Winter and Christmas Time in Saco

No posting for several weeks! Sorry about that. I spent the week after Thanksgiving in New York and Washington DC but went to cut our Christmas tree at a local tree farm just before leaving for that trip. Cotton helped me...see below.

While out of town the first snowfall hit so gardening projects ended. I had finished most of the projects but one of the two manure piles will have to sit all winter and be spread on the garden in the spring. A big wind storm occurred while I was gone and it knocked down four sections of the old fence in the back yard. That repair will also have to wait until spring as it will require four new post. Hopefully the old fence sections can be reused though. If you want to take a look at the view of the field and that big garden spot you can go to the web camera web site during the day and see the fallen fence also. That first snow fall has melted but I am sure more will be arriving before long! http://saco.schlaver.com:90/

I am now in the Christmas mode and for me that means some decorating around the house but more importantly, baking. I have pies in the freezer from previous baking efforts so I concentrated on Christmas cookies. I made five different varieties and am showing them off to you on the picture below. I look forward to visits from all the Schlaver kids and grandchildren.

The wood stove is doing a nice job keeping the house warm and minimizing the use of oil. An oil delivery came today and I only needed 36 gallon for I barely used one gallon a day for the last five weeks. That is about the demand for hot water normally needed. Today's nearly zero temperatures did prompt me to also turn on the furnace though. Wood cutting and splitting are my winter's physical activities alone with the anticipated snow blowing of the 300 foot driveway. Those activities should keep me fit!

Merry Christmas to all and I hope you can look forward to an exciting and prosperous New Year in 2010!

Activities other than gardening in retirement

I am tired of talking about the falling leaves here and showing pictures of piles of leaves. Not much is happening in the yard and garden right now except continuing garden mulching, manure spreading and wood stacking. So I thought I might talk of some of my other retirement activities that have been significant for me in the past first year plus of my retirement. There are two social and community involvements that have brought me much satisfaction and take up a good portion of my non-gardening time and attention: The Saco Bay Garden Club and the Union Church of Biddeford Pool.

I joined the Saco Bay Garden Club prior to my retirement but rarely could attend the monthly Thursday evening meetings. Now I am an active member of the club and enjoy the people and activities of it. Each meeting usually brings on 25-30 of the much greater number of dues paying members. Usually there is a speaker making helpful and interesting presentations on everything from growing roses to the most recent incredible presentation of dozens of 3D slides of close up images of flowers, insects and plants, complete with each of us wearing the necessary special glasses in a totally darkened room at the Dyer Library. The presenter was a professor of architecture that developed this incredible hobby to better teach his students of the beauty and space that can result in buildings if you understand what is there in nature. The rose specialist has worked at nearby Moody’s Nursery for ten years and offered loads of helpful advice.

The Saco Bay Garden Club sponsored a “garden walk” last July to view some of the garden club members gardening efforts. My vegetable gardens were included and approximately 40 members showed up. Even though the gardens were looking poorly in my opinion it seems that most viewers were impressed and probably thought I was crazy for tackling such large gardens. This viewing might occur again in the summer of 2010. I certainly hope many improvements as a result of my efforts after another year of work and more importantly, a much different weather summer in 2010 will bring a nice new look for the repeating visitors to see.

The garden club maintains several local public areas such as the flower beds of the Saco and Biddeford libraries and one special to me, the new Saco Island Amtrak train station. I am on a small committee focused on the train station landscaping and even contributed some hydrangea and black eyed Susan plants to a new flowerbed we planted at the station. See below…and also the club’s website at: http://www.sacobaygardenclub.com/

The Union Church of Biddeford Pool was discovered on Easter Sunday in 2008 when Julian, Roxi and I sought a church with “good music” for grandson Cotton’s first Easter. Well, music is a centerpiece of the services at this classic, small New England Church and has an inspiring woman minister in Pastor Jan Hryniewicz. Cotton was baptized there in the fall of 2008 and we all have become members of the church. The church community is very active in local community charitable activities and I am a part of the Mission Committee that leads those efforts. A local food pantry, after school focused program for local kids needing some positive activities and a meals program for the homeless are some of these projects. Also, I have become part of the “Green Team” that is trying to make the church building more energy efficient and to offer church members advice and information about smart home environmental “green” activities. We persuaded 37 people to buy composter for their gardens that I spoke of in the blog last June. The church’s website posts its monthly newsletter and occasionally I have added an article on “green topics”. See: http://www.unionchurchme.com/greening.html

No idle time in the fall.....

