What Happened In My Garden This Week? – Week 39

Alliums

I have managed to separate the onion plants in the garden somewhat so that they will each have room to grow. They are doing well, as are the green onions and the garlic.

Brassica

The remaining cabbage plant, the black kale and the kale are all doing very well. It would seem they much prefer the current weather to the hot summer days. Though that might have something to do with the pests that come with the warm weather.

Corn

The corn plants in the garden are still alive and well. It is unlikely that they will have time to bear fruit, but I will let them grow for as long as they are healthy and strong. They may go down when the cold weather comes, but I hope to be able to harvest them before that happens.

Cucumber

No more cucumber this year. I harvested the last one this week when I harvested the second container of artichokes. I got a decent sized cucumber.

Herbs

The herbs in the garden, inside the greenhouse and outside of it, are still growing surprisingly well and it looks like I will get a few more harvests out of them this season. They are truly becoming dependable perennials, and I am most happy that they are.

Root vegetables

The root vegetables in the grow bags in the garden are doing well. Most of the carrots appear to have survived the rain and the weather changes, but I will plant more next week to be on the safe side. The radishes are still young, and the beets are growing well though they are weeks from being ready to be harvested.

Tomatillos

The tomatillo plants in the green house and outside in the garden do not appear to realise autumn is approaching steadily. They continue to flower and produce more fruit and I can only hope I get to harvest it all. I will keep them in the soil for at least another week, maybe two. I’d like to get another bag’s worth, or at least half a bag. I harvest a lot of tomatillos this week, but many more remains on the vines.

Tomatoes

The tomato plants gave a few more small tomatoes this week. However, the ones in the greenhouse had to be pulled. They were not well at all and that may be partly due to the change in weather and partly due to pests. Something appeared to have affected them all, but the tomatillo plants growing in the same space were unaffected.

Peppers

I repotted most of my pepper plants in the garden this week. Some outside in the grow bags and some in the smaller grow bags that previously held the tomato plants. It may be too late for them to produce more food this year, but I have decided to give them a chance. Despite not liking their placement in the vertical system, they were healthy and strong and I hope they will be able to produce a few more peppers this season. As it is, I only have two. And only one of those two is big and healthy.

Potatoes

All the potatoes have now been harvested. Even though the rain lessened the harvest, I still grew more than last year and the year before. Each year I am able to grow more food, and I am very happy about that. I was able to put away seed potatoes for next year and after chitting them, they should produce a year’s worth of potatoes.

Spinach

The spinach plants in the greenhouse and outside in the garden continue to produce and grow stronger. I hope they’ll lead to many spinach harvests this autumn.

Sunflowers

The sunflowers at the end of the garden are still blooming and growing well. Though it won’t be long before they will be affected by the change in seasons. I hope to get some more flour out of the stems, and possibly some seeds from the flowers. If they birds decide to leave some for me.

Squash & Pumpkin

The courgettes are growing, but I am not sure they’ll be able to finish growing before the first frost. The pumpkins are doing well and seem to have a fair chance to grow big and strong. Even if the frost hits before they do. They appear to be quite cold hardy.

Perennials

Berries

The blackberries are doing well and have actually begun to bloom once more. Surprisingly, so are the strawberry plants and the wild strawberry plants. They are multiplying, bearing fruit and they are growing stronger and larger every day.

Fruit

I still need to do some final pruning on the apple trees in my garden, before placing the winter covers over the trees. However, they are full of leaves and two of them are sprouting from their buds. Though I am new to pruning, it appears I did a good job of it.

Vegetables

This week I harvested the second container of sunchokes in the garden. I found out they grew much deeper down the bag than I originally thought. I got a full basket of sunchokes from one of the containers, and another harvest from the bottom of the first one. That being said, I still left at least a third of the harvest in each container. Including what I left behind for next season, each container brought me about 2 kilograms worth. I am considering placing some of the sunchokes left in the containers in a third one. That way, I’d be able to harvest at least 3-4 kilograms, maybe more, next year. Perennials are amazing.

There is something growing among the rhubarb plants in one of the containers, and it is starting to look like a tree. I have decided to consult my neighbour to see if she might know what it is. If it is a tree and if so, what kind. Until then, I have decided to let it remain in the container.

Fertiliser

I emptied more of the bokashi tea into my fermentation vessel (for fertiliser) in the garden. I will continue to do so until it runs dry. At that point, I will empty it into a grow bag, top it with soil, and begin to fill the bokashi once more. That way, I’ll have a full vessel of fertiliser for spring. I could even add some nettles or dandelion leaves, and possibly some urine, and let it all ferment until spring.

Propagation

Berry bushes

The propagated berry plants in the garden continue to do well. None are showing signs or rot or decay.

Fruit trees

The propagated fruit trees from the garden also continue to do well.

Fruit trees from seed

The apricot tree and the pear tree have been placed in larger pots. I decided on two terracotta pots that I will keep on my window sill indoor in a few weeks, paired with a grow lamp to keep them strong.

Conclusion:

The garden continues to show me it is not done for the year. The plants are intent on producing more and as long as they do so, I will keep them in the soil. It won’t be long before the first frost arrives, and many of the plants will not make it past that stage. So I will do what I can to help them produce as much as possible until then.

To do’s for week 40:

• Protect the plants from frost.

• Order the mycelium, saw dust and possibly straw.

• Plant more autumn and winter vegetables.

• Plant more alliums.

• Plan next year’s harvest.

• Harvest more food.

See you next week!