Goodnight Garden

It's finally that time of year when we tuck the garden in for a long winters nap. I was very ready to say goodnight this year. My winter garden never did materialize so it simply became a matter of removing the plants that will not over winter and covering the garden.

Thanks to my brilliant husband, we worked out a way to reduce the morning glory crawling up our garlic in the spring. He bought a large roll of garden fabric, cut a pop can in half and used the sharpened edge to cut holes big enough for our garlic. Although it seems we have more holes than we need for garlic. I think I might use some of the left over space for shallots and leeks. I was planning on planting some green onions but it would appear that the onions in the window box that I planted last fall have continued to grow so I will simply help those ones along.

We've now brought in all the squash from the garden and we will give it a while to cure. We are still working through all the delicata squash and pie pumpkins we picked last month. I'm hoping if we cure our fairy squash and butternut well, we can get them to last until at least December. We are also bringing in the few cabbage that we managed to get this year. They are very small heads and were the victims of many slug attacks. I will use what I can for stir fries and if there is a head left over, attempt another batch of sauerkraut.

In terms of our perennials and our over winter plants; herbs have been moved into the green house, raspberries cut back and the chives and rhubarb will be cut back this week. We are over wintering kale, sprouting broccoli, brussels sprouts and hopefully our celery. The kale and broccoli can tolerate our winters without cover but I will definitely be covering up the celery and brussels sprouts this week. Those under cover may be ready for eating before winter truly hits, if we have some more sunny days, but at this point they are not quite ready for harvest.

The rest of the garden has been covered with plastic or cardboard. The leaves are being raked and distributed between the chicken run (for bug food) and a couple more bags of leaf rot. The trees will be pruned once they are bare and the covers will be on the remaining plants within a few days. Garden, sleep well. We will see you when the days grow long again and the spring is upon us.