PNW: October Updates

Wow - what a glorious fall we are having so far! My tomatoes and bell peppers are ripening and being consumed. Lettuces, spinach, arugula, radishes and peas are all producing. I was lax with spraying BT on my broccoli's though and there aren't much left of them.

I don't know how many days left I have of this season - are you all watching the nighttime temps? I don't plan on doing hoops for season extension still yet this year. Matter of fact, a yard re-design is in order now that we've decided to work a few hens into our lives. So I believe once this season is officially over, I'll be taking apart my existing 4'x6' bed and looking to build a couple of smaller table top beds in a different location. Anyone else have some garden re-designs in the works?

Yep, I want to take my original tabletops apart and put weedblock cloth under the MM instead of the plastic I used.

Kay

what a wonderful Oct so far!

we have been taking advantage of the nice weather and doing some gardening clean up.....

we cut down the corn stalks and left the roots in the ground to rot

the squash and pumpkins continue to ripen.....their vines have been over taken with powder mildew......

the cucumbers are just about done....the vines are looking awful

our bush beans continue to flower and we have been harvesting every few days or so....so glad we put in late beans....



were able to can 5 pints of beans from the beans above

we harvested over 100 lbs pounds of plums

the plants in the green house are doing well ....we have been closing it up around dinner time to keep it warm in there for fall....

we also have been making plans for spring

hugs
rose

I have been doing some garden cleanup the past few days. I have harvested the acorn and buttercup squash and pulled the plants. Pulled the Kentucky Wonder vines and the Scarlett Runners will be going soon also. The cucumber plants will be removed soon too. The chard, lettuce, spinach, arugula, beets, turnips, kale, leeks and bush beans are all doing well.
I have chosen four beds to cover this winter and have put the hoops up and the plastic covers will go on right before we get our first freeze.
I was going to cut the celery and leave the roots in the ground (like I do with green onions) and was wondering if anyone in the PNW has had luck overwintering celery under cover? I can place a cloche over the plants for added protection as well? Any thoughts on this?

Happy Camper
I found a great way to have TONS of cloches this fall.
We have a friend who works at the bottle depot and many of the tourists bring back their HUGE water containers...(the ones you see in offices upside down(
There is a part of our lake where the water is questionable so the tourists buy these huge water jugs and then are not able to get the 10 dollars refund and so they drop them off at the bottle depot instead of the dump.
We just cut the tops off with a circular saw and have 5 gallon cloches for helping out the tender plants.
Most likely will use them more next spring with the smaller plants setting them out earlier.

GWN wrote:Happy Camper
I found a great way to have TONS of cloches this fall.
We have a friend who works at the bottle depot and many of the tourists bring back their HUGE water containers...(the ones you see in offices upside down(
There is a part of our lake where the water is questionable so the tourists buy these huge water jugs and then are not able to get the 10 dollars refund and so they drop them off at the bottle depot instead of the dump.
We just cut the tops off with a circular saw and have 5 gallon cloches for helping out the tender plants.
Most likely will use them more next spring with the smaller plants setting them out earlier.

Are you cutting the top (HANDLE END) or the flat bottom off? Nice reuse/recycle example.

Kay

I think I would cut off the bottoms; that way you could use the handles to move them around.

October has been glorious here at the beach. And the garden is growing, small though it is this year.

We are still getting a few tomatoes. Squash that I planted was all a bust and I am about to pull them out. My lettuce is growing well, and my fennel looks awesome. I also late planted some Walla Walla onions and they're happy out there.

I bought brussels sprouts from the local nursery and they keep telling me I'll get sprouts through March. We'll see but the plants look good so far. I have purple striped garlic, and elephant garlic waiting to plant, and I just spread a bunch of lettuce, dill, and arugula seeds into a bed to see what happens.

Most of my attention though, has been going to my garden helpers. I have added some more Angora bunnies to the family, and they work hard on producing about 5 gallons of manure a week that I add to the beds. Rabbit manure is the richest in nitrogen, and also doesn't burn. Each week I dump the manure onto a bed. As the leaves fall, I will layer those on top too. I'm hoping by spring the soil will be enriched.

Tomorrow I am rushing to move a couple plants before the rain starts, and winterizing the bunnies more. I am both looking forward to, and dreading the fall storms. It still feels weird that I won't be dreading snow...

woke up to rain this morning

happy that we dont have to water the gardens....sad that its raining.....cause once it starts here in the PNW ......ha ha ha.....

hugs
rose who be hunting slugs tonight

While I am glad for the rain at this moment, I am sure that will change next year after 9 months of it
I better check my flashlight batteries and get the scissors. I will be following in FamilyGardening's footsteps. The slugs will be out and trying to devour the lettuce, spinach and anything else. Beware slugs and cutworms... next month after I cover some of the beds, I will remove the grids from the rest and let the chickens out into the garden for a feast!

The big water jugs I cut off the tops, so that when I use it as a cloche there is no opening at the top.
NONe of them come with a lid.
We cut down to where the sides become straight down
I am also going to use them over my rosemary plants to see if I can over winter them

woke up to rain this morning

Our first rain in months as well, it has been hard knowing whether or not to water the gardens when it is freezing every night, yet it is hot during the days. Trying to save my strawberries, raspberries blueberries.
So now I guess we can officially put away the hoses.

