New England, October, 2020

It's now October!

Crazy year, this one.  Feels very fall-like here.

For October 8th=November-like temps!

No kidding!  It is crazy!   Very cool here...it basically rained  all day here.  Sort of sprinkled here and there.   I had to pump some water out of the pool to get it ready to close tomorrow.  Felt like I was fighting Mother Nature!

We had a nice Indian Summer for about a week it was in the mid to upper 70s, wonderful! Now we're back to more typical 48 and heavy fog. We can go for a week in the the fog, very depressing. Hoping it burns off today. Also we finally had some measurable rain this past week, first in a month.

On the topic of constant learning, I learned what spider mites are, the damage they will do and how quickly!  I got fooled by an actual small spider. But then I saw what I thought were aphids elsewhere but in the back of my mind was asking "how can aphids walk on a spider web?" I spent a couple days in a puzzle, too many days to save the banana pepper. 

Also learned again what powdery mildew is and how tough it is to keep it at bay on my spinach. 

So I lost my precious banana pepper plant to the spider mites and my sweet bell is on life support. Thankfully no cross contamination to any other container plant, so far. And we did get a nice harvest off the banana, lost track of peppers at 50!
OC

OldCrow wrote:

So I lost my precious banana pepper plant to the spider mites

Just like I lost a lot of marigolds to spider mites.

Since the Spider Mites overwinter in the garden on leaves from plants that were infested, next year consider adding some Predatory Mites to the garden at the first sign of the Spider Mites hatching out. They will control the the Spider Mites early on before they can start their mass reproduction.

We haven't found any the spider mites in the garden or our container plants. They were exclusively, at least so far, on the peppers.

We've been using isopropyl alcohol on cotton ball and Q-tips to to clean the bell a couple times a day. With the serious trimming it got, it's pretty easy to see the tiny, tiny little buggers. And the bell is in isolation from others, horticultural social distancing    

Hey OhioGardener, that predatory link doesn't work on my system. Is it to a product and supplier you have used? Thanks 

OC

OldCrow wrote:Hey OhioGardener, that predatory link doesn't work on my system. Is it to a product and supplier you have used? Thanks

Yes, it is the supplier I have used, Arbico Organics. Here is the full link, we'll see if that works:

https://www.arbico-organics.com/product/mite-predator-phytoseiulus-persimilis-spidermite-killer-greenhouse/pest-solver-guide-mites

Or zone 5b-ish gardeners!

It's been a while since I have been here, not sure if I'm even posting this right.

But, it's garlic planting time! I actually planted mine a week ago, hope that wasn't too early. Last year I didn't plant till November and I felt that was too late, so wanted to get started earlier this year. I used ALL of my garlic for seed! I had bought seed garlic online last year from a grower in Maine (found on ebay) - large bulbs. They produced well but I think voles nab my stock, they've been in a pain in my side for years now. Predators (except maybe snakes) can't get to them because I keep the garden fenced. 

Anyway, it appears difficult to even find seed garlic this year, which is why I just sacrificed my whole lot (after the voles had their share) and planted them all. 

I planted in the same 4x8 bed as last year, which is a bed that also has strawberries. My strawberry (sparkle) got weaker over the years and finally kaputed out, but I was able to salvage stray offshoots from the rows between the boxes here and there, transplanted them back into the 4x8 in the spring, and now they have largely populated that bed. When they started sending out shoots, I dug up some of them and put them in my 4x8 asparagus bed, and they are populating that as well.

Garlic helps against some garden pests, and I read that it's a good idea to intersperse your beds with garlic (except for the no-no's -- don't plant with beans, peas, sage, parsley, asparagus). So I spread my garlic bulbs out in the 4x8 strawberry bed and also in the 4x8 potato bed from last year, I think I will grow potatoes in that bed again. The recommendation I read was to plant your garlic bulbs down the middle of the bed and your other veggies (like brassicas) on the outsides, something like that. But I just spread them out.  

It's time to plan for next season!

Hi, NHG!  I didn’t know that about spreading the garlic out, but it kinda makes sense...also never heard of the no-nos.  I like the idea of a garlic force field...it does repel some nasties.

It gets so tall, and takes basically until July to harvest, so some planning will be involved!  I think I will try it with maybe half (I have Music and German Extra Hardy this year). First time with Music.

Warning, risk of the eastern equine virus due to new mosquito activity expected. IIRC, I saw some mosquitoes this month alone, indicating that we probably don't need more rain.