It’s warm again, but a few days ago it got cold and we had 2 frosty nights. I covered a few things and saved them for Indian summer. The pumpkin plants didn’t make it. No big deal, they were big and ripe anyway.
It’s going to be an early start at winter digging this year.
This garden summer we have had a cool july followed by a hot august, now it’s cool again and seems like harvest time has come early – all of a sudden. It’s quite normal of course, but always comes as a surprise. This year we have had more time, so why not harvest early (in time) instead of waiting for the rainy snowy fall weather. The potatoes were big, so they are all in the root cellar a few weeks earlier than usual. Most of the onions too.
The pumpkins were getting ripe fast, so we picked them imediately in order to keep the rodents from eating too many.
The carrots too, in order to keep the carrot fly worms from getting established, and so that we can make a batch of lactic acid pickled carrot tomorrow when it rains.
It feels good to have so much fall work done already. We can even get started on the winter digging.
As if I didn’t have enough digging to do, I dig a pool by hand, or should I say by foot.
I started this project about 10 years ago, but since we have gotten an unlimited supply of farm water we don’t really need it for that, so it’s been at a stand still for a few years. Now with plenty of time on hand, I am back into it again. More as a landscape feature (garden art) now.
The spiral down-ramp is taking form, but there is quite a bit more to do.
The dirt mound grows.
When the digging is done, the mound will be shaped and planted with grass.
These last few days have been good for digging – snow and a cold crust on the muddy clay. It’s supposed to get warm and mucky again, so dig while the frost sprinkles!
The deer have been digging too.
They have gotten through or over the fencing some how, and have found the remaining beets, chard and cabbage. That’s OK – they’re too small and skrawny to worry anout.