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I inspected the greenhouse walls and found that the plastic skin is torn in several places so I ordered some thicker "glass clear" plastic to replace all the exterior plastic. I purchased some more live herbs that will be planted in containers to be grown in the greenhouse this winter. I am still working out the details of the ebb-flow system I am planning to use in the greenhouse - I am debating drilling holes and install bulkhead fittings on the growing trays or making inverted J fittings to feed each tray... The bulkhead fittings are more secure, but may leak, the J fittings can't leak but they may pull out and water the room...

As winter approaches I need to get the new plastic for my raised bed lids installed, I hate that the new plastic decays so quickly - the old stuff used to last 3 seasons, this new stuff will barely last 1. But it does let the lettuce and spinach grow almost all winter.

I got my seed orders in, I now have everything I need to cover next season.
 
found another one in tall grass. it must developed way later than other. as soon as i put knife in it it started to split. its nice firm flesh.i will be eating it today at lunch.

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2 ears on left filled pint jar full. ground it made over 2.5 cups of meal. this is truckers favorite white dent corn.


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Enjoy your last taste of summer @elkhound .

I'm on day 3 of rain. Again. Damp and cold here so I put the heat on. I should be out in the garden pulling everything. I took a buzz through and found the gift of 3 raspberries. Perhaps later or tomorrow before I go to work, I'll harvest some peppers. It'll be in the 50's overnight so I can leave them on a little while longer.

The only gardening related thing I accomplished today was order three standing, cedar planters from Lowes for delivery on Tuesday. The standing planters are easier for Dad to work at plus it will mean I'll be removing the oversized round planters that are up on milk crates. Those milk crates are a nice little refuge for the bunnies and other critters that drive Heidi absolutely bonkers.
 
Things are beginning to wind down. Pulling things little by little. I want to get the raised beds cleaned out and get some spinach and carrots planted for fall- see how they do.
ETA: planted turnips, carrots and spinach. Still need to get my garlic in the ground but have to finish clearing that space.
 
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I really need to spend some time figuring out spring and fall gardening here. It was perpetually a challenge in SoCal because of the heat, but it shouldn’t be here. I just really don’t know what to start when and how long to expect to have cool-weather crops in the ground.
 
I have noticed over the last couple of years that the clear plastic sheeting I have been getting for my raised bed lids deteriorates very quickly (1 season), today I ordered some thicker (6 mil) clear sheeting that claims to be UV resistant. It wasn't that much more expensive (~2X) than the stuff I have been getting at the home centers, I hope it works out. It also appears to be clearer than what I had been getting.

With the expanded solar array up and running I am hoping that the lights in the greenhouse will be able to run completely off solar this year, but I would settle for 75% of the time.

I have to wonder what growing zone you are in @jishinsjourney ? As you clearly indicated the weather in your location can impact your expectations. I'm on the border between 6b and 7a - 2012 USDA (different years and sources will give different results, so I want to be specific).

Any way, I have spent a lot of time trying to manipulate the micro-environment around my raised beds to allow me to extend my growing season. It's hard to expect much to grow at -5F, but if the temperature stays just above 0F I can keep spinach and lettuces growing at a slow rate. By using clear plastic tops on my raised beds I usually get 2 months additional growing in spring and fall. It does add more maintenance and cost, but it also gives us more out of less space. According to the Farmers Almanac my location has 206 growing days a year, by adding 60 on each end of the season I am able to push that to 320, or almost 11 months out of the year, throw in the indoor growing station and green house (lean too) and I am able to piddle (gardening wise) year round.

We always seem to have a drought in June/July that really sets back my plants, I found that shade cloth can help keep some of the plants going and reduce the need for water. For me watering is the key to success or failure on every front. I can't count the number of seasons that I have had great early crops up and then having to travel for 2 week resulting in almost a total loss. It still happens, I get busy and forget to water a growing station and end up with brown plants. This year I have added a modified ebb-flow watering aspect that seems to address some of the issues, if I can automate it I will be able to do my indoor gardening with my time comments cut to 2 hours, 1 or 2 days a week, and that would just be refilling the reservoir(s), planting, replanting, and harvesting.

