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.

:)