The Collecting Of The Tree Leaves. 11.7.22

 This morning, while walking Rufus in town, I encountered some homeowners raking their leaves.  I offered to help, in return for the leaves.  I quickly filled the pickup bed.

The areas that I left covered with last year's leaves did great.  No weeds at all, and only sporadic watering. The leaf mulch lasted until now, but is now thinning quite a bit.  My goal is to keep those areas maintenance free next year too.

The truckload of leaves made a good start.  It's more work than I should be doing, but only once a year.

Some of these areas were too shady fir the perennials I had there, so I removed those to transplant to a sunnier spot.

It needs just a little tidying up, but basically this area is done until this time next year.  I'm really pleased this much is done now.

Fig Tree Starts. 11.7.22

 On Nov 29 last year, I removed this offshoot from my original Hardy Chicago fig tree.

It didn't have much root.  Barely any. 

Still, I wanted a new tree to replace one that was killed by voles, so I planted it, gave it some water, and kept it mulched.  Here is that tree today.

I'm pretty impressed with the resilience of fig trees. This one has the potential to produce a small number of figs next year. Today I renewed the leaf mulch around it.  This tree is settled in for the sinter.

I had also cut a few cuttings, dormant wood about a foot long and half inch diameter. I stuck them into the ground in what was to become a tomato raised bed.  No other care, not even water althpugh the closest emitter was, maybe, 18 inches away.  It did have a cardboard mulch.

Here is one cutting now. I dont think the others grew.

This start could be planted in the ground now, and potentially make some good progress next year.

The Final Potato Harvest. Grow Bag Potatoes. 11.5.22

 I've been procrastinating harvesting the last grow bag.  I think this is Kennebec.  I harvested today.

There were some pluses and minuses here.  On the plus side, none were sprouted, none were chewed up by voles, and they were very easy to harvest.   On harvesting, they were cleaner than in-ground potatoes.

On the minus side, I hoped for a larger crop, and some of these were small.  This was from three plants.

It's possible the soil mix wasn't rich enough.  Nothing else that I grew in this mix was as productive as I hoped, either.  I'm thinking about why, and how to replace it.  One thing I don't see so far is evidence of nematodes or other root destroying creatures.  So far...

Saving Onion and Shallot Varieties For Next Year. 11.5.22

 The onions did not do well this year.  I think the main reason was, I was not able to keep up with weeding and cultivating, and the irrigation lines weren't working well in this bed.  Next year, I'll want a different type of emitter.  Weeds overwhelmed the onion plants, so that finished most of them off.

On clearing the weeds, I did find a few of the Red Wethersfield onions that survived and made bulbs.  Red Wethersfield is an heirloom variety that should come true from seeds, which is why I tried growing it.  Plus, I like red onions.  I don't want giant ones like in the grocery store, just a nice medium size.

Onions are biennial,  This year's bulbs will send up flower shoots next year, to make seeds.  So I replanted some of the Red W bulbs, to make seeds next year.  Also to see if the make a good size bulb.  It's worth a try.  I kept a couple of large ones for the kitchen.  They are a good tasting onion.  Also, I'll keep a couple dry, in the garage, in case the planted ones don't survive the winter.  I planted them in a container that had pepper plants this summer.

I also divided shallots and winter onions from one of the raised beds, in this and in another container.  I cant tell the difference between some.  Some of the shallots also have a rounder, red bulb, and I think some of the winter onions still have stalks, and a narrower, brown skin bulb.

Before planting, I mixed about 1/2 cup of organic bulb fertilizer into the soil mix.  It should be slow release, especially in cold weather.

I planted tulips in the front green container .

I still have some onion family plants to sort out, including potato onions (still in one raised bed that I cleaned up), shallots I grew from seeds this year, and Egyptian Walking Onions.  Some of those will go into containers.  I'm not sure yet. Maybe in the raised bed that is currently occupied by tomatoes, which next year is reserved for onions.

Raised Bed Prep For Next Year. Nemagon Mustard. 11.5.22

 I raked the soil for the three original raised beds, weeded, and scattered Nemagon mustard seeds as a cover crop / green manure / biofumigant,  The mustard should grow to six inches to a foot tall, survive the winter, and reach about two feet by the time I want to use the raised beds in the Spring.  Three weeks before planting the Spring crops, the mustard will be chopped and incorporated into the soil.  

The mustard plants and leaves release substances that kill harmful nematodes, fungus diseases, and bacterial diseases.   Until then, the deep roots (up to 5 feet deep) bring nutrients from deep in the soil, the leaves sequester nitrogen, and the leafy plants inhibit weed growth.

I think the mustard cover crop will reduce the need to collect as many tree leaves to enrich the soil, as well as help keep the beds free of diseases and harmful soil life.  

I decided to remove any onion family plants, to simplify the rotation.  Next year these beds will contain tomato plants and beans, and the following year any can have onions or garlic again.

The middle bed needs repair.  I can do that in the Spring.