Sometimes I daydream about having a place with 5 or 10+ acres where I could have a real garden and some animals, but short of winning the lottery I know that will never happen, so I have to figure out how to make do.
 
You make do very well, Urban. And have figured out good ways to grow.
I have the acreage, but not always the time or the help. So there's always something.
I have about a two month span where it's too cold to grow, even in the greenhouse, unless I would do something extraordinary.
 
The garden harvest has become a small issue here. In the past I would garden, harvest, and then the wife would process the harvest. This year I have had a relatively good okra harvest, normally we would bread it and freeze it for frying later. This year I harvest it and it just sits, the wife isn't up to making the batter and breading it. I have thrown out about 15 gallons of okra :( ...

I overheard the wife talking to someone about our poor tomato harvest this year, after she got off the phone I went in and confessed to her that it wasn't that we didn't have a tomato harvest, but that I just quit picking it.. My thinking was that if we don't have the energy to process my okra, I'm not going to put any effort into harvesting tomatoes just to have them rot on the counter top..... I am still harvesting the things we can use directly(herbs, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, beets, spinach, squash), I'm just not able to do everything it takes (processing, canning, and cleaning) for making things like ketchup, right now.

I just can't keep up, last night I went out an cut down most of my okra (I harvested a gallon of small pods, ever hopeful) and discovered that under them were several potato plants (at first I thought they were weeds).

I am almost finished making the modified ebb-flow system for the greenhouse, it has a 17 gallon reservoir, 2 pumps, and 8 growing trays on 2 shelves. All the fittings are installed, just have to finish connecting all the lines. I found black aquarium sealant on amazon and used that to seal around the fittings. One tube did the whole job, but it was messy. Combined with the indoor growing/seed starter station, this should let me have a steady supply of salad stuff all winter...
 
I hear you, Urban. Growing is one thing, doing something with the harvest is a whole nother thing. I've got flats of tomatoes in the corner of the kitchen, on the floor. But we have tons of chickens, so whatever is the ripest on the flat, becomes animal food...usually two flats a day. Otherwise, I've canned too many, so many in the freezer, made sauce, and I do run a flat of pureed in the freeze dryer about every day and a half. I don't mind the processing of the garden stuff, I just don't have that many hours in a day. One of our sons loves the gardening stuff, not the processing, so when he lived on our land in New Mexico, we'd make a pretty good team. He'd grow, I'd go out and pick and process. Behind in picking today, since I didn't pick yesterday, and today will be busy with doctors.
 
Still harvesting here also. I've potatoes to dig, the tomatoes and strawberries are still producing, strangely. It's fairly mild here, if a little wet. Last month I picked all the squash and courgettes but didn't get around to pulling the plants. I noticed the small lightbulb-sized squashes I left have grown quite a bit, but probably won't ripen. My daughter will probably gather them and paint faces on them for Halloween. Started planting winter onions, and have some potatoes to put in the poly also. I need a few days straight to clear up for winter; I still haven't harvested my sunflower seeds, or cut back raspberries. A dry weekend will take care of a lot!
 
@UrbanHunter how often do you water in winter when your raised beds are covered?

I hear y’all on the work of processing also. I’ve only recently found my countertops and the garden isn’t quite done. I will work out there to begin getting it ready for winter this weekend. I’m spent.
 
I'm terrible. Getting things in the garden ready for winter... means probably what I did last year. Pulled out tons of tomato plants and threw them in the greenhouse because of a freeze happening that night. Then doing nothing else with the garden, except watching the rest of the stuff die off, and then throwing wood ash, banana peels, egg shells, and coffee grounds on the garden till it's time to till it under in the spring.
 
LadyLocust said:
@UrbanHunter how often do you water in winter when your raised beds are covered?