Most of the harvesting and canning is done now for 2009. Only a few hardy, frost resistant crops remain in the ground now. There are endless hours of hard work to face at the end of the season here in Maine. First of all I must face the onslaught of falling leaves that begins in mid-October and can last until December! I count nearly 25 trees on on near my property that will all drop their leaves over these many weeks. I must gather them all. I have an electric leaf blower with a very long extension cord. Piles are made all over the place and then dragged via a blue tarp to the driveway to be mulched into small pieces with my trusty Toro mulching mower. Thanks to a snow shovel and deep wheel barrel the remaining mulch is carted to the garden beds, flower beds and mulch piles near the compost bins. All of the leaves will find there way back into the soil around here over time. At least the lawn mowing is over for 2009!

A local dairy farmer has now delivered two truck loads of cow manure to my Field Garden. The picture below shows one pile. It should take me weeks of labor but the plan is to spread this over the recently plowed garden beds for the "nourishment" of the soil over the winter. My back hurt after the first five wheel barrel loads! The farmer also sold me some hay to cover my strawberries and asparagus beds for the winter.

One other big task is almost completed though. The wood piles have been moved close to the house for easier access when the snow comes and deepens. My three cords of wood are ready for the cold, long winter. Actually I have used my wood stove steadily for the last few weeks as October has had below normal temperatures almost every day. The stove work well and the oil furnace has yet to be turned on.

The remaining picture shows the dahlia tubers now all dug, wash off and soon to be in basement storage. Both dahlias and gladiolas are flowers than can't survive the winter here if their tubers are left in the ground.

Hopefully the first big snowstorm won't arrive until all these tasks are completed. Then it will be time to relax and curl up by the wood stove and start thinking about next year's gardening plans.

Putting the Garden to Bed for the Season

A very cold fall has come to Maine but unlike other parts of New England, no snow yet! The sudden weather change has spurred me to busily prepare the gardens for winter. Everything vulnerable to a frost has now been harvested. The remaining veggies still in the ground are: Kale, Turnips, Carrots, Swiss Chard, Arugula, Beets, Italian Parsley and Brussels Sprouts. The only fall planting that is done here is the garlic as previously described. Now is the time for removal of all plant debris and any garden bed preparation I hope to do.

I hired a young man to bring his tractor and tiller here to plow the Field Garden. the grass/weed growth was so extensive this year I felt plowing was needed. Some pictures below show the very nice results of his work. Some garden paths remain and you can also see the unploughed areas with strawberries, asparagus, some perennial flower beds and garlic planted spot. Later this week a dump truck load of manure from a local dairy farm will arrive. It will be a big job spreading in on the prepared beds but worth the work. Finally a coating of ground up leaves will be added.

I had to buy a pumpkin to display but did have some short corn stalks (but no corn harvested) and some gourds to put on the front porch. The fall colors are getting better and better but some trees, especially some of the maples are still green. The leaf falling and gathering process will go on until late November, I suspect.

Much of the firewood has been moved close to the house for easy access after snow fall. The wood stove is in fairly constant use now as the night time temperatures have drifted below 32 degrees for a few nights. I am not sure how much of an Indian summer will happen this year since the cold has come so early. I will continue with the "putting the graden to bed" work well into November and then gather some additional firewood if snow doesn't block that option. I do have a solid three cords already cut and split so should have enough for the Winter.

The tally of jars of jams, pickles, salsa, etc. has now hit 115 with only a little more to do. This is a far cry from last season's 350 jars! There are many potatoes and a few onions in storage but no winter squash this year. I did manage to squeeze a few pounds of dried pinto and cannelini beans from the garden and certainly have beans and things in the freezer as well.

