CANADIAN REGION:What are you doing in October 2016

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian cousins!!

trolleydriver wrote:Kelejan ... somewhat timely that you would see those turkeys on Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend .

I never thought of that, TD.  I bet the mother  hen would be tough and the little ones  tender.


sanderson, on behalf of all Canadians, thank you for your good wishes.

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!  Lots to be thankful for.....

Nothing to report in my neck of the woods except the temperature is set to go below freezing (-2C) with no frost report.

Still need to get my compost spread over my SFG beds before the snow comes.  I wonder why we do not have any gardeners in the Prairies?

It is a mild and rainy day here today in Ottawa. That will give a nice drink to my remaining plants in the SFGS including marigolds, some other flowers, various perennial herbs, asparagus, and strawberry plants. I also have an assortment of flowers and berries (blueberries, red currants, and raspberries) outside of the SFG. Most of my SFGS are cleared now and waiting for a layer of compost and some mulch. I am plant some garlic soon if I can find the time. I also have some tulip bulbs waiting for a home.

As Mimi said, it's a wet day so I will focus on indoor activities. In particular I will be doing more canning to get rid of the remaining Tomatillos. I only have 3 lbs left which should give me about 6 or 7 250ml jars of salsa.

I had one jar in the last batch of salsa that did not seal properly. That's the first time that has happened to me. I have almost finished eating the contents of that jar and it is goooooood! Mrs TD does not like salsa so I get it all to myself.

I went to the dentist yesterday for maintenance.  As I still have loads of tomatoes to be processed  and no room in my freezer and I have plenty canned and dehydrated, I took along several pounds and gave them to the receptionist and my hygienist.

Received with much appreciation. They really did appreciate home grown organic tomatoes. I had far too many tomatoes this year so it saved me some work.

Still have plenty for myself, plus pink to finish ripening,  and green ones as well so I have enough fresh for quite a while.  Then I will start on the frozen, followed by the canned etc, more than enough to last me until next harvest. 

This is the best year since I started gardening and SFG.

The weather forecast for the rest of this week: Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. I see a little Sun further down the line.  Compost time if the forecast is accurate.

Completed the canning of the Tomatillos today. Made seven more 250 ml jars of Tomatillo Salsa and even had some left over to eat right away. So that's it for the Tomatillos. I will grow them again next year but not so many plants since they produce tons of "fruit". As well, I do not grow them in the SFG.

My free chicken manure arrived a few minutes ago, five x 5 gallon pails, plus two dozen eggs free for keeping me waiting. 

I wasn't even complaining.

Kelejan wrote:My free chicken manure arrived a few minutes ago, five x 5 gallon pails, plus two dozen eggs free for keeping me waiting. 

Well done Kelejan.

Looks like we got a killer frost last night in Ottawa. When I looked out at my SFG this morning I noticed that the leaves on the Eggplants were bright white with frost. I think it got down to minus one Celsius. Time to start cleaning out the beds and planting the garlic. I'm hoping the Kale and Chard are still OK.

This morning I am dehydrating the peppers I had harvested, before they passed perfection.

Now I will sort out the seed potatoes for next year;  some fingerlings and Yukon Golds.

The Yukon Golds did very well in the dry peat I layered over them last fall so I am doing the same for the fingerlings.

I only had a few fingerlings this year as I shared a bag with a friend as they were rather expensive, so most of the harvest I got is being used for seed for 2017. I will save a few for a couple of meals for myself.

My garlic did not survive the too much watering I gave them at the wrong time,  so most of my garlic harvest has been used for seed. That was an expensive mistake I made treating them like tomato plants.

Our West Coast of British Columbia may be taking a beating from the weather, although I have not watched TV this morning or checked on the weather report.

Lots of cold and snow in Alberta.  I do not think I want to live in that province but like all provinces it has its merits. As TD says, they had quite a frost there which means the end for tender plants.

Kelejan wrote:

My garlic did not survive the too much watering I gave them at the wrong time,  so most of my garlic harvest has been used for seed. That was an expensive mistake I made treating them like tomato plants.

I think of garlic like I do tulip bulbs and such when watering. I think i water them about once a week...sometimes less.

CapeCoddess wrote:

Kelejan wrote:

My garlic did not survive the too much watering I gave them at the wrong time,  so most of my garlic harvest has been used for seed. That was an expensive mistake I made treating them like tomato plants.

I think of garlic like I do tulip bulbs and such when watering.  I think i water them about once a week...sometimes less.