I hear y’all on the work of processing also. I’ve only recently found my countertops and the garden isn’t quite done. I will work out there to begin getting it ready for winter this weekend. I’m spent.
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Add us to the list.

Our retirements plans involve me tending the gardens and harvest while The Princess processes and prepares. The Princess has not retired yet so her time is limited. Her work takes priority to the prepping thing.

So...

To a certain extent this is a time of me learning how to produce. I have a long way to go.

Inevitably a large part of our crops go unprocessed. Bummer.

We do get a lot from the garden but not as much as we could.

Ben
 
jishinsjourney said:
I really need to spend some time figuring out spring and fall gardening here. It was perpetually a challenge in SoCal because of the heat, but it shouldn’t be here. I just really don’t know what to start when and how long to expect to have cool-weather crops in the ground.
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This has been a different year. We have had temps in the 90s in April some years. We did have snow towards the end of June in 2020. The thing is that people know not to plant tomatoes before Mother's day, and some even until Memorial Day. Row tunnels can be helpful. A greenhouse is good, if you have space and can afford one.
 
LadyLocust said:
@UrbanHunter how often do you water in winter when your raised beds are covered?

I hear y’all on the work of processing also. I’ve only recently found my countertops and the garden isn’t quite done. I will work out there to begin getting it ready for winter this weekend. I’m spent.
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Hi @LadyLocust , that's a good question.. On my raised bed I have made clear plastic covers that act a lot like humidity domes, so as winter approaches I get the cover material repaired/replaced and water on my normal schedule. During the fall I continue to water and only close the tops a dusk, reopening in the morning (to protect from an early frost), once winter sets in (Highs below 65F) I do a heavy watering and close my lids for the season. But, if you have a day where the temperature is above 75F and it's sunny you have to re-open the top, the reason is that I get a 25F+ temperature increase using the tops and leaving them closed will cook my plants!

Anyway back to watering, after the heavy watering at the start of winter I stop watering the raised beds, the evaporation collects on the bottom of the lids and drips back down on the plants. I do check the soil and hand water as required, but it's usually less than once every week or two. On my raised bed lids, I place holes (about 1 every 12 inches) at the lowest part of the lid material, any rain water or snow melt that collects will drip into the bed. So nature waters a little even if I don't. :)

Note: the heavy watering is to drain my rain barrels more than soak the beds, but it does soak the beds.

My winter beds grow very slowly, so I only do small harvests about once a week.
 
We've been in a similar situation this year with putting up produce. The wife has had some ongoing health problems and just hasn't been able to put up near what she normally does. I've had a ton more at work this year to including weekends that I hadn't been required to do in the past. So our garden and all have suffered. I still feel blessed to have put away as much as we have.
 
Weedygarden said:
This has been a different year. We have had temps in the 90s in April some years. We did have snow towards the end of June in 2020. The thing is that people know not to plant tomatoes before Mother's day, and some even until Memorial Day. Row tunnels can be helpful. A greenhouse is good, if you have space and can afford one.
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It sure has been. Memorial Day does seem to work better where we are — two years out of three we’ve had frost and even snow around Mother’s Day.

I’m planning to make some sort of cover for my new beds. Glad I didn’t try to order anything for the old ones, they’re an odd size at 42” square.

I wish we had the space and the HOA’s permission for a greenhouse. Someday, maybe, if I can either convince the HOA with a pretty landscape plan, or if we decide to move once my husband’s retired.
 
UrbanHunter said:
Hi @LadyLocust , that's a good question.. On my raised bed I have made clear plastic covers that act a lot like humidity domes, so as winter approaches I get the cover material repaired/replaced and water on my normal schedule. During the fall I continue to water and only close the tops a dusk, reopening in the morning (to protect from an early frost), once winter sets in (Highs below 65F) I do a heavy watering and close my lids for the season. But, if you have a day where the temperature is above 75F and it's sunny you have to re-open the top, the reason is that I get a 25F+ temperature increase using the tops and leaving them closed will cook my plants!

