tomatillos. I have enough tomatillos to make a batch of mole sauce. I picked up the few ingredients I was missing at the grocery store. Just need to carve out some time to do it. I pulled up more of the plants in the big garden. I need to get the bed the SM tomatoes were in ready to plant garlic. I’m hoping to grow bok choi next to the garlic to help discourage cabbage flies. Still no hard frost forecasted here yet. We will be courting a light frost on Wednesday morning. Not too concerned. I’m finished totally with canning for the year. Just need to get canner and spare jars settled in the basement. More rain tomorrow into Tuesday to chip away at the drought. Yay!

 

[jerryse]

I'm wondering if I can cover the pumpkin I started late and potentially save it

If it is a light frost spray water from a garden hose before the sun hits the foliage . I used to do this . A hard freeze and it does not help .

 

[igorsMistress]

This coming week our night time temps are finally going to drop below 70F. I was finally able to start planting some seeds.

Yup, me too. My garlic arrived over the weekend and I dug out some peas, broccoli and lettuce seeds today. Finally taking down the shade for the fruit trees.

 

[Elyrian1]

I got more done than I thought I would, including moving the two asparagus plants that were in bad locations. Now I can be done with the garden, or, get more compost/mulch out there to sit over the winter.

Sally I'd love to hear how to go about moving asparagus, as it seems I'll be doing just that at some point this coming year. Lol.

 

[WthrLady]

Fall clean out of the henhouse and big run. 5 HUGE wheelbarrow loads. I've never seen such a hard molt here before, so many feathers.

New bearing did not fit the windmill. ARGH. will try yet again.

Hard freeze Monday night, down to 21 unless the great lake spares me again, but then up to 80 by next weekend again.

 

[Sally PB]

Sally I'd love to hear how to go about moving asparagus, as it seems I'll be doing just that at some point this coming year. Lol.

This is the first time I've done it, so I won't know if it's successful until next spring!

What I've read online is to wait until the plant is dormant, ie, the stuff above ground is brown and dead. Dig around the plant, and go wide. You want to avoid slicing the root/crown with your shovel.

I used a shovel and a pitchfork. Insert shovel, push down on handle to lift, work the whole way around. One plant was in an area overgrown with grass, so I had to pull the sod away by hand, chunk by chunk. The plant stems broke away from the crown, but that's ok. You can't lift the crown up by the stems anyway.

At some point, I was digging with my hands to get under the crown. Some of the long roots broke off, but it is what it is as far as that goes. Once I had the crown free, I put it in the (pre-dug) hole, spread out the roots, put lots of compost around the roots, and gently reburied it. I gave it a good drink, even though we've had lots of rain and the soil is moist.

I put lots of compost and some bunny poop on top of the ground after I filled in the hole. I left stems there to mark where they are, and even stuck one broken off stem in the ground so I knew where to put poop.

Now it's a waiting game.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good afternoon gardeners, finally got caught up. You all have been busy, and I can’t believe you’re all buttoning things up just as we’re about to have tolerable weather here. @Ascholten you crack me up sometimes.

Things have been so hectic at home and work is busy busy. My mom sent all of her groceries home with me when I went for my car last weekend; I think I heard my pantry shelves groan as I added cans. Also have chicks hatching, I think there are two so far, but I haven’t been able to get a good look. There was a tiny black face looking out from under mamas breast this morning though Also, hubs built me a stand to hang grow lights on for my indoor plants, super excited for this! It’s got all the right things and nothing extra. I need to sand a few spots and either paint or stain it, but I want see how bright the lights are before I make any decisions. I have two separate fixtures that will hang from chains so they can be @ different heights if necessary. I’m leaning toward a black stain since it will be in my living room.

 

[NewBoots]

Looking at this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SLLS2M...&colid=XH78LR80UE42&ref_=gv_ov_lig_pi_dp&th=1 electric water bath canner. Since I do so many small batch pints of water bath it makes it sound easier and cooler for the kitchen. Anyone using one of those? IS it worth it?

I made cream of jerusalem artichoke soup for lunch today and it was delicious! I didn't have to peel the chokes since you pass the finished soup through a sieve so big plus there.

I have a table full of ripe tomatoes to make salsa out of, does anyone ever leave the skins on? It'll be so much easier to do without the scald and peel step. I have a lot that I already made that I did skin, I can use those for gifts and keep the batch with the peels on for home use. Opinions?

 

[Acre4Me]

Momma hen has hatched 7 -yes, 7 unplanned chicks. Well, SHE might have planned them but we did not. Still cute. There are two unhatched eggs, no pips, so I think we will toss them. Funny how they look so similar though!

Canning beef stew right now. Have picked ALL the rest of the carrots! Picked one type of parsnip, but will wait in the other two until a good hard frost comes in a couple of days.

We still have turnips and mustard growing in the garden, then will need to work at getting everything taken care of for the winter!