I am just sitting here looking out the window and wondering if winter has already arrived. It started to snow sometime last night and then a bit of rain mixed in. The mixed rain and snow continued over night and there was a bit of accumulation on the ground this morning.
According to the official Canadian Weather Service the statistics for the Ottawa airport for yesterday: 27 October 2018:
Max: 4.7 °C Min: -1.7 °C
Total Precipitation: Rainfall: 2.6 mm Snowfall: 3.4 cm Total 7.6 mm
The snow has continued on and off during today as well. It is a good thing that I put my garden "to bed" yesterday. Did things a bit differently this year. Instead of pulling up the tomato plants and composting them I cut them down leaving the roots in the ground to compost in-situ and just laid the bush on top of the ground to compost over the winter. In the spring I will probably just dig what is left into the soil. Because I left what was left of the tomatoes on the plant no doubt I will be getting some tomato plants sprouting next year.
I pulled the sweet potato plants and was surprised at the number of tubers that were attached to the roots. Sadly they were only about the size of a pencil so not big enough to save for eating. I decided to see if there were any more buried in the soil so I started digging up with a garden fork. When I dug up the sweet potatoes and got a few. For the amount of return based on the cost of the individual plants (about $2.00 each) I don't think I will be purchasing any next year. If I have any left over and they sprout shoots I will plant them. It will also be interesting to see if any grow from the small ones that I just turned over in the soil.
NO regular potatoes next year. I didn't get a one from this years crop. I am not sure just what happened because the plants looked well and healthy at the beginning of the summer. I was just covering them with straw as I had done with good success in past years but this year one of my neighbours suggested that after a couple of initial covers I just leave them and let photosynthesis take over. So that is what I did. And then along came a horrendous number of Japanese Beetles and even with spraying with insecticidal soap they completely decimated the plants leaving only a few stems above ground. So not sure if it is my fault, the beetles fault or a combination of both but not going to bother next year.
During the upcoming week, supposed to warm up by Wednesday, I will do the garden in the back yard and decide on where to plant my garlic. If I decide to plant it here I will have to get a bale of straw from the farm, if I decide to plant at the garden there is already a bale there. I will also have to spread what is left of the top/garden soil at the garden. I think I will use it to fill the rows that I was using for the potatoes. Just put the soil over the straw that is already there and then plant some root crops next year.
Over all I am fairly satisfied with my vegetable gardening this past year. A few changes for next year are in the offering. No pole beans, no one eats them, only a few green beans at a time, the same with lettuce. I was also told more beets. A couple of different planting times for carrots, did that this year with fair results.
Now that winter is fast approaching it is time to start looking for an ocean cruise to somewhere warm next March.
According to the official Canadian Weather Service the statistics for the Ottawa airport for yesterday: 27 October 2018:
Max: 4.7 °C Min: -1.7 °C
Total Precipitation: Rainfall: 2.6 mm Snowfall: 3.4 cm Total 7.6 mm
The snow has continued on and off during today as well. It is a good thing that I put my garden "to bed" yesterday. Did things a bit differently this year. Instead of pulling up the tomato plants and composting them I cut them down leaving the roots in the ground to compost in-situ and just laid the bush on top of the ground to compost over the winter. In the spring I will probably just dig what is left into the soil. Because I left what was left of the tomatoes on the plant no doubt I will be getting some tomato plants sprouting next year.
I pulled the sweet potato plants and was surprised at the number of tubers that were attached to the roots. Sadly they were only about the size of a pencil so not big enough to save for eating. I decided to see if there were any more buried in the soil so I started digging up with a garden fork. When I dug up the sweet potatoes and got a few. For the amount of return based on the cost of the individual plants (about $2.00 each) I don't think I will be purchasing any next year. If I have any left over and they sprout shoots I will plant them. It will also be interesting to see if any grow from the small ones that I just turned over in the soil.
NO regular potatoes next year. I didn't get a one from this years crop. I am not sure just what happened because the plants looked well and healthy at the beginning of the summer. I was just covering them with straw as I had done with good success in past years but this year one of my neighbours suggested that after a couple of initial covers I just leave them and let photosynthesis take over. So that is what I did. And then along came a horrendous number of Japanese Beetles and even with spraying with insecticidal soap they completely decimated the plants leaving only a few stems above ground. So not sure if it is my fault, the beetles fault or a combination of both but not going to bother next year.
During the upcoming week, supposed to warm up by Wednesday, I will do the garden in the back yard and decide on where to plant my garlic. If I decide to plant it here I will have to get a bale of straw from the farm, if I decide to plant at the garden there is already a bale there. I will also have to spread what is left of the top/garden soil at the garden. I think I will use it to fill the rows that I was using for the potatoes. Just put the soil over the straw that is already there and then plant some root crops next year.
Over all I am fairly satisfied with my vegetable gardening this past year. A few changes for next year are in the offering. No pole beans, no one eats them, only a few green beans at a time, the same with lettuce. I was also told more beets. A couple of different planting times for carrots, did that this year with fair results.
Now that winter is fast approaching it is time to start looking for an ocean cruise to somewhere warm next March.
RSS Feed
