California - What are you doing this month?

I'm getting acclimated to the cool weather now, but boy, my summer pjs and flip flops just don't cut it now. I do agree that cool/slightly cold weather is good for heavy work outside. The only thing I got done today was some pruning of the wisteria. I like the leaves in compost.

I thought we were going to Sac this weekend but the 2 rugrats came down with colds. I have some heavy dental appts and I don't need to intentionally get sick, especially the bone graft. Dstack is sending me some seeds and I'm looking forward to trying them.

Like old food in the refrigerator, "When in doubt, throw it out."

Today was sunny and crisp, just perfect for working on the 2 compost piles.  I posted about the Berkeley pile for the Veggie beds under Compost: Bekeley 18 day [hot] method.

This is the junk pile for the flower beds.  I had some left over chicken wire and welded-wire fencing and made a medium compost cage a bit ago.  Today, I removed all the product and whip-stitched the chicken wire to the bottom of the cage with wire. I fluffed and mixed the ingredients (grass clippings, pepper plants, kitchen scraps, bedding straw mulch, leaves, horse poo and Starbuck's) because the bottom mixture was too wet and slightly septic and the top was too dry.
Everything is back in and will just do its thing over winter.  There were quite a few worms in the bottom material (and grubs the size of my pinkie) and the cardboard floor was gone!

I'm showing this for any beginner who wants to compost but keep things corralled. You can be creative using different materials to create embarrassing looking cages!

Ibu is calling. . .

Let's see. Snails/slugs, grasshoppers and freeze. Yep, that sums up this time of the year. Sweetie caught and dispatched a grasshopper this morning. Good Kitty. The slugs in the backyard are pretty much staying out of the boxes now that they are raised and there are leaves and wood chips on the ground. I got the tomatoes moved into the little greenhouse. Waiting on the first-ever sweet potatoes. I'm excited to see how they turn out

YS, I fret over my single Dwarf Naval tree that way. Yet every Christmas I end up with enough oranges to share. You don't get frost until March?? Or is that a typo? Wow.

Finished the green house today.  Just need to put a lamp in there on a timer before Sunday night.

Very primitive but it works.  I was trying to make an access hatch on hinges but the rain and cold caught up to me.  Maybe next winter.

Ken is in the background, cutting off the tops of the 4x4 posts of the inner privacy fence. Before cutting:
After topping the posts:
The plan is to hang flower baskets from the top rail, maybe tall sunflowers and zinnias planted in the BTE run or in pots. Next spring.

Yes, if you think the inner fence is a little crocked in spots, you are right. The hard pan was a nightmare to drill in 20 years ago, to the point that I told Ken to not worry about total straight, that the eventual star jasmine would cover it.

After yesterday's rain, today was sunny and crisp.  The cabbages at sunset in 2' x 3' TT:

Chard and Kales in 2' x 8' TT:

Winter garden, west to east:

Orange tree; looks like oranges for Christmas: