New England, November 2016

I can't believe it's NOVEMBER, already. Where has the year gone???  And, do I really have the honor of starting the November thread?

The holidays are upon us! Leaves are still falling and there's a serious chill in the air - no snow in our yard, yet, but I know it's coming.

I raked leaves and planted potatoes today (put 'em in containers, to be well-mulched and stored under the deck during winter). Still waiting for seed garlic to be delivered, a few days later than planned. Tomorrow I'll prep the soil and plant the shallots, then add the garlic when it arrives.  Not sure if this is a case of "better late, than never." We'll see if it all survives...

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the potted heirloom tomatoes I lamented over summer have finally started blooming.   Go figure!!!  I ditched my plans to compost the vines and moved them into my sun-room, where they'll stay until they fail, or next spring, whichever comes first.

Nearly all the cherry tomatoes I harvested before first frost have ripened in trays on the dining room table.  Such a pleasant surprise!  The little gems are too acidic to snack on, but we enjoy them daily in salads and side dishes.

This coming weekend, DH and I will take down the trellises I used for summer crops and decomission the borrowed pumpkin plot in our neighbor's yard.  Hoping that next year we'll set them up in a more permanent arrangement (on new property of our own), and the grand experiment will continue!

I'm about ready to stop digging in the dirt for a while, to take up winter reading and perusing seed catalogs while sitting by a roaring fire and sipping hot cocoa...
What's going on in the rest of New England?  

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Planting my garlic this weekend.  Fingers crossed that whatever happened to last year's crop doesn't repeat!

Nice November intro GB! I will jump in when I get more than a few minutes. I'm workin' a lot of hours. I do enjoy reading everyone's posts. Hey TD, put up a pic of your garden now, I am curious, I bet it is still a fab looking place.I hope I can get everybody to take pics of their wintering garden. It will give us all other ideas. I only have beets left to dig up, just about everything else is put to sleep for the winter, except my garlic bed which I hope to plant this weekend!

bigdogrock wrote:... Hey TD, put up a pic of your garden now, I am curious, I bet it is still a fab looking place. ...

Thanks for the compliment. Right now the garden looks pretty drab.

I'll try to do some photos and post them on the "Second Year SFG in Canada" thread.

Thanks TD!
I will take some pics of mine, the way it is, then that will inspire me to clean it up even better and show what it looks like then.
On another positive note, I had cabbage for dinner tonight, from my garden! Not quite as big as a volley ball, but gettin' close.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Planting my garlic this weekend.  Fingers crossed that whatever happened to last year's crop doesn't repeat!

OK, here's the thing....we have not had a single hard freeze....I cannot do garlic yet.  I think I need to wait!  It is still warm!  I just got back from choir practice, and had no coat on!  

Gonna wait til a killing frost for the garlic.  Lost all mine last year because of the weirdly warm November.....

  hmm...
I'm not sure that garlic cares about warm Novembers, SR.  I don't usually get a killing frost until closer to Dec.  Can you put in just a couple now, maybe one of each variety, and the rest after the frost, for an experiment?  To me, them rotting away seems like too much water, not temp related.

Yes, I am gonna plant tomorrow.  But gonna get some chicken wire from TSC.  Might have been squirrels, but no real evidence of digging.

Gorgeous weekend here on the Cape! We're just passing peak  fall color now and getting lots of leaves for the compost pile.

Had the most delicious Delicata squash yesterday. Even though they always get hit by the Squash Vine borer I couldn't resist saving these healthy fat seeds from this one.

Today's Harvest of mustard spinach and kale along with some counter ripened tomatoes.

Even though The Knockout roses are still going, this Bonica was a surprise.  

Three patio pots of this sweet geranium are still going strong.

This year's little indoor garden has Stevia, upper right, parsley, Ginger, and basil.

Really nice CC

Love the colors on the Bionica & sweet geranium...

Love your indoor garden, CC. 

countrynaturals wrote:Love your indoor garden, CC. 

+1

The garlic I planted Halloween weekend has sprouted!

Second to last batch of counter ripened cherry tomatoes.

Still eating lots of greens daily!
The weather is cold and cloudy today so I won't be able to get out into the garden to start cleanup. Maybe tomorrow or Saturday.

I dried some tromboncino squash seeds the other day but they look so puny. I'm hoping the last squash that's down in the basement will have healthier looking seeds. It's the one I saved that purpose.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

AAAaaaack!!!  Aphids and powdery mildew on the greens!!!
You'd think since we already had a frost these things would be gone. But noooooo. Good thing the garden hose is still out so I can blast them.

Today's Slim Pickens - dwarf kale, lettuce, Dino kale and mustard spinach.

I also brought in half a dozen cherry tomatoes that I never thought would blush up but did.

Even though all the leaves off the trees Bonica refuses to give up...as do the geraniums in the background.

CapeCoddess wrote:Even though all the leaves off the trees Bonica refuses to give up...as do the geraniums in the background.

CC ... That is gorgeous.

I agree, TD. CC, that's one gorgeous rose! And pretty geraniums in the background too!

P

CapeCoddess wrote:AAAaaaack!!!  Aphids and powdery mildew on the greens!!!
You'd think since we already had a frost these things would be gone. But noooooo. Good thing the garden hose is still out so I can blast them.

Today's Slim Pickens - dwarf kale, lettuce, Dino kale and mustard spinach.

I also brought in half a dozen cherry tomatoes that I never thought would blush up but did.

Gorgeous!

CapeCoddess wrote:Even though all the leaves off the trees Bonica refuses to give up...as do the geraniums in the background.

Holy cow!  Also gorgeous!