Anyway back to watering, after the heavy watering at the start of winter I stop watering the raised beds, the evaporation collects on the bottom of the lids and drips back down on the plants. I do check the soil and hand water as required, but it's usually less than once every week or two. On my raised bed lids, I place holes (about 1 every 12 inches) at the lowest part of the lid material, any rain water or snow melt that collects will drip into the bed. So nature waters a little even if I don't. :)

Note: the heavy watering is to drain my rain barrels more than soak the beds, but it does soak the beds.

My winter beds grow very slowly, so I only do small harvests about once a week.
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Thank you! I have been "learning" how to use my raised beds. This is the first year I've ever planted anything in autumn other than garlic. Helpful!!!
 
It cooled down a bit in Sept and I ended up with some green tomatoes; no ripe ones.

Yesterday I diced 30 lbs of green tomatoes and de-zested and juiced 3 lbs of limes for salsa. Today it's onions, peppers, garlic and then canning it.

If the weather holds a few more weeks, I have a shot at brussel sprouts. It looks like I am also going to get some reasonable potatoes.(bintji)
 
ClemKadiddlehopper said:
It cooled down a bit in Sept and I ended up with some green tomatoes; no ripe ones.

Yesterday I diced 30 lbs of green tomatoes and de-zested and juiced 3 lbs of limes for salsa. Today it's onions, peppers, garlic and then canning it.

If the weather holds a few more weeks, I have a shot at brussel sprouts. It looks like I am also going to get some reasonable potatoes.(bintji)
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Last year, I cut the tomato vines and hung them in the summer kitchen where they wouldn’t freeze. They continue to ripen on the vine. We ate the last of home-grown right before Christmas. Sounds like I'm too late, but now ya know :)
 
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Yesterday I put the new "greenhouse" film on 3 of the raised bed tops. This new film is 6mm and much clearer than the 3.5mm stuff that I had been getting from the home supply store. I am hoping that it can last at least 2 seasons. Last night it got down to 40F, so the tops got repaired just in time... I saw some squash setting fruit in one of the raised beds, I hope to get a few more off this year.

I have a range day today, so I will not get home till around 1PM, I hope I have enough energy to put new film on the greenhouse, it's empty now so nothing is at risk, but last night I made 8 more ebb-flow trays and they will go in there as soon as I can catch up with myself. I think tomorrow is a holiday, that is something I could really use....
 
Spent the morning outside, cleared out hens and prepped straw and water for later in the week so it's all to hand when I'm busier, they are laying great still with the mild weather.Then did a bit in the polytunnel tidying and pulling weeks etc. Theres still a bit to do, but I've picked the last of the tomatoes and cleared that bed, watered what's down for winter. I think I have a 'reading week' coming up in college so will plant the rest of the winter things then. My husband is digging over the potato bed for anything I've missed. The sun is struggling to come out, but at least its there!
 
the 3rd succession of corn planting that was blown down so bad at start of pollination made some decent ears.i was worried about the pollination with it on its side but it did raise up a bit and theres way better pollination that i thought. anyway time this about right for our average first frost of oct-10th as forecast says it might happen tonight here. silver king sweet corn and radishes...never give up till nothing will grow because of frost and snow !

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The last couple night have been plant damaging cold.. Zone 3b... Not freezing I don't think, but none the less damage.. North and south shores of Lake Superior frosted almost 3 weeks ago now.. Zone 3a...
 
We’ve had rain every weekend I’ve been off from work. I picked some of the last peppers tonight, there’s still a bunch on the plants, but I’m not sure how the weather is going to hold out for them. Carrots are still in the ground and will be there for another week or two. Since we had a rash of not too many people being able to process their harvest. And I’m in the same club. By time I get home from work, I don’t have the energy to do any processing of harvest. The weekends always seem to be too packed with so many other things that need doing.
 
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