November Entry

November was warmer than normal with a high of 67.2 F back on 11/09/09 and an overall mean day temp of 41.5 F. The lowest temp of 23.6 was recorded on 11/18/09. There were only two occasions when I observed any snow – but it was very light flurries.

I was proud to have made my first apple pie with my very own apples this month. It was delicious and came out pretty good in the photo, even if I do say so, myself.

I finished shelling the rest of the Charlevoix Beans and filled a 2nd jar. I know that I have well over 1,000 for next year’s garden. I’m not going to do many tomatoes in 2010. I plan to use the beans to give nutrients to the soil for the garden in 2011 (always thinking ahead).

The California Grey Stripe Sunflowers have been drying on the top shelf inside of the greenhouse. I filled a jar with the seeds to have ready for any requests through Seed Savers Exchange.
The hardest part about saving sunflower seeds is going through them meticulously, one by one, to inspect for insect or worm holes. If anything is still alive inside of the seed, it can exit that one and continue to ruin the rest of the seeds in your jar! I found out that the hard way…

I think I saw a painting that looked like this in some museum back when I was in high school. Some folks would call it modern art, I call it hose-hell… It’s that time of year again to put everything into storage.

I marvel at how a garden can take on a whole different look month to month. The tomato strings need to be removed and I need to add more turnbuckles in between the posts for a tighter, straighter wire. But being the procrastinator that I am, I see that happening sometime in July of 2011…

There’s only one green plant left in the big garden. In fact, there are many of them dotting the bleak, leave-covered rows. These are Pac Choy plants that refuse to go away! They’ve only been planted twice; 2006 and a few in 2007. These cold-hearty greens keep planting themselves year after year. They are tasty, like spinach if cooked in a steamer.

:)

October Entry

I missed an October entry, so this first post in November is actually a synopsis of October, 2009.

This was my first apple harvest back on October 1st. I’m very pleased to have brought these neglected trees back from dormancy. And while they may not look that great cosmetically, they are actually perfectly good apples once cored & pealed. I didn’t spray them at all in 2009 – mostly because it rained literally ever other day spring through summer. I assure you that these apples made for a heavenly tasting apple crisp last weekend, and I plan to make a few pies with the rest up until Thanksgiving.

I also harvested the largest of the California Gray Stripe Sunflowers on October 1st and set them out to dry for 24 hours outside of the greenhouse.

I promptly moved them inside the next day because furry & feathered woodland creatures would surely ravage these in a hurry!

Just to be fair, I harvested the smaller sunflowers and placed them on the back stairs. Needless to say, they were picked clean within a week's time. Last weekend, I swept the steps clean of the million or so sunflower seed shells and set out the first birdseed of the season in the feeders.

The Rhubarb had a notable good run in 2009. I was able to harvest it fresh right through the beginning of September. Now, as of October 10th, the first few frosts have conquered it with ease and I will eagerly await its return early next spring, 2010.

Okay, the early Jalapeno harvest was nothing to brag about – or was it… Out of the 20 or so plants that I set out, only 2 produced any peppers. I had a grand total of 5 harvested. But these 2 were the best and I saved the seeds – which easily yielded over 100 seeds. This means that I have increased my seeds by 5 times! In my seed saving experiences, I’ve learned that seeds harvested from my own gardens always do better & better each year.

One can’t leave out the leaves of October. One of my particular favorites is that of the Stag horn Sumac. They make for great photos, in my opinion.

Finally, the 10 garlic bulbs that I harvested in July have been happily hanging in the rafters of the breezeway until their day of planting which happened to be October 18, 2009.

I broke all 10 bulbs apart and ended up with 47 large cloves. I planted 46 and kept 1 for eating (it was delicious)!
Here again is a great seed saving/math lesson; I started with 10 cloves and got 4.7 times what I started with. I’m hoping for a successful harvest of approximately 170 cloves in July, 2010.

:)