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.