Sunday November 1, 2015
We "Fell Back" to standard time last night, meaning that by the time any of members with 9–5 jobs reach the garden on a weeknight, it will already be getting dark. Coming from a colder part of the province, I never would have imagined we would still need Garden Together time this late in the season, but we still have food growing and lots to do to put the garden to bed. Today therefore, was our first Garden Together Sunday.
Understandably, only three members managed to make the shift this week. Here's what we got up to:
Sheet mulched the small bed up against the church wall that had been overgrown with weeds and problem trees.
Gathered unsound fallen tomatoes from most of the garden and dropped them onto the area where we plan to plant tomatoes next year. The seeds often remain viable even through vermicomposting, so we prefer to have any volunteer seedlings show up in the area where we actually want to grow them.
Chopped and dropped dead vegetation, starting cover up any bare soil patches (soil left bare anytime will degrade, but especially if it's left bare all winter)
Collected worm castings to store for spring seed starting—I have read that adding one part worm castings to two parts potting soil makes an excellent seed starting medium
Harvested:
- 3 dozen sound green tomatoes
- 3 bags of mixed greens
- 1 bag of broccoleaf
The easternmost part of our garden is within needle-dropping range for some conifers. I imagine this will lead to slightly more acidic soil in this section over time.
Our broccoli plants—even the ones that were planted for their leaves alone—have put out more tiny florets
If I'd really been thinking, I would have disconnected the rain barrels from the downspouts at the beginning of the afternoon. I didn't think of it until it was too late and we were packing up to go. Now, if it rains before I get the chance to go back, the emptied barrels will simply fill up again. Oops.