October Brings the Last

Brown October brings the last

Of ripening gifts, from summer past.

Have you noticed that summer is definitely past? It has been a hard adjustment this week. I'm not used to finding socks, shoes, jackets, and hats for all three boys. Our 'getting out of the house routine' takes a full 15-20 minutes longer, and it was bad enough when Luke and Levi could slip on their flip-flops. Leif just went barefoot!

Yesterday, the sun decided to grace us with its presence for a little while. The boys and I took a walk, enjoying breathing in the clean fall air. The pitiful veggie garden has been begging for attention. I pulled up and picked the last of the ripening gifts. Our tomatoes had a rough year. The deer, the cool weather.... there are a lot of green tomatoes on the vines, but we've only picked a few red ones. I'm guessing they won't last much longer with this cold and rain!


I'm sad that the boys won't get to pick carrots for lunch again until next summer rolls around. The delicious crunch of fresh-picked French green beans, roasted with olive oil and sea salt, is already a dim memory. We are gearing up to plant our fruit trees, though. That will be a job and a half!

Feast

And pictures from a few weeks ago:

Beans:

I decided to plant French style green beans this year.

They are absolutely delicious roasted in the oven with

olive oil, salt, and pepper!

The peppers are getting bigger:

And, ahem. I'm tired of sharing: Next year we'll be building a very tall fence.
Maybe I'll have a separate 'feed the deer' garden.

Mystery Solved

(Not that it was much of a mystery.)

Do you think she (and her significant other) might know anything about this:

At least she doesn't seem to like Basil. Grin.

I have to say that getting to see them up on the hill makes the sting of munched veggie plants a little softer. I don't mind sharing, as long as I can watch them visit on occasion.

They're Growing!

The Herbs

The Peppers

Carrots and Beans

The Zucchini

And we have started picking blackberries!

(My internet connection has been giving me fits. Hopefully we have things straightened out, and I will be posting more often in the next few weeks!)

The Potager Garden

I had been interested in reading All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew when I saw it recommended (not sure where, or by whom) some time ago. In April, I spied the book at Costco and threw it in the cart. (Somehow it doesn't feel like spending money when it magically appears among the groceries.) Russ stole it out from under my nose and had it read by that evening. He sounded at least a little interested, which was terrific. I needed him on board.

Reading through the book in the next few days, the method sounded startlingly simple. The drawing of my amazing new vegetable garden--not so simple. That might have been when Russ started to go cross-eyed. Nevertheless, he has been a great sport, and I have simplified my expectations for the garden (for this year, anyway. Grin.)

The All New Square Foot Gardening method involvs a special soil mixture, 4'x4' raised beds made out of untreated 2"x6"x8' boards. No tilling, no soil treatments, very little weeding, minimal watering. Sounds good to me.

The book has many helpful references including charts of vegetables--when to plant, weeks to harvest, how long to keep seeds, etc... I would definitely recommend taking a look to see if this is something you might be interested in. The raised beds can be made on patios or porches, so there is no excuse not to have a few fresh vegetables to harvest! It would be a wonderful project to share with kids.


I was additionally inspired by seeing pictures of a wonderful and, in my humble opinion, successful attempt at 'square foot gardening' over at Homeschooling the Doctorate? Check out her progress!

Our project has begun in earnest:

Levi helps dad form the box frames.

Russ attatched weed barrier to the bottom of each box.

He made a fancy hinged wire cage for one of the boxes.

We're not sure if we'll have deer checking out the garden,

but we know we have a rabbit friend in the vicinity.

Our soil mixture.

(Amazon reviews of All New Square Foot Gardening

complain that vermiculite is very hard to find.

We must be lucky. It is available at two local garden supply stores.)

It looks awful, but mint compost is the greatest stuff.

It's readily available here in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.

I've been known to put it on my birthday wish list.

(And I've been gifted a load or two by those who know me best.)

We started a compost pile, but won't be able to make use of it

for quite some time.

Box ready for planting.

Bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, French style beans,

and carrots (red, purple, orange, yellow, and white!).

One box for herbs: rosemary, lavender, parsley, basil, thyme, thyme-oregano, and chives!

(Other two boxes were planted with four tomato plants and zucchini. More will be added soon.)

I'll keep you posted as the garden progresses!