What's under the ground?

Harvest continues in the garden. The meager onion harvest has been done but the leeks are still in the ground as they can withstand frost and are still growing bigger, hopefully. The leeks don't look very fat but they should yield a decent crop and will be pulled as needed until the ground starts to freeze hard. I pulled some carrots and they were huge as the picture below shows with the pencil in the shot for a comparison. Many more carrots are in the ground. They store very well in the refrigerator so I will wait to harvest more. I planted the garlic next to the leek bed as the 2nd picture shows. I save about a fifth of my garlic crop of approximately 100 plants each year for replanting for the next year. The individual cloves in each garlic bulb gets planted separately and so I just planted 115 individual cloves. I have achieved "garlic independence" for it keeps well, giving me a full year's supply. The beets are so plentiful that I better can some more. I pulled a large batch last week and gave some away as well as cooked enough for several meals. The beet greens yielded enough greens for three meals. There are still more turnips "under the ground" as well.

The endless challenge of falling leaves has now begun. Enough are on the ground that it is time to leaf gather before the grass can be cut. Mowing will continue for probable 2-3 more times this Fall but the challenge of leaves last until snowfall. I have an electric leaf blower with 300 feet of cord! I make piles and bring tarp loads to the driveway and then mulch them with the lawn mower. The ground up leaves can be put on top of the garden beds as a good mulch for the winter. Worms love the ground up leaves and slower they break down over time. Often in the spring I simply pull off the leaf mulch and plant the seeds and either return the leaves to serve as a weed barrier and mulch around the growing plants or leave them in the garden paths. The leaves especially serve as a path mulch in the raised bed garden. I will post some pictures of my leaf efforts later in the fall.

Fall Colors in the Garden

The leaves are just beginning to change colors in Saco, Maine but the flowers still blooming in the fall are bursting forth with their beautiful colors. So many of the spring blooming flowers have short lived blooms but that is not the case as the fall approaches. Some of these flowers can even be dried to prolong the enjoyment of their beauty. Every year I bring in some hydrangeas to save for a winter's bouquet. I guess it is finally time to part with those saved from last year and replace them with this new harvest.

The mystery squash reported several postings ago ended up simply being a two-toned gourd on a very prolific plant that emerged from the compost added to the asparagus bed. I now have a basket full of then to enjoy as decorations.

I have pulled all the gladiola tubers for winter storage but will leave the dahlias in the ground until after the first hard frost for they are still blooming vigorously.

I continue to pick tomatoes even if the plants look terrible and have vastly under produced this year so I will have a supply of red salsa and might even end up with some tomato sauce for pasta meals. I have purchased cucumbers at the local farm stand so a few batches of pickles are canned. The beets are a big success though, and I am about to pickled some for the canned goods storage shelves. The cabbage was just picked and will be turned into sauerkraut after six weeks of fermenting in the old crock

Harvesting continues & the weather is perfect

September in Maine is considered the best month of the year by many Mainers. Cool evenings, sunny days in the 70's and gardens to harvest. I can't argue with this viewpoint even if I am still a new Mainer. As you can see below I now have broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and chard to enjoy. I am eating my own potatoes regularly as well as garlic. The beans are done but many are in the freezer. Zucchini are still growing as well as lots of beets, carrots and turnips. I have managed to harvest enough tomatoes to make two large batches of red salsa, 19 pint jars. All the peppers in them came from the garden and the garlic and cilantro as well. My onion crop is weak this year so store bought onions went into the salsa. I bought some farm stand cucumbers so I could make at least one batch of bread and butter pickles. I will have to buy more to make any other variety of pickles I want to can.

The sedum flower bed is showing its fall color and the marigolds, hydrangeas, sunflowers and dahlias are also adding color all around. Some mums have returned to bloom again. The sunflower plants should be six feet tall but are only three feet tall! The Martin bird house attracted the usual families of sparrows but this year a bird's nest appeared near it.. .for visitors or in-laws... I'm not sure.

