And More Snow!

We've had about five inches since yesterday morning.

And Then There Was Ice

Snow!

Last night we watched 'White Christmas' and today we have snow.  Not a lot, but enough to make it pretty and close the schools.

First Freeze

This morning it was 29 when we got up.  I haven't noticed any damage, including the tender succulents that are by the back door.  Tonight we're scheduled to go down to 27, with a 'wintery mix' tomorrow.  We'll see...

Mandarin Harvest

We have lots of mandarins this year, and they are ripening fast.  I picked the two ripest for a test.  They were still a little sour, but nice and juicy.  We'll wait another week and try again.

My 'Just Joey' rose has three beautiful blooms. 

Braided Carrot

Autumn in the Garden

Things are coming along nicely out in the garden.  After a month of rain nearly every day, totaling over eleven inches, we've had some really pleasant weather so far in November.  The greens in the garden are looking really good.  They're growing, but slowly.


The Romaine lettuce, what's left of it, is getting close to harvesting size.

I picked a few of these tiny pink spinach leaves (Red Kitten) to put in our salad last night.

 

 

 The chard is still too small to pick, but I've been picking the kale for a couple of weeks now.

Even though the carrots have gotten really big, they're still very tasty.  This one was planted in June.  I roasted it yesterday, and it was really good.

Succulents in Winter

With all the rain we've had (we're at 10 inches this month with more to come) I figured I had better bring all the succulents under the cover.  I suspect a few of the more tender ones won't make it through the winter outside, but there are some that I don't even have names for.  So it's sink or swim for all of them.  Of course, the agaves will be fine, but it will be interesting to see what else makes it.

We have some really neat mushrooms growing in the yard.  I wish I knew if any of them are edible.  I guess I need to take a class.

Disappearing Greens

For the last week or so, something has been digging up, or rather cutting off, some of my salad greens.  I suspect the squirrels.  They've been very busy burying things in the nice open spaces in the garden beds.

This is the third Romaine lettuce plant that has been decapitated.  They've also taken out several chard plants.

A Walk in the Woods

On Saturday we went for a walk in Minto Brown Park.  It was foggy and damp.  Mushroom weather.

Later in the afternoon the sun came out and we walked in the cemetery.

Butternut Squash Harvest

Last Spring I planted two Metro Butternut Squash seeds. I had read that with Waltham Butternut you could expect 4 or 5 fruits per plant.  After eating two and giving away five, here's what I harvested.

There are 41, not counting a couple that were not quite mature.  There was also at least one flower.  The darn thing just doesn't know when to quit.  Most of these will go to the Marion Polk Food Share.

Beet Harvest

Fall seems to be here to stay, and I'm in a harvesting mood.  Today I pulled all the beets and canned them.  I hadn't planting many this year.  I had some 'Cylindra,' which had really gotten too big, and then there was an assortment including 'Chiogga' and golden beets. 

They were very pretty when I pulled them, but they pretty much all blended together when I canned them. 

I started with about 9 lbs. of whole beets and ended up with ten pints.

New Driveway and Walk

The new driveway and walk are finished, and they look very nice.  There is still some planting and filling in to do, but the sedums are all back in the ground and the rocks along the west edge of the driveway are back in place.

More Salad Greens

I've planted another bed of salad fixings for over the winter.  From the right side there's Red Sails and Garnet Oakleaf lettuce and arugula; Red Kitten and Bloomsdale spinach; Evergreen bunching onions; purslane; and a double row of mache.  I'm not sure if all those things will do well, but it's worth a try.

Potatoes

We've been digging potatoes for a while, but now it seems that the ones left in the ground are starting to sprout.  So I dug all of them.  I bought them at Life Source market, and the produce guy said they were Yukon Golds.  But I don't think they are.  They're yellow, but much larger than any Yukon Golds I've ever bought or grown.  I weighed one of the larger ones.  It was 1 lb. 3.5 oz.

A Stench of Stinkbugs

We've decided that an appropriate collective noun for stinkbugs is 'stench.' So we have a stench.  Having gone all summer without seeing any, it seems that they have returned, like salmon, to spawn in the place they were born. We've been killing many, mostly on the back wall of the house.  I'm not sure what triggers the hibernation instinct.  We've had several days of upper 80s temperatures, and that was when it started.  But we still have had none on any vegetables, so we're trying not to stress about them.  They're just an really disgusting annoyance.

Thunderstorm!

Last night we had a very exciting thunderstorm, completely unexpected.  We had .6" of rain and lots of hail.  Unfortunately, my tiny vegetables didn't appreciate it.  The lettuce and carrots in particular took a beating.

I didn't think the zucchini plants couldn't get any uglier than they already were, but I was wrong.

The yard waste can is full now, but next week the squash and tomatoes are coming out.