Packing It In

My wife and I made one more quick trip down to the garden before calling it good for the winter. With a new storage facility back at our house on the edge of town, I am going to take over lawn care duties starting in the spring and so picked up a battery operated weed eater to help in that regard. I wanted to try it out and so brought it with me. It made quick work of the weeds around the strawberry beds and underneath the old apple tree. Above is what we refer to as our berry patch which is in the remains of our original orchard where only three decrepit trees remain. Hopefully in the near future there will be strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and grapes growing there.

The north end of our east garden was really wet for much of last year and probably a reason why the popcorn crop didn't do all that well. So more soil was added to it to build it up to allow for better drainage. Hopefully that will fix the problem.

Above is our new orchard now on the other end of the garden area. All told, we planted six fruit trees, this year and three survived the very wet spring we had. The three that died though have a guarantee and will replaced in the spring when new stock has been obtained. The three pears that we planted in late summer however seemed to be doing well before the cold snap caused them to lose their leaves. 



 Our arched trellis was a big success, so much so, we would like to expand our wire support program in our garden. Next year we are looking to obtain some more wire "hog panels" and fence posts to create a place for our peas and beans to climb. We probably won't form them in an arch and will keep these more temporary so we can rotate their location in the garden. Since the vines were all long dead, we pulled them down to make room for next year's crop and piled them next to the asparagus bed where we will burn them along with the asparagus bed in late winter. Now all that is left is to dream and flip through seed catalogs until spring.

Comments

  1. You have got a lot of land there Ed. How much? An acre? I guess it's a long walk to the nearest pub.

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    1. Inside the fence is just under a half of an acre. Not counting gas stations where you could buy alcohol, it would be around 25 miles to the nearest pub.

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    2. You would be pretty sober by the time you made it home.

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  2. Beautiful skies. The clouds are almost "mares' tails".

    I'm guessing you have snow on the ground now.

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    1. Hush Kelly! We do not have snow on the ground nor am I ready for such things!

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  3. It's kind of nice to know all the work is over for the season, isn't it?

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    1. It is. It frees up our weekends for other things like building a fire in the fireplace and reading!

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  4. These are great plans and you have all winter to figure it out! Can't do much of anything during those months, I assume. :)

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    1. If I were living on the farm, those months would be spent repairing and maintenancing farm equipment and cleaning up fence rows. These days, I save a few inside the house projects to do over winter.

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  5. Next year I want to try to build some arched trellis for cucumbers and squash

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    1. It is easy to do, especially if you have a way of hauling 16 feet long wire panels, like in a pickup.

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  6. Knowing you, as little as I do, you will not be terribly idle through the winter.

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  7. What a huge yard/lot and a lot of work!

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    1. We could make it more work than we do which is why it wasn't an immaculate garden and had lots of weeds in it.

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  8. Ed, seed catalogs are one of the great joys of the Winter season.

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    1. I haven't experienced this joy since I was a kid with a pumpkin business but now as an adult, I am being reawakened to that fact.

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  9. Sounds like another successful gardening year and you are well positioned for another. I would say enjoy your rest, but I know you'll find plenty to keep you busy!

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    1. I hope so. I learned a lot this year with the garden.

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  10. A winter-ready garden is always kind of forlorn looking. But you've been working on excellent improvements, so next year should be even better.

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    1. Perhaps that is an advantage to having it 40 miles away. I don't have to look upon the forlornness.

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  11. You guys are such hard workers! I'm always impressed with all you do.

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