N&C Midwest: November/December 2020

Well it’s here, you guys—November!  My beds are empty, some are amended.  Only need to put some mulch down and get the garlic in.  Cold frame is closed at the moment, cold and wet here.  

Hopefully my mache will germinate, the seed is 4 years old so we will see.  

Actually I have already started to dream about next year!

November 1st already, and winter is quickly approaching.  Yesterday our Red Maple was beautiful with its crimson red leaves, and today a windstorm with gusts up to 50 mph has cleaned the tree of its leaves. The raised beds are all cleaned and heavily mulched for the winter, except for a couple beds that have a cover crop of tillage radishes. Planning for the spring....

I had to rework the plastic over the hoops on raised table top garden.. so it will last the next few months or through winter.  Greens are growing under.  

Nicer weather this week, in the 60s..

It will be worth it, nrstooge.  Warmer here, too very nice actually!

Hi NRStooge!

Just got done planting 4 cloves of garlic:  my old reliable German Hardy in the west end of the south legacy; and Music next to it in the same bed, to the east.  Can’t wait to try Music; a lot of folks on here use it....and I love scapes especially for pesto!  

Gorgeous summer-like weather here.  Really unbelievable

Yes, it was a beautiful day, with summer-like weather. We set a new record high temp for this date, in fact.

Got a surprise load of fall leaves delivered today.  Some time ago I had a conversation with a friend who runs a lawn maintenance business about the value of fall leaves in the garden. Today he called to ask if I would like a load of leaves for the gardens, and of course I said I would love them.  He showed up with a large dump truck with a cover on it, and asked where he could dump them.  I asked him how much there was, and he said the truck holds 20 yards, and it was full. He said he had a contract to vacuum the leaves from the country club, and his vacuum shreds the leaves as it picks them up so it was a pretty dense load. I had him dump it on my Back to Eden garden, which is in need of more wood chips. I can't believe the size of that pile of leaves! If I decided to just spread them of the top of the section where they are, they would be about 8" to 10" thick. Not sure what that would do to the back to eden concept, though.

Never have had more leaves than I had use for!

Nice, OG!  I have my leaves removed, my 2 huge maples have some kind of black spots on the leaves so I’m nervous about using them for mulch.  My linden leaves would be OK, but can’t really separate them....

SR, the good news is that diseases that affect trees do not affect vegetable plants. So, even if the Maple leaves have a disease, they won't affect the garden plants.

Rutgers University Extension office did a good document on all of the nutrients in the fall leaves, which is available in a PDF document:

https://sustainable-farming.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Municipal_Leaves_Plant_Nutrients_Available_FS824_1998.pdf

Hmmm!  That is good news, but I find mixed advice.  I don’t really have any fungus issues (to date) except for on some squashes (PM) which I use milk spray for successfully.  

I don’t have an “active” compost situation—very slow, it it works and doesn’t send me to the doctor!  

Thanks for the info, OG.

Had heavy rainstorms move through the area yesterday, with wind gusts that were clocked at 66 mph.  Kept an eye on the cold frame, which is supposed to be rated to withstand wind to 70 mph, and it did not have any problems.  But, 3 of the 6 Dinosaur Kale in an adjoining bed broke off during one of the strongest storms. That will reduce our harvest of kale, but their season is about over anyway.

We had that rain and super high winds too.  My cold frame is solid, but I didn’t put the brick on the lid like I usually do.  I had to run out and get my table umbrella before the glass table was broken!  

Then we had the coolest little rainbow!


https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/d5075010.jpg



Thanks for the message!

Harvested what is probably the last of the Dinosaur Kale yesterday, and made a delicious batch of Zuppa Toscana Soup for dinner. The kale is super sweet this time of the year, after it has frosted a couple times, and makes a great soup.

The only thing out in the SFG is garlic that I can’t see, and some Swiss chard in the cold frame.  I chopped the Fordhook down but it spouted a few leaves; I need to do that to thee bright orange and pink one too.  

Rainy and dreary here today, no outdoor activities for me!  

I did get my first seed catalog already!

First snowfall of the winter today, with almost enough snow to cover the ground.  I'm ready for Spring any time now!

OhioGardener wrote:First snowfall of the winter today, with almost enough snow to cover the ground.  I'm ready for Spring any time now!

I think we have about 3” here, OG.  I am so glad I had my kids help me get the patio stuff stowed away for the winter Sunday!  

Me too!

Just came off a nice warm period, but today back to winter!  Nothing going on in the gardens.  

Need to get the old strawberry plants out.  And weed the asparagus area....too cold today.  Just concentrating on Christmas prep!

Super cold here.  Soon will be time to start planning in earnest for next year!  I am sooooo ready to put 2020 behind me.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Super cold here.  Soon will be time to start planning in earnest for next year!  I am sooooo ready to put 2020 behind me.

Me too.. I've been busy planning the patio garden and ordering seeds where necessary.  Trying to figure out how to get more room for flowers out on the patio.