Gardens 2012

Well as we clean out this summers gardens and prepare them for winter it is time to begin planning for next seasons gardens. Each year I get distracted with my business when my garden needs to go into the ground, may be next year will be better. Just work on improving. Today I found an article in "Oregon Live" about pumpkins for eating. Silly thing. Many years ago Bobbe and I searched out information an cooking with pumpkins and everything we found started with canned pumpkin. Times are changing. Last year I did take a real pumpkin cut it up baked it and made a pumpkin puree that we froze. It was fine but the color was very lite and flavor was not very good. next year I hope to try some more pumpkin varieties and see if I can find one that taste great. Pumpkins and other winter squash take up lots of room in the garden but many of them will stay fresh for many months after harvesting. Oh, Bobbe often puts pumpkin and winter squash chunks in soups and stews. A great addition to a winter meal. Now remember if you do plant pumpkins or winter squash, remember they take up a lot of room in the garden. Well see if this works, the link to the Oregon live site : http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2011/10/pumpkin_in_food_its_scary_good.html#incart_hbx

Bob

Got more Zucchini?

Well it keeps coming. Each week I expect it is the last harvest and the hard frosts stayed away and we keep harvesting a few more. The yellow crook neck were a bust but the regular green zucchini keep on coming. I planted garlic last weekend and will be mailing off some bulbs to Ellie Monday. I hope weather is ok for you then. Plant them 2 inches deep 6 inches apart, mulch and enjoy winter. I need to start my grow room soon but too many irons in the fire now. I still need to put up 4 cords of firewood for winter. We plan to work on that today after I do some work.

Bob

Website Share

I found a wonderful website for home remedies for garden pests/problems.  I just thought I should share it here.

Flowers

I am really not that interested in flowers.  I just don't care one way or the other about them, but I was chatting with my physical therapist about my garden and my aphid issues this last week and she mentioned that she plants a row of flowers a row of veg, etc and that she has very little issues with aphids or other common pests because the flowers attract the "right" kind of bugs.  It sounds very logical, so I was doing a little research on it and it seems like this is a really common way that people grow veg organically.  It allows for a reduction in the need for pesticides....

Now I just need to figure out what flowers to plant next to my veg so they are flowering at the right time of year.  This is getting very complicated now!  :)

Butter leaf lettuce (second batch) is really flourishing!!  Pulled out the Kohlrabi last week and I am overflowing with Jalapenos right now.  Probably the best investment in my garden so far.  That plant has produced pretty much the whole summer and now into fall, with some very flavorful jalapenos.  Definitely getting another one of those!!

Anyone else plant flowers with their Veg?  Any luck??  Suggestions for flowers to plant + veg combo?

I've seen a lot of people on the Internet speaking about planting morning glory...but I always thought that was a weed...maybe I'm thinking of the wrong plant??

Also, sun flowers?  I wish it was spring again already....Still love my garden, but it's not as fun to go out there when it's pouring down.

Garden update

Anyone know what that white powder is on my pumpkins?!

Corn Down

So, I pulled all of my corn out of my garden this last weekend.  I boiled it up and then froze it.  I think it still is very tasty.

My carrots are coming out next I think.  The cabbage got away from me and is a pile of mess.  I pulled out the worst of it, but I kept a few I thought I could salvage.  I'm not sure if I waited too long into the season to plant my onions or not, but they really aren't doing much.  They just seem to be dying but when I pull one out they dont' have the "onion" bulb on the end.  It's just the greens coming out of the ground.

My brussel sprouts and pumpkins seem to be the last survivors.

Oh!  I finally gave up on my tomato plants as well.  They are in the compost bin with the corn stalks.  Seems the garden is ramping down for the winter.  Now that we're in a perfectly lovely Portland winter....