N&C Midwest: November/December 2018

Well!  November creeped (crept?) up on me!  

Cold and icky here, windy, rainy-misting now, but we had about 3” over the past 3 days...

Nothing remains.

You are right SR, don't know where the summer went so fast! Ate our last tomatoes for lunch today, took all of the tomato vines I had hung up with green tomatoes out to the compost pile.  Winter is rapidly approaching....

OhioGardener wrote:You are right SR, don't know where the summer went so fast! Ate our last tomatoes for lunch today, took all of the tomato vines I had hung up with green tomatoes out to the compost pile.  Winter is rapidly approaching....

Yes it is!  I have 3 small maters, which will be eaten tomorrow.  Gonna freeze what remains of my peppers.  Need to get the last of the dead vines out of the beds, but gonna wait until Sunday unless it’s warmer than they predict for tomorrow!  

I am already thinking about what worked/didn’t, etc.  We will be posting on that all winter!  Regrets, plans, etc!!!!

Planning is the funnest.

Scorpio Rising wrote:I am already thinking about what worked/didn’t, etc.  We will be posting on that all winter!  Regrets, plans, etc!!!!

Planning is the funnest.

Last night my wife was laughing about me sketching out plans of where which vegetables will be planted in the raised beds. 

OhioGardener wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:I am already thinking about what worked/didn’t, etc.  We will be posting on that all winter!  Regrets, plans, etc!!!!

Planning is the funnest.

Last night my wife was laughing about me sketching out plans of where which vegetables will be planted in the raised beds. 

Yeah, I do several drafts as well.  I think I am gonna put in another 4x4...

Still soggy in my backyard where my beds are.  Largely clean, but need to do a last chop and clean out, with a toss of the compost pile!  

I am going to make a concerted effort to get some leaves into my compost pile.  FREE!!!!!  Gonna do it.  There was a strange fungus or something the last 3 tears on the maple leaves.  Not so this year!

'Tis the season.....   The raised beds are ready for the long winter.

Same here.  I don’t know what I was expecting; wintry mix...thought it was gonna be slushy rain.  Not 1/2 inch of snow!

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/87e47710.jpg

Lol, here we go, folks!

Still planting garlic this week. 
 Over the years have planted garlic in Sept. Oct. and this year November.   
Suppose to be tough stuff, we'll see !

llama momma wrote:Still planting garlic this week. 
 Over the years have planted garlic in Sept. Oct. and this year November.   
Suppose to be tough stuff, we'll see !

Ha!  I just walked in from getting my 2 squares of garlic in—finally!  Still really wet out there!  I have planted it mid-November before, no problem.  

My legacy boxes are looking kinda last-leggy.  Need to plan on repleacement SF-age.  Note to self:  eggplant skeletons are really tough!  Lots of roots, tough and prickly stems....who knew?  I sure did enjoy my eggplant this year though.  It was my first year for that and kohlrabi, which I also truly loved!

I love good eggplant. Black Beauty hasn't worked for me but the smaller Japanese Millionaire are sweet and prolific. I can't imagine gardening in November with snow. A quick harvesting of greens, yes. Amending and planting, no.

sanderson wrote:I love good eggplant.  Black Beauty hasn't worked for me but the smaller Japanese Millionaire are sweet and prolific.  I can't imagine gardening in November with snow.  A quick harvesting of greens, yes.  Amending and planting, no.

My first year this year, I grew Ping Tung, a skinny Japanese variety as well.  They were delish, not pithy or bitter at all! Game changer.

I looked at the comments for Ping Tung in Baker's Creek Seeds. It looks like it is a good hot summer plant. Also sweet and tender like my Millionaire.

sanderson wrote:I looked at the comments for Ping Tung in Baker's Creek Seeds.  It looks like it is a good hot summer plant.  Also sweet and tender like my Millionaire.

YES!  It sounded like my variety.  Loved it!  And this baby kept going on !

