The first of October brought gorgeous autumn temperatures, cooler than any we've seen since April. We made a garden bonfire and reduced to ashes all our corn stalks and dried woody plants, then tilled it under— Bryan tilled 1,125 sq. ft. all together. This wiped the garden clean like an etch-a-sketch. Two pounds of red clover seed was scattered over one 500 sq. ft. section and raked in, to germinate after the next rain.
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| Most of the garden has been tilled clean. |
We've amassed quite a lot of cardboard to lay over the other part, all except for one row where garlic will grow through the winter. We noticed some of our garlic developed rot in this heavy soil, but it may also have been introduced by using some moldy manure last fall. So to be extra careful this year we will be adding a fair amount of milled sphagnum peat moss which both lightens soil and resists rot. We saved "seed garlic," three or so of the largest heads we harvested last May, to plant this month.
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| Brussels sprouts spread their leaves. |
The fall garden is really showing up as beets, greens, and carrots fill in empty dirt spaces; brussels sprouts and cabbage are spreading, too. After a good soaking rain last week a bunch of weed seedlings sprouted that will need to be pulled before they crowd out over good plants. By the looks of that lettuce, we could have homegrown salads by next week.
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| mixed greens in the early morning sun |
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