Carrots

 I pulled the last of the carrots yesterday.  These are Sugarsnax planted in potting mix amended with bone meal.  Because they were planted in an above ground container, they would not survive the whole winter but we have had enough cold nights to sweeten them very nicely.

Coleus Cuttings Update

 The cuttings that I took from the lightly frost burned Coleus four weeks ago are doing well.  I lost a half dozen of them but the ones that took root are starting to put on new growth.

I have them in the woodshop under a full spectrum LED and on a heat mat with the air temperature set at a minimum of 50F.  It's about time to get them potted up into some larger cells with potting mix, but for now they are doing well being left alone.  I don't want them to grow too fast although taking a second round of cuttings from the larger ones at a later date would round out my two dozen.

The Last One

Despite the many frosts I still have flowers blooming.  This is one of the Mellow Yellow Echinacea that I winter sowed this spring.  Overall, my winter sowing was not particularly successful this year, but I got a few seedings and potted them up into 4" pots in late May and kept them in the vegetable garden where I could water them daily.  In late summer I transplanted them out in the landscape in four or five clumps.  They took right off, but this is the only one that shows signs of blooming.

Southern Charm Verbascum is also a rebloomer.

And my hardy Primrose are showing a little color.

Leaf situation: still going.

Once they are all down we will clean out the dry creek beds.

Harvesting Leaves for Mulch

 Each year I try to save a good amount of shredded leaves to use as mulch in the raised beds and containers.  Anything left over get's mixed into the compost.  The Maple Tree at the fire pit is my favorite for leaf collecting. Tuesday afternoon I used the leaf chopper to suck up four bags of leaves.  The whole area was spic and span and leaf free.  Wednesday morning I went out to find this.  

Sucked up eight bags and blew the rest into the woods....

My leaf compost tube contains 18** shredder bags full of leaves.  I don't need any more, but still, it will be hard to pass them up when they are coming down this thickly.

**Footnote: after one more session I ended up with 21 shredder bags.  19 fit into the shorter tube if triple chopped.

Dividing Dahlias

 Dividing Dahlias is a process that I really enjoy.  I like the organization of storing them away.  I enjoy counting up my tubers so I have a good list to make plans from over the winter. Last year I did an in depth post on my process, so I won't belabor the point, but I did want to give a shout out to my new compost sifter and how it has improved my washing experience.  

I can now use the large wheelbarrow and the small screen is great for toting clumps around.  And speaking of toting clumps!  The Gitt's Crazy dahlia is a beast!  This clump was a single tuber this spring.  It seems like a waste, but there is no way I could make use of all of these tubers, even if I could divide them without damage.  And think of the storage space required!   For these common, easy to find varieties, that pump out massive tubers, I don't worry too much about preserving them.  I will plant one, maybe two plants of this variety next year.  Even when I only want one plant, I always cut one or two spares in case it doesn't store well.

Five tubers came off easily and the rest went to the compost pile.  If all of these survive storage, I will plant one for myself and pot up the rest in gallon pots for a backup and will be able to share whatever I don't use.  I do have a much sought after variety called Bloomquist Jean.  The variety does not produce a lot of tubers, but I got five tubers from my clump and if they store well, I may use them to trade for something else hard to find.

Frost and Fire ~ Indian Summer

This October is proving to be another beautiful autumn.  The weather has turned again giving us a week of Indian Summer weather which is perfect for enjoying the last of the garden chores.

My dahlias survived several frosts and these frosts have had a beautiful effect on the trees.  Two of our yard trees have opposite patterns of leaf color.  The Firepit Maple turns yellow on the outside from the top down.

And Ole Hickory turns on