Garden Update for October 2011

Well, we have finally had our first frost. To save the tomatoes, I picked them green. We, and by we I mean primarily our darling toddler, have enjoyed the grape tomatoes we picked every other day. And we were able to let two of our larger heirloom tomatoes ripen on the vine. The green tomatoes we put in a large paper bag from the grocery store to ripen. Those that have ripened, just havent' tasted as good as the ones tht ripened on the vine, but at least they haven't gone completely to waste.

I'm happy to say that the kale we were able to harvest before the deer finished it off was quite good. And so was the cabbage. Apparently we have the right soil for them. The tomatoes did ok, but I expected better. I recently learned that the cool nights that we have here prevent the tomato plants from getting as big as you would see further south. Next year, I'd like to try building a hoop house. That should extend future growing seasons and keep plants warmer at night.

To prepare our garden for next year, I planted a cover crop of winter rye. I hear it's supposed to help add nutrients to the soil. I've never done this before, so we'll see next year how much it helps. I would love to be composting, but since we don't want to attract certain wildlife, we haven't been doing that. I hope to come up with a solution by next summer. If anyone has some experience composting without attracting nosey animals like bears, please let me know what works for you.

I've also taken a few classes offered by the gardener's association in our county. I've learned about growing berries and keeping an orchard. I look forward to planting rasberries and blueberries. Both grow well here and it turns out that now that I know what a rasberry plant looks like, I see wild rasberries all over our property. They just aren't producing many (if any) berries. I also want to plant some fruit trees next year. I'm thinking of two apple trees of different varieties, an apricot tree, a plum tree, two cherry trees, and maybe a hazelnut tree. To pull this off, I'll probably have to cut down a few trees so they can get their "full sun." Since our well doesn't produce quickly enough to irrigate, I would like to site the orchard so that it is near one of the seasonal springs on our property. That pretty much narrows it down to one site, relatively near the house. I hope the soil is workable in that area. We'll find out next spring. Stay tuned.