The White House Veggie Garden...an Update

An update on the Obama White House Garden...nice video on You Tube!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVpEr3kfWjc

The Summer is ending......

August was a great month filled with sun and hot weather and it made it possible to salvage some crops in the worst gardening year of my seven so far in Maine. Now, as September begins with cooler days and cooler nights I hope for no frost before late October to enable the veggies growing ever so slowly to reach maturity. My cucumbers are a total bust and I don't expect to harvest ANY. The same goes for winter squash and melons it would appear. The few, tiny ears of corn won't even be enough for the raccoons let alone leaving some for me to enjoy. I have only picked a few tomatoes so far and of very poor quality. There are many green ones on the vines but who knows if enough decent ones will lead to my usual many batches of salsa let along tomato sauce. I usually only can jars of veggies and jams from crops I have harvested here and not from purchased ones, but this year may be the exception. I probably could take a year off from pickle making as I do have several 2008 jars remaining but life would not be the same without many jars of salsa on the shelf! The good news is that many of the rest of the salsa ingredients like the hot peppers and cilantro are doing just fine in the garden.

I continue to enjoy an abundance of green and yellow beans, turnips, beets, carrots, lettuce, zucchini and yellow summer squash. Soon I will be picking some cabbage, eggplant and more cauliflower and broccoli. Hence I really cannot complain too loudly about the harvest in 2009. The life of a gardener/farmer always has its disappointments along with the joys. I must say that many flowers continue to add beauty to the gardens here as some of the photos show. The black-eyed Susan's are big and amazing this year and spreading all over the place. It is hard to imagine that the hydrangeas were tiny little plants just four years ago when purchased. The pond now sports many floating plants as well and continues to be a focal point of admiration for the many visitors I have had of late. Life is good ... even without cucumbers!

Helper --Hot weather = Harvest

August has been a great garden month with HOT temperatures every day and little rain. The garden is finally benefiting and flourishing. Check out a few harvesting efforts with my special little helper, grandson Cotton. Also note the mystery squash plant that suddenly grew fast after I added the compost to the asparagus bed from the bin near the back door that gets the winter's kitchen scraps. The morning glory that self seeded from last year now fully covers the garden trellis, the dahlias are in full bloom and some herbs have now been harvested and are drying in the garage thanks to son, Julian. Lastly, note the new view of the front door and new porch with the final view from the inside looking out. The evergreen tree next to the door has now been removed to open the view.

The first tomatoes have arrived, the zucchini is a steady item and the green and yellow beans seem endless. Three bean salad and simple steamed beans coated in lemon juice and olive oil are regularly served now. The first carrots and beets have made it to the dining table. Many, many green peppers, hot peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant and broccoli are forming nicely. The jury is still out on the quality of the tomato and cucumber harvest, but I am now more hopeful.

The Garden's Bounty

The August weather continues to be a "normal" summer in Maine. Unfortunately much irreversible damage was done in July, the coldest on record and the 2nd wettest. My fingers remain crossed that a hot August and nice September can mitigate the crop failures as much as possible. The forecast for the next five days calls for near 90 degrees and lots of sun and no rain...maybe some hope!

The basket full 0f green and yellow beans sitting on the new front porch is nearly8 lbs. worth. They were just picked and many more will follow from the prolific bush beans and pole bean vines. Beans are being eaten daily now and have been turned into a fresh three bean salad and many frozen packages.

Below are some images of the "White Hull Pink Tip" heirloom pole bean I planted for the first time thanks to the mailing of these special seeds from my cousin Betsey from Knoxville Tennessee. I plan to enjoy eating most of them and to save some seeds for next year.

The blueberries are getting picked every three days and several quarts have already been turned into jam, scones, muffins, a blueberry Buckle coffee cake and a frozen supply. That harvest should continue for a couple of weeks. The blackberries are just beginning to ripen and look equally promising. My memory of the poor strawberry harvest is fading now.