Yesterday was a beautiful November day here in SW Ohio - temps in the mid-50's, and a bright sunny day. Finally got to finish some of the fall gardening tasks that never got finished.  Worked the BioChar I have been saving into a couple of the smaller beds, and got to transplant the Rhubarb plants into their new beds so they can get their roots developed before the spring growth. Set up another drum to hold the compost from the tumbler until next spring when I can add it to the beds, and spread some coffee grounds on the beds to add a little natural fertilizer (thanks, Starbucks!).  Dug up the Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichoke) and laid them out in the garage to dry. Pulled the last of the green onions and stored them in the fridge for salads, and collected the last of Red Russian Kale and cut the plants off at the soil level - they look great, and didn't seem to mind the recent snows that covered them. Cleaned a few flower beds and mulched the perennials to prevent frost heaving. Rain started moving in for the evening, so worked in the garage for a while cleaning & oiling the tools, and storing the compost tea equipment. Rained all night, and still raining today, but now we're ready for the long winter.


Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the high-50's to low-60's, so I might fire up the BioChar Kiln and get rid of some of the brush I have been collecting from trimming the trees.  Starting early next week, we are to have the high's in the low-30's, and there won't be much outdoor work then...

Nothing to be done out there anymore for me.  My beds are over, empty.  Planning a move on the whole garden upstream so it’s not so wet.  Need a new bed so I can try a few new plants!!!!

Warmish today.  Nice, actually.

Freakishly cold here...25*F with windchills in the teens.  Snow.  Fall did not occur.

I don't know how you northern folks can handle the cold! It's 55*F right now and I have 2 layers on with a heating pad! I'm like Miss Lily during the winter.

sanderson wrote:I don't know how you northern folks can handle the cold!  It's 55*F right now and I have 2 layers on with a heating pad!  I'm like Miss Lily during the winter.

I guess that after 70-some years, we just kind of get used to it...  18°F this morning, but it is going to get up to 30.....  Brrrrrrrrrr....

I guess the best thing about the cold weather is that it allows the garden beds to regenerate for next year's vegetables, and it kills off a lot of bad bugs that would be waiting to eat our plants.  Meanwhile, the compost tumbler is composting, the coffee grounds are breaking down to provide nutrients in the soil, and the Winter Rye roots are reaching down deeply into the ground to pull up minerals to the surface.....and, life goes on here in the northland....

“To be a successful farmer one must first know the nature of the soil.” - Xenophon, Oeconomicus, 400 B.C.




The raised beds at rest for the winter....

I think we are supposed to get a little break from the cold over the weekend, depending on your location.  I for one will try to get my Christmas lights out on the porch!  

We have a light blanket of snow here.  Seed catalogs starting to come in!  

Well, got my tree bought, but no decorations out....time ran out!  Great, windy day today though.  My neighbor was grilling out!  It was 60*, which is nuts.  I was good with it however.  

There were ladybugs alive on my tree at the nursery!  They will be going back into hibernation tomorrow!

I got my Baker Creek catalog yesterday, and I have Pinetree’s also!  Dream time...

Getting close to the end of my Yukon Golds, so making a chicken sausage and tater skillet tonight.  I am trying to convince my best friend to try a 4x4’!

Fall finally arrived here in SW Ohio, after some bitter winter weather.  It has been up in the high 40's for the past several days, and yesterday it was almost 60°F. It is supposed to stay in the mid- to high-40's through the end of the week. Looked out at the raised beds this morning, and the Winter Rye is greened up like it has spring growth.

OhioGardener wrote:Fall finally arrived here in SW Ohio, after some bitter winter weather.  It has been up in the high 40's for the past several days, and yesterday it was almost 60°F. It is supposed to stay in the mid- to high-40's through the end of the week. Looked out at the raised beds this morning, and the Winter Rye is greened up like it has spring growth.

Yes!  Nice break from the bitter cold, finally!  Wet here, but I am just glad for the break...

Gave my friends my first bread and butter pickles and jalapeño jelly for Christmas...hope they like them!  

Got a stand mixer for myself for Christmas!  Can’t wait to make some bread!!!  Or cookies!!!  I have never had a mixer