What Happened In My Garden This Week? – Week 40

Alliums

I planted about a hundred more garlic cloves this week along with more Japanese green onions and winter onions. I placed the last soil bag next to the other three. Then I cut it open, planted the garlic cloves and topped it with more soil. If they continue to do this well, I will have a bountiful harvest of alliums in the spring.

Brassica

The black kale, kale and Napa cabbage loved the frost. They even got a growth spurt out of it. Therefore, I decided to throw caution to the wind and plant more. I planted black kale, kale, more spinach and even some Chinese cabbage seeds.

Corn

The corn plants did not enjoy the frost. I haven’t pulled them yet, because I was curious to see how they fair once they experience a few more moderately mild and sunny days. I will harvest them next week.

Herbs

Strangely enough, the herbs loved the frost as well. It looks like I will get at least one more large harvest of mint, rosemary, sage and thyme.

Root vegetables

I planted more carrots and beets this week. And the ones that I planted over the course of the last few weeks are doing well. None are ready to be harvested, but they are doing well all the same.

Tomatillos

The tomatillo plant outside in one of the grow bags did not appreciate the cold nights. The ones in the greenhouse, however, were unaffected by the cold. They continue to bloom and produce more. I harvested more this week and the plant is still full of tomatillos that are not yet ripe. Some fell as I was harvesting them, and there’s a fifty fifty chance the fallen ones will still be okay by the last harvest. It is only then that I will be able to reach them, since they fell behind the back shelf at the very back of the greenhouse.

Tomatoes

The last tomato plants passed on when the frost came. I pulled them and was able to free up some more space in the garden.

Peppers

The peppers enjoy their new placements and at least one pepper plant in the greenhouse bloomed this week. I am not sure if any of them will be able to produce anything more this season, but I will give them some time.

Potatoes

All the soil from the potato bags have now been repurposed in the garden.

Spinach

The spinach plants are doing well. Not all made it past the frost, so I planted some kale next to them.

Sunflowers

The sunflowers in the garden did not enjoy the frost. They are still standing tall and strong, but the leaves have wilted and the flowers have been visited by birds daily. I am not certain I’ll be able to harvest any sunflowers from them, but I will try. I need at least a handful of each of the two varieties for next year’s garden.

Squash & Pumpkin

The courgettes did not make it past the first frost. Not the courgettes themselves or the plants. The pumpkin vines look wilted, but the pumpkins are growing well. There are at least three of them growing, but more might be hiding in the hedge.

Perennials

Berries

The blackberries continue to flower and produce more leaves. I placed pot covers made out of coconut coir around this blackberry bush and a few other smaller berry bushes. The strawberries and wild strawberries are still multiplying and still producing fruit. Though most of the strawberries the last few weeks have been claimed by pests before I got to harvest any of it.

Fruit

The buds on the fruit trees and the ever increasing amount of leaves prove their health. I still need to do some final pruning though, and I will do so next week before the winter covers are placed over them.

Vegetables

I have decided to go through with my plan of placing some of the sunchokes in a third container, and I will do so next week. I will also embroider ‘sun’ onto it, as I have done with the others.

Fertiliser

I poured more of the bokashi tea into the fermentation vessel this week, and it has almost stopped producing the tea. Next week I will pour the bokashi compost into a grow bag and begin to fill the bokashi once more.

Propagation

Berry bushes

All of the propagated berry plants in the garden are in the greenhouse and they look healthy.

Fruit trees

The propagated fruit trees stand on the ground in the greenhouse, huddled together and away from direct sunlight. They all appear to be doing well.

Fruit trees from seed

I moved the apricot tree and the pear tree inside this week. They were outside for the first frost, but the strong wind might’ve proved to be too much for them, so I moved them indoor.

Conclusion:

I planted more carrots, green onions, onions, kale, black kale, garlic etc this week, and I ordered the mycelium I need. I will get the saw dust and straw from a pet shop and once the mycelium arrives, I will be able to get started. When that happens, I will prep the potato buckets and layer the sterilised substrate with the mycelium. Then I will water them and place them where they will be slightly protected from the wind and shaded from direct sunlight.

To do’s for week 41:

• Put together the mushroom containers.

• Mix substrate and mycelium around the blueberries.

• Harvest more tomatillos.

• Harvest the ginger, turmeric and more berries.

See you next week!