Sunday, October 02, 2011

Fall cleanup...can it really be that time already?

Fall...ahhhh the colour
I looked out at my split, awful, rain bashed tomatoes, and thought, I need to get out there. So, I got out there. Two tomato plants looked 'done' so I took off the red and still green tomatoes and dug the plants out. Pulled a few lovely carrots. I emptied out the black plastic compost bin. We have been filling it for about a year. There was actually some lovely compost in it. I moved all the contents to the new three bin system. I made the decision to move the nice compost as well. It really wasn't enough to make a big difference in the beds, so my thinking was this. It was full of worms and healthy microbes, so they will hopefully kickstart the new bin. In the bottom of the plastic bin was one of my teaspoons. How does that happen?
Plants heading for, and in the compost bin
I dug out the fading Salad Bowl lettuce. It is am amazing lettuce. It has a strong taste, but does not bolt so you get lettuce all summer. It is just starting to bolt now, so I left the two largest healthiest plants so that I can take seed. Then I dug up the smaller lettuce plants that I planted a while ago, and moved them to the greenhouse for winter lettuce.
Salad Bowl lettuce babies now in the greenhouse
Not basing any of it on experience, or books, just following my gut today. Maybe my Grandparents and Uncle Harvey were guiding me today?

Can't even tell it's a cauliflower
Same bed, looks more like a cauliflower
This cauliflower is in the raised bed and about 5x bigger...huh?

7 comments:

Caro said...

Hi Erin, Wow, the leaf colour in your first photo!! Amazing! Love your cauli comparison, they need lots of water until established then you have to stop the cabbage white butterflies from laying their eggs - caterpillars love a nice cabbage leaf - and any birds from having a nibble. Netting will do it but is so unsightly, I rub the eggs off and hope for the best. My brassicas are doing brilliantly but I mulched the soil with well-rotted manure. I hope you find they all catch up with each other! Are you heading into Autumn in your part of the world?

Erin said...

Hi Caro
Yes we are going into fall now. I think our weather is very similar to yours. We have mildish winters. It does go below 0 C. But not by much. the lovely red leaves belong to one of my Japanese Maples. Where I grew up in Ontario, we had sugar maples. Maple syrup time was huge where I lived. I still miss the fall colour of the maple, and Ive found that you can get that intense colour in Japanese maples. I LOVE them.

Erin said...

Will I get the cabbage white butterflies at this time of year? I'll watch for the eggs.

HolleyGarden said...

I need to look into that Salad Bowl lettuce next year if it doesn't bolt! My lettuce this past spring either bolted or was eaten by deer before we got to enjoy much. I've been doing fall cleanup, too. Yes, it's that time! Love the red color in your first picture!

Erin said...

Aren't Japanese maples wonderful. You get that awesome Ontario fall colour. I'd definitely try salad bowl. Where are you located?

GirlSprout said...

Your Japanese maple is amazing. I have a neighbor around the corner who has one. I'll keep an eye out for it to see if turns that lovely color.

Erin said...

Let me know! I love a good maple picture.