GWN wrote:The big water jugs I cut off the tops, so that when I use it as a cloche there is no opening at the top.
NONe of them come with a lid.
We cut down to where the sides become straight down
I am also going to use them over my rosemary plants to see if I can over winter them

I had forgotten they are used upsidedown so therefore would not have lid.

what do urban farmers do during a PNW rainy windy day ?

picked up the last of our plums that blew from the top branchs to the ground.......ha ha ha made the kids go out and harvest those plums.......

we baked 4 acorn squash and 4 pumpkins
blend them smooth and froze for a later day

we hot water bathed 2 pints of apple sauce...would have been more but we used most of the apples in a apple crisp last week

what are you all up to?

hugs
rose

todays harvest



hugs
rose

So, Rose, is that a sugar pumpkin on the right? If so, what are you making with it? Or does it get a face and a candle? I'm a bit envious of your having the baby blue hubbard (another guess on my part). They make wonderful soup ingredients. Nonna

Looks great as usual Rose!

I still have a couple of Brandywine's out on the vine that I haven't cut down and brought in to finish ripening. There are still bell peppers out there too. I haven't stepped out in the backyard once since all the wind and rain started.

I can't remember if I said so earlier, but I've decided to add a few chickens to the family and planning for the coop and run has me looking at a yard re-design that means I'll be taking apart my SFG. I'm going to try and sell it on craigslist and I think I'll settle on using a few of those cement mixing tubs over by the patio to still do a bit of gardening next year. I'd want a stand for them though.

Hope everyone is staying warm and dry. This is the kind of weather that makes me want to stay inside and bake bread and muffins and other goodies. I found a sweet bread recipe for the bread machine that uses a cake mix that I'm going to try out next. But not until the family has finished off the pumpkin muffins.

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:So, Rose, is that a sugar pumpkin on the right? If so, what are you making with it? Or does it get a face and a candle? I'm a bit envious of your having the baby blue hubbard (another guess on my part). They make wonderful soup ingredients. Nonna

hi Nonna

the pumpkin should be a connecticut field grown from saved seed of big momma from last year ....we have two more out turning color in the garden.....

i say *should be* because some of our seedlings were mixed up together when our little green house blew over.....but....we only planted saved seeds from last years big momma and we tried a new pumpkin Amish Pie.....the pumpkin above doesnt look like an Amish pie so i think its big mammas offspring

the blue hubbard is new to us......it came from a replacements of seedlings that fell....we lost a lot of our winter squash on that windy day....so we bought some others and this blue hubbard was one of them.....how would you describe the taste?....acorn is hubby's favorite...he likes it smooth, sweet and creamy.....do you cook the blue hubbard the same as other winter squash?

we are also not sure what that other smaller green/orange squash is sitting behind the blue hubbard :scratch:

so far the best tasting pumpkin is the one my son planted....we though it would be the amish pie.....since we have two garden area's we wanted to plant big mommas connecticut field in one garden and the amish pie in the other.....but...with the mix up....who knows....my daughters pumpkins in her three sisters wine barrel looks like the amish pie.....but the taste is not as sweet as the pumpkin in our sons three sisters wine barrel and it looks differnt as well..... .....oh well....doesnt matter .....we are going to eat them no matter what they are......we are saving seeds......

who knows what they will be like next year.....

hugs
rose

gwen im so excited for you on getting chickens!

but did you say you are going to sell your SFG? ...did i read that right?

hugs
rose

Rose, Somewhere, sometime, I read that the commercial pumpkin-in-a-can was actually a variety of hubbard squash, bread for consistency in taste and sweetness. We really like hubbards, but they're usually a bit too big for just the two of us. Therefore, we now concentrate on growing potimarrons, also called red kuri squash in Japan, which is a 2-4 person size squash with very smooth flesh, sweet somewhat dry and good flavor. The other one we love grows bigger, called Australian Butter, and makes the best pies I've ever made (the family last Thanksgiving agreed). Nonna

those all sound yummy nonna!

we made pumpkin cake last night with our son's pumpkin...oh...so good!

hugs
rose

Oh, yea, Rose, pumpkin cake, or pumpkin bread (if you want it for breakfast) is one of the best! Uh, care to share the recipe? Nonna

pumpkin cake recipe from here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L8Q-kN-Phs&feature=plcp

mix together:
1 16 oz can of pumpkin or 2 cups pumpkin puree
2 cups of sugar

add:
1 cup of oil
add:
4 eggs
add:
2 cups of flour
2 tsp of soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of cinnamon... ...(i also added some all spice)

you can add some nuts if you want to

oil/flour cake pan/pans ( i used two round pie pans so we could share one of the cakes with my mom ) i split the recipe in half and used splenda for the sugar for momma....she said it was wonderful!

bake at 350 for 20 to 30 mins

it turned out very light and moist....very very good!

hugs
rose

Thank you, Rose, for the recipe. Did you drain your pumpkin puree a bit before using, or was it a "dry" variety after roasting? (Glad you mentioned the allspice, it's a favorite "secret" ingredient to our spice mix, too.) Nonna

Nonna we didnt need to drain our pumpkin

thanks to Goosegirl we learned to roast our pumpkins with out any water in the pans and they came out perfect!

hugs
rose