Memories of summer…

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I am still getting used to this whole blog thing. I read this past week that if you want to be a serious blogger that generates a lot of traffic, you have to be blogging 2 or 3 times a day! I don’t ever think I will get to that point. As it is, I am having a hard time trying to get everything on this site up and running. Bear with me…it might take a little time. I’m new to WordPress so things have been a little slow. I thought that I might put up these two pictures to remind me of summer. We had our 3rd snowfall of the season last night and my garden is pretty much done for the year. I do have a small box still going which I wanted to empty and prep for next spring, but I never got around to it. The first picture is one of a san marzano tomato. I think its the best paste tomato around. They are bigger than a lot of the varieties of paste tomatoes and they really taste good-especially on summertime margherita pizza-also known as fresh tomato pizza. Our family looks forward to summer so much because we know its pizza time. More on this later…..the next picture is of Tropicana lettuce. Its a cross between the taste and texture of a cos(romaine)and loose leaf. But, it has grown well for us right through the hot summer, which is another reason why we like it so much. You can see how dense the growth is-this is one of the reasons why I love the SFG method. There is not much of a chance that a weed seed will find its way into that square. In addition to the regular Ranch dressing in our refrigerator, we will usually have a homemade Caesars dressing and a balsamic vinaigrette waiting for us to use at any time of the spring, summer, or fall. It doesn’t take us long to put together a great tasting salad for the family with all that produce out there….

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The last of the lettuce

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Here is a nice picture showing what is left of my last 4X4 box.  I will pull the carrots soon, and the lettuce will probably all be pulled in a week.  This Prizehead lettuce is one of our favorites.  It can grow right through the heat of the summer with protection, and it is easy to grow in the spring and fall.  The prices for lettuce in the stores right now is high, and will get higher as the winter approaches.  I’m sure I could grow salad greens all winter if I had to because I have already done it.  This method of gardening really provides you with the assurance of being self-sufficient.  I have an ebook that I have written and in it I did take some time to talk about the cost-savings of food being produced in your own garden.  Being toward the end of the season, my posts will probably be fairly light for the next little while.  My blog is new-I should have started it months ago, but never got around to it.  Besides that, it is hard for me to learn.  As you can see, its still a work in progress but it’s starting to take some shape.  This past week I have received some different things from Mel Bartholomew for a trial that I will be posting about soon.  It all looks pretty fun.  One of the things I received was a special new grow light for a square foot garden.  Its Mel’s thought that we need to take our gardens indoors for the fall and winter months!  It sure sounds like a good idea, but I don’t know where I’m going to put a SFG in our home.  Besides, I don’t know about you, but I need a break for a few months from gardening.  I have received a few other things that I will talk about later…..[ois skin=”below post”]

Square foot garden clean up

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I  saw on the weather report that we were due for our first major snow storm.  The gardens were pretty much put away for the winter, but there was 2 that were not.  I pulled a couple squares of carrots which you can easily see on the dirt, but there are more in the black basket.  I think I learned one thing about carrots this year.  Our family has always loved the thumbelina variety.  They look and taste great.  But, it is a lot of work to get those types of carrots ready to eat.  They are hard to peel because they are so small.  They sure look nice though, and I guess that was the initial reason why I started to grow them.  I think from here on out I will be just growing the standard varieties.  They taste just as good, and they aren’t near as hard to prepare.  I was able to finish these 2 beds in enough time before the snow hit.  I pulled up some gladiola bulbs that I have had for years, divided them, and then replanted these in a different part of the garden for next year.  These are my favorite perennial flowers to have in the garden.  With my soil now amended with leaves, compost, and shredded twigs and branches, I am ready to plant next year.  I still have 1-4X4 box growing greens which I will probably post about next.  It sure has been a fun year….  [ois skin=”below post”]

Making compost with that old shredder….

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Two days ago I cut down most of our bushes in the yard and put them in the compost pile.  Today, I decided to get the shredder out and get to work on it.  This shredder is just great-I bought it about 10 years ago at a garage sale for $20.  Its old, its loud, and its big.  But, it certainly does the job.  See that large green thing in the back right hand corner?  That’s it!  As you can see, it turned this pile into great looking compost material in about 10 minutes.  Years ago, I would amend my soil one last time in late fall to let it sit until spring.   After turning it over, I would add my yard leaves.  Then, I would spread this material(in picture) over the top of everything.  It worked well.  There was only one small problem-because of all the small twigs in the mix, birds would dip into my garden and pull up small seedlings while getting the twigs for their nests.  That made me change my strategy-what I now do is take a little bit of soil out of the garden box and put it in a Rubbermaid tub. I then add compost, leaves from the yard, and this material first, and then put back the soil that was removed earlier.  I top the whole thing off with several shovels full of more compost.  Next spring, I heat up the boxes, and then check to see what the soil looks like just under the surface.  Sure enough, those earthworms have taken care of all those leaves and small pieces of twigs, etc. You cant even find any leaves left under there!  Its such a great thing-I know that I can grow just about anything in my garden because of this mix….when I picked up a handful of this material, it smelled like a forest floor just after a rain shower….give a look….

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Getting ready to close the gardens

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I’ve learned that the better you prepare your beds in the fall, the earlier and better your garden responds the next year.  Out of my 14 boxes, 6 have been turned over, amended with compost and leaf mold, and are now ready to rest for about 4 months.  I always begin by turning the soil over with a pitchfork.  It is usually fairly compacted by a growing season of weather, water, etc.  It does loosen up nicely and I end up removing part of the soil so that I can amend a little deeper than I do during the growing season.  Then, I add leaf mold followed by compost, then put back the soil that I removed earlier.  I will then top off the soil with another batch of compost and let it sit for the winter.  By the time I start to warm the beds up in the spring, all those leaves will be gone thanks to those great earthworm helpers.  If you look close enough you can see a lot of them.  Whats left is a perfect growing medium for just about anything you want to do. 

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