CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing in November 2016

Welcome to November, where the daylight hours get fewer and fewer. About six or seven weeks then we turn the corner.

This is what happened in past years in my neck of the woods in my home town in British Columbia.

I found this information several days ago, but I expect it has been there much longer.  I can find this info on any day just by entering the date.

Greatest precipitation (1966-2015)            37.9 mm 1984
Greatest rainfall (1966-2015)                    18.4 mm 1977
Greatest snowfall (1966-2015)                  37.9 cm   1984
Most snow on the ground (1966-2014)         8.0 cm   1971

Today the forecast is: Cloudy. Showers beginning early this morning. Snow level 1500 metres. Temperature steady near 7.

Tonight	Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Snow level 1600 metres. Temperature steady near 6.

The rest of the week is similar, except we  may two days without rain.

Yesterday I collected another five bags of leaves from my near neighbour. Heavy and soggy with rain.  I will never get them through the lawnmower, it will clog up, so they will go onto the compost heap as is.  Lots of work in the spring when I turn them.

Welcome to November Kelejan.

I won't be able to do much in the garden today due to other commitments. Since this is the day we set out our garbage and yard waste for tomorrow morning's City pickup, I may scout out the neighbourhood for bags of leaves at the curbside (note: I always ask before taking them). I'll need to do that before the forecasted thunderstorm strikes later today.

trolleydriver wrote:Welcome to November Kelejan.

I won't be able to do much in the garden today due to other commitments. Since this is the day we set out our garbage and yard waste for tomorrow morning's City pickup, I may scout out the neighbourhood for bags of leaves at the curbside (note: I always ask before taking them). I'll need to do that before the forecasted thunderstorm strikes later today.

Nice new Avatar TD I guess we're on a different leaf cycle. Our pick up is tomorrow. And we have lots of big trees in our area- so I don't have to leave my property to fill my small compost bin. If I decide to expand my composting operations- I'll have to branch out though ;-) And your beautiful construction is making it very tempting.

I am continuing to enjoy my tomatoes in the form of salads (with my kale), tabuleh, and tomato sauce. The kids are also eating the cherry tomatoes as snacks, which is nice to see. Generally, my gardens are in pretty good shape so far. Even the indoor herbs (in MM) are going strong. The only thing I never really got "around to" was planting garlic and flower bulbs for the spring. There could still be time, I guess.

Mimi2 wrote:I am continuing to enjoy my tomatoes in the form of salads (with my kale), tabuleh, and tomato sauce. The kids are also eating the cherry tomatoes as snacks, which is nice to see. Generally, my gardens are in pretty good shape so far. Even the indoor herbs (in MM) are going strong. The only thing I never really got "around to" was planting garlic and flower bulbs for the spring. There could still be time, I guess.

There is definitely time for garlic, and any bulbs that flower in Spring!  Up through November.  I am putting garlic in this weekend.  Hope some makes it.  I planted 3 cloves last year, and not a single one made it!  

Mimi ... great that you are still enjoying your toms.

It's going to be a beautiful day (15 Celsius) here in Ottawa so I need to get things done outside before the rains return tomorrow. I'll post more about my day's activities in the "Second Year SFG in Canada" thread.

Still raining here, but maybe a clearer day tomorrow.

This reminds me that November 1, 1996, twenty years ago, we got the key to our house and had to buy a snow shovel to reach the door.  That began  four months or more of snow so that we had no clue what was in the garden.  By the time the snow cleared, we found there was nothing in the area that could be called " a garden" except one little bunch of grape hyacinths hidden amongst the bushes and birch trees. It was April before we could do anything at all.

First thing we did was to tidy up, clear the leaves and try to level all the ant hills in the "lawn".

Almost the same for us Kelejan. We bought our house in February in the middle of an Ottawa winter with about three feet of snow on the ground. The Spring revealed a mundane garden consisting mostly of weedy lawn.

Here is Mrs TD's Jack O' Lantern.  Not sure if she tried to make an image of me.   I can't wait to take the machete to it and put it into the compost bin.

TD, you are a handsome guy.  though I do think you need some dental work.

My neighbour is going to give me her used pumpkins. I wish I could have had the seeds though to make edibles.

Talking about pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns gives me the idea of collecting JOL from the neighbors for the compost bin.

NEWSFLASH! today it is not raining.

To take advantage I collected another bag of leaves from my near neighbour, one more bag then the trees will be bare, then noticed that another neighbour had his bear-resistant garbage can up-ended and the contents spread across the road.  I was nearly finished when he surfaced (nightshift?) and was so very apologetic.  He helped finish off and then we upended the bin together, it was beyond my strength as it was attached to a utility pole and very awkward to handle.  He trod on the next door's loose paving edge and came a cropper.  Not hurt, thank goodness.

I then mentioned that I was going up my hillside to collect the garbage that the bears had left previously.  He said he would come and help me after he had taken his wife somewhere but I had finished  (1 1/2 hours work) and he is not back yet, so I guess he was away longer than anticipated.

I collected two bags of trash, horrible mucky stuff, and managed to salvage an envelope with name and address on it.  I will have to go across and have a word with them.  They are newcomers and I bet that it was the previous tenants who were not so careful with their garbage. I took several photos so hope to show the City that their garbage cans are garbage. 

I am always interested what people put in their shopping bags at the store, and equally interested in what they dispose of.  No wonder that peoples' health is not so good when you look at all the packages and boxes.

It's getting to be news here when we have a day with no rain. 

I slept late, then phone calls, a visitor to collect a printer cartridge, and cleared up some chicken manure spilled from a five gallon bucket, no doubt from a bear who was sniffing around my primary garbage can where I had put all the stuff collected from up the hill. My primary garbage can  is bear proof, I do not load our official one until the day the contents are collected as those are only bear resistant. Bears are powerful animals and these garbage can have a week spot, a wire connecting the spring catch that can be broken or the spring catch worked like the catch on a dog lead can be just by pushing part of it. 

That was followed by a birthday lunch and some shopping in the local pharmacy where they sometimes have certain items on sale that are nothing to do with pharmacy; washing up liquid that I had to ask an assistant to get for me from the top shelf out of my reach, (when I come back in my next life I am requesting to be four inches taller), and by the time I returned home I was ready for a siesta then somehow it got all dark.  I do not like these early dark evenings.  Some days just do not go as planned.

I was happy to have Pal waiting for me. :-)

Tomorrow; Rain again. :-(

Oh this is awful. It's almost completely dark outside and its only 5 pm.

TD, we just have to live with it, it happens every year about this time.

I really, really, wish that we did not move the clocks around twice a year.  After all, the person who milks the cows has to go at at the same time each day. Doesn't he?

There may be a couple of partial days when there is no rain so I had better take advantage of that to get some fall leaves mower shredded for the com[post heap.

A few minutes ago I checked some peony seeds that I have trying to proprogate.  I have four seeds in the fridge that have sprouted roots but I am hoping they will start putting out shoots so tht I ca pot them and bring them out into the light. 

It is supposed to take five years before one gets the first blooms. The seeds look so fragile in their plastic bags.

The City  spent a day last week, the one that had no rain, by clearing all the downtown of the leaves.  They beat me to it as I had hoped to spend some time gathering some of them for myself. Tuesday, we have the gathering of yard wastage so I hope to go around the neighbourhood to scrounge bags of leaves. The days are gone when I would gather eighty bags over the course of Fall. That is the trouble of not having transport.

Wow what a beautiful day here in Ottawa. I've been able to work outside without a jacket and with my shirt sleeves rolled up.

A few days ago sanderson posted a photo of her blue sky.  Here is our blue and cloudless sky today. On a scale of 1 to 10+ our air quality index reading is 2 (low risk). Doesn't get much better than that.

Beautiful! That'll be my tomorrow's weather!

Too bad I'm working...

Gorgeous!  Cloudless high pressure reigns!  

We are in the same path, TD.  

Kelejan, I planted a peony here last spring, it is a joy!

planted the garlic today as well as the fall bulbs (tulips and crocus).  Dug up and fertilized the beds.  I had planted a few squares of greens a while ago, hoping to put a cold frame in place, but as I filled my mind with information, I realized that without 10 hours of light, it would not grow anyway, so I am now just going to wait patiently for February.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Gorgeous!  Cloudless high pressure reigns!  

We are in the same path, TD.  

Kelejan, I planted a peony here last spring, it is a joy!

That is what is called Sky Blue, TD.  Lovely.

Scorpio, was your peony from seed, cutting or a plant?

p14shooter wrote:planted the garlic today as well as the fall bulbs (tulips and crocus).  Dug up and fertilized the beds.  I had planted a few squares of greens a while ago, hoping to put a cold frame in place, but as I filled my mind with information, I realized that without 10 hours of light, it would not grow anyway, so I am now just going to wait patiently for February.

You have been busy.  The greens you planted have they come through yet?  You can still put the frame in place so that the seeds will have a head start as soon as the weather warms up.  If they have broken through I think they will grow very slowly but will survive then grow quickly in the spring.

trolleydriver wrote:Wow what a beautiful day here in Ottawa.

A few days ago sanderson posted a photo of her blue sky.  Here is our blue and cloudless sky today. On a scale of 1 to 10+ our air quality index reading is 2 (low risk). Doesn't get much better than that.

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So that's what blue-blue is.

It was on the news here in the states that the Canadian immigration website crashed this morning.

Yes, I saw that too. And the first thing my daughter said when she heard about the election was: "That's O.K. Mummy, we'll just get more people coming to Canada." I think they're talking about changing our immigration laws too- to bring in people with the skills our businesses need. We have a big country, there's lots of room for everyone!

In British Columbia we only have about 4% available agricultural land and once land is taken from the Agricultural Land Reserve to build houses etc., it is lost forever.

Canada has a short growing season compared to the US and we cannot rely on California to supply all the continent's needs.

The majority area of Canada is not suitable for growing food and there is still the need to support wildlife.

We must do our best to promote Square Foot Gardening across the land to help feed everyone.

Kelejan wrote:...

We must do our best to promote Square Foot Gardening across the land to help feed everyone.

+1


Going to get a touch of winter on Friday in Ottawa. Expecting snow flurries then an overnight temperature of -6C (21F). I'm shivering already.