I did for the tulips as well.  Altogether, a very expensive mistake as I treated them the same.  I just do not know what I was thing of, except to equate them with tomatoes.

This afternoon I sorted out my seed potatoes for the fingerlings. they were all of a similar size.

Tomorrow I will do the same for the Yukon Golds.  Do I use the large ones as seed potatoes or is it better to use the smaller ones so that they do not need to be cut up.

Answers on a postcard, please.

The trees are putting on quite a show in their Fall colours. This one is on the street behind our house. Photo was taken through the window in my second floor office.

You guys are a bit ahead of us.  Our trees are just starting to color!

trolleydriver wrote:The trees are putting on quite a show in their Fall colours. This one is on the street behind our house. Photo was taken through the window in my second floor office.

Nice view TD! I am in Niagara today, and the trees are just starting to change here too. Amazing what a difference a six hour drive can make. It was about 24 degrees Celsius in St Catharines today. Gorgeous day. We had a huge bonfire at my in laws house to celebrate my daughter's tenth birthday.

Lots of wood after three months of drought and a fire ban...

Mimi it was nice here as well but not as warm as St.Catharines.  My Mom lives there so she would have enjoyed that nice weather. 

Out now at 10:00am to spread some compost and top with wood chips.

trolleydriver wrote:Mimi it was nice here as well but not as warm as St.Catharines.  My Mom lives there...

And I was born there. Didn't realize that St. Catharine's was such a popular place.

CC

I managed to get my compost and wood chips on before it poured with rain again.

I feel so virtuous.

I thought I had better look up that word to see if I had it right:

Moral, honorable, ethical, upright, righteous, right, pure, pure, upstanding, uncorrupted,  blameless, just, fair, right-minded, fair-minded, high-minded, scrupulous, trustworthy. etc.


Oh well, pick any word, I won't mind. It all sounds good.

I have thought of the right word now.  Smug.

Some of the things on the "To-Do List" for this week:

1. Finish building and setting in place the new compost bin.

2. Cleanup the veggie gardens (SFG and regular) and set aside materials for composting.

3. Cleanup up the flower beds (mostly done by Mrs TD) and set aside materials for composting.

4. Plant garlic in SFG.

5. Start gathering leaves from neighbours. We do not have any deciduous trees on our property so I have to rely on the neighbours plus the leaves that blow onto our property.

6. Get some wood chips from the trees cut down at our church property.

7. Plan and maybe start veggie garden expansion for next year. This will most likely be for potatoes. Sorry to say that I need to make use of our already good soil rather than creating more SFG space. I will amend it with compost as required. I found that mulching with straw does wonders for keeping weeds at bay.

8. Mow the lawns.

etc., etc.

The weather forecast is for a high of 23 Celsius (73 F) tomorrow. That may well be the high for the remainder of 2016. Next week's forecast is for highs below 10 C. Also lots of rain in the forecast this week which will not be good for gathering leaves.

Get going TD, no dawdling on this Forum. We expect to hear from you sooner than Wednesday.

Of course that applies to me as well but my excuse is that it is raining all this week.

CapeCoddess wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:Mimi it was nice here as well but not as warm as St.Catharines.  My Mom lives there...

And I was born there. Didn't realize that St. Catharine's was such a popular place.

CC

Ha ha- it is for us Grandma and Grandpa are there as well as my aunt. My husband is a St Catharines' boy, and the only one from his family that has left the area. We are on our way home now, and just drove by lots of greenhouses, wineries, and orchards. Chris says the earth is very rich, and contains sediment close to the escarpment. The growing conditions and micro-climate is similar to California and some parts of France. I found several SFG books in the local book store, but the gardening section of the local book store was hidden away (very different from Ottawa where is is in the first row). Chatting to people there though, the last couple years haven't been great for gardening because of drought conditions, and the price of water going way up. My father in law gave me seeds for something he called "Chinese cucumbers". Not sure what it is though. He said the plant has beautiful orange flowers, and the "cucumber" is fat and looks like a zucchini. The seeds are tiny, round and black, and look like they came out of a skinny pea pod (from the flower). Any idea of what this is? It is supposed to be good cooked- in stir fries.

Winter is definitely coming to British Columbia Interior. The forecast now includes the projected snow level tonight.  1500 metres.  That will be in the mountain passes mostly, but later on we will be able to see the level creep down the nearby mountains day by day.

The reverse is true in the spring; when the snow is off the nearby mountains it is time to plant tomatoes and peppers.  Just another seven months.