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.