It has been raining, making me cold and damp. Living on the ocean it tends to get into your bones. If you are of a certain age you probably remember the song by Guns and Roses. I eased into October with a girls trip to Prince Edward Island and although November has never been my most favorite month, it does help calibrate me to a slower gear after a busy farming season.
But let’s pivot to the garden shall we? Today not withstanding, it has been a good month weather wise. We are still harvesting quite a few crops from the kitchen garden like leeks, Swiss chard, celery, parsley, broccoli, spinach, arugula, carrots, beets, cabbage and turnip allowing us to eat fresh for almost 8 full months this year, which is great for our health and pocketbook.
And the high tunnel is finally done, having given me the last pint of cherry tomatoes yesterday. I can’t say I’m sad to put that one to bed. I need a bit of a break from harvesting.
I’ve been prepping a new garlic bed after reading that my other one was situated in a place where there was just too much nitrogen. It bordered a horse pen which had been vacant for a bit but now houses our palamino gelding Whiskey. So squash and zucchini will go there as they love nitrogen and the garlic will move to a wonderful little bed by the potato and pea garden.
To prop the new garlic bed I’ve been putting down cardboard as a border to the lawn and a rock border and then filling generously with finished compost. I’ll fence it in from the chickens after planting, with tposts and chicken wire. I have a blog post on planting garlic Here. We are still having temperatures in the teens with lows of only 4 at night, so I’ll still be waiting another week or so. Repeated thaws and freezes are not great for the formation of garlic bulbs and can cause rot.
This is a great time for my second passion reading and I will leave off with a great book recommendation. I read a lot of books being a part time librarian and this one is top notch in language, easy to use recommendations, research and common sense. Available at your local library.
Love Jenn xx