Fall Fiesta

[Peggy]

Well, it's October 9th...

And...

We just picked our pumpkins, but still have scalloped squash,
tomatoes, and onions going strong.
















Yesterday Clyde rototilled in our year old hay bales, and the compost
that we have gathered all year together into our clay. There is not
a lot of clay coming up and mixing in, but I've got to say, we have a
beautiful soil building up in our little garden area. We've
surrounded the area with more bales of straw in order to contain what
we've built up in one area. We figure we will continue to grow the
area as we go along.





We've planted starts from our local nursury of Cabbage, Cauliflower,
Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, lettuce, and Swiss Chard.








AND.. We've discovered we have an absolute over popluation of Slugs
and that they are doing MAJOR damage to our crops.. so bad, we
thought we had a mouse (I did see one). The slugs have eaten our
starts, we now have one cabbage, one cauliflower, and a little
lettuce.

We also planted from seed or starts: onions, garlic, lettuce mixes,
cabbage, broccoli and swiss chard. The onions, garlic, lettuce, and
swiss chard are doing great. We did the same thing as last year...
we bought more straw bales, made squares, filled them with compost
and planted. This will increase our garden area.

Here are our mystery squashes:






also, I have planted some flowers that were given to me out front.
So, far, I'd say I see one of them coming out of shock. The rest,
I'm still waiting on, but, one thing I learned last year was that in
spring they come around.

So, probably in spring, I'm gonna have a pretty, pretty show!

Last weekend, I also planted Canna (I think, thank you Patty) and moved my bananna
plant away from the house because Clyde is also working on our roof.
I didn't want roof mulch for my bananna, so I put it up against the
fence, in the middle of and in front of my passion flowers. Then on
each side of it, I put canna's and ginger lilies (thank you, Patty).... I am hoping
between all that, that that fence will be so green that we won't see
the neighbors! hahahaha


My snap dragons are still going strong too:


Hugs, Peggy

[Triss]

Great harvest there Peggy!  I really like the idea of surrounding the garden with bales of hay and then using them to amend the soil.  Your plants look very healthy!

[Wrennie]

Wow! Thats a great harvest you have there. Are those patty pan squash? How do you cook them? I like the hay idea too.  might have to do that for my new veggie garden area.

[Penny]

Wow........you've done an amazing job, thanks for sharing your pics with us!!

[duh]

That is a great idea.  I may be doing that myself when I get relocated if I have a garden area.

[Peggy]

Wow! Thats a great harvest you have there. Are those patty pan squash? How do you cook them? I like the hay idea too.  might have to do that for my new veggie garden area.

Yes, they are patty pan squash.  And my husband loves them peeled, and cut up like you would for frying potatos.  I fry them a little and add just a tiny bit of salt and pepper.  I fry them quick and keep them just a little bit chrunchy and he really eats them up.

Other folks like them boiled in chunks, and when they are soft enough for them, they drain them and add butter, salt, and pepper.

They have a great flavor.. not as bland as other squashes.  I'm not really an expert, my family never grew them when I was a kid, so I am learning.  I've googled them, there are lot's and lot's of ideas out there for them!!

[Peggy]

Great harvest there Peggy!  I really like the idea of surrounding the garden with bales of hay and then using them to amend the soil.  Your plants look very healthy!

the hay is a great idea...   but, I have to say, if you can find straw that is the best deal.. you get it cheaper, and it does produce less weeds.  But, our soil is nothing but clay and we figure even the weeds will help break it up and add something to it, soooo....

the first year we used hay because we found a supply that had been rained on and the price was very good.  Being rained on--for what we wanted was fine, it meant that the decomposition process was already underway.

This year we found straw that had been rained on and it was only 1.50 a bale, but we also had to drive 20 miles to get it, and can only haul 20 bales at a time, so the more local the source the better.

It's breaking down really nice... that much, I know.  Hugs, Peg

[christy]

wow! awsome  garden set up ya got,  puttin the hole bales of hay around it is a good idea.
i love your wagon!!! i would love to have rails on my wagon like that! the hole side comes down, thats cool!