What did you do in the garden today?

[flgardengirl]

Part of my garden fence got pulled down by the over zealous Malabar spinach vines growing on it so I guess I will be fixing that today lol. I am starting some more lettuce and herb seeds. I harvested some seeds from one of my Crepe gingers (Costus Speciosus) and harvested some peppers, egg plant and New Mexico chilies. I noticed there are two huge bunches of bananas that must have been developing for awhile unnoticed lol. I will probably start drying the chilies today so I can use them for our annual tamale making later this fall.

 

[Life is Good!]

Putting the sq foot garden to bed for the long winter.

Harvested all potatoes, tomatoes, last green beans and most of the squash plants. Then pulled out the vines/plants and composted them right where they laid by using a quasi-lasagna technique.....vines or plants are put in place, then piled with about 4" of compost and all the leaves we can get. Most leaves are not yet down, so this final step will have to wait a few weeks.

Temps are still 70+ here in northern Illinois! This is so rare for this time of year. I saw a hibiscus with NEW flowers on it just this morning (Oct 12!). Crazy odd and definitely weird!

It's warm enough I've actually thought about planting some spinach and putting a cold frame over it! But the sunshine level might not be enough to make a go of it. Hmmmmm, gotta go find my seeds!

 

[MEMama3]

I was a garden master today.

I added my final soil amendments into the veggie garden today and turned them in (last turning for the season). Tomorrow I'm setting the kids up so they can harvest worms from the worm farm for me to put in the garden. After worms are added, I've got a huge pile of broken down "chicken" leaves to spread over the top. Winter, here I come.

I finally got my herb garden setup. I dug up my chives and meticulously pulled the mint plants from it. Those babies are going in a buried pot now so they don't spread so badly next year. Chives went into the new bed. I also dug out the parsley and selected the best to replant in the new bed. The less-than-best plants will be dried and jarred.

Finally, I raked around the chicken run and planted two more grape plants around the run.

Woo-hoo!

 

[Nutcase]

I planted several snapbeans today (I don't have a lot of room so everything is in pots). I've got basil seedlings popping up everywhere. I'm expecting sunflower seedlings soon too. Pruned my tomatoes as well. This has been a great season so far!

 

[thaiturkey]

It's just 9.15am here and I've already admired the 2 metre high coleus plants by the front gate. That will do for today.

 

[Nutcase]

Here it's quarter past twelve.

 

[MEMama3]

Ah, I tend to forget that while I'm prepping for winter there are those of you entering spring. I was seriously jealous reading all the posts of planting and seedlings. One more layer of leaf litter and my veggie garden is ready for its long winter nap. I just started cleaning up my perennial beds so I can winter mulch them. Any day now we'll get our first snow and then I'll be lucky to see my lawn for 6 months.

 

[thaiturkey]

Our concern at the moment is the possibility of floods. Prior to the devastating flood of October 2010, the lower part of our land behind the house flooded with run-off. We had to wade out to rescue turkeys and chickens. Only two chickens were already drowned so we were lucky. When the two reservoirs overflowed, our local town was hit by up to two metres of water at 3.00am one morning and remained for about two weeks. We were very lucky to be out of town on higher ground. Our own flood had gone and we remained dry.

Tropical storm Nari is expected to cross Vietnam and Laos today and tomorrow and, unless it dissipates, will hit Thailand on Wednesday. The two reservoirs above us are already full and run-off from recent heavy rain is still flowing into them. The two earth dams were built by American engineers during the Vietnam War and are made only of earth.

At times like this, the garden seems unimportant. We hope that the town won't be hit again. The consequences of a dam burst would be even more horrific and I doubt whether our home and many others would survive.

Here are some images of what happened to out local town in 2010:

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2010/10/pak-thong-chai-korat-flood---o.html

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2010/10/pak-thong-chai-flood---update.html

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2010/10/pak-thong-chai-flood---update-1.html

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2010/10/lam-pla-peung-dam---a-source-o.html

Please wish us all luck over the next few days.

 

[Nutcase]

Our concern at the moment is the possibility of floods. Prior to the devastating flood of October 2010, the lower part of our land behind the house flooded with run-off. We had to wade out to rescue turkeys and chickens. Only two chickens were already drowned so we were lucky. When the two reservoirs overflowed, our local town was hit by up to two metres of water at 3.00am one morning and remained for about two weeks. We were very lucky to be out of town on higher ground. Our own flood had gone and we remained dry.

Tropical storm Nari is expected to cross Vietnam and Laos today and tomorrow and, unless it dissipates, will hit Thailand on Wednesday. The two reservoirs above us are already full and run-off from recent heavy rain is still flowing into them. The two earth dams were built by American engineers during the Vietnam War and are made only of earth.

At times like this, the garden seems unimportant. We hope that the town won't be hit again. The consequences of a dam burst would be even more horrific and I doubt whether our home and many others would survive.

Here are some images of what happened to out local town in 2010:

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2010/10/pak-thong-chai-korat-flood---o.html

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2010/10/pak-thong-chai-flood---update.html

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2010/10/pak-thong-chai-flood---update-1.html

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2010/10/lam-pla-peung-dam---a-source-o.html

Please wish us all luck over the next few days.

You are in my thoughts and prayers, thaiturkey. Good luck to you all.

Ah, I tend to forget that while I'm prepping for winter there are those of you entering spring. I was seriously jealous reading all the posts of planting and seedlings. One more layer of leaf litter and my veggie garden is ready for its long winter nap. I just started cleaning up my perennial beds so I can winter mulch them. Any day now we'll get our first snow and then I'll be lucky to see my lawn for 6 months.

Here in northern Australia we don't have a winter. September to May is the wet season, very hot and humid - and June to August is the cooler, drier period. Unfortunately we don't get much rain at any time of year these days. You're not the only jealous one - we don't get cold weather at all!

 

[thaiturkey]

Many thanks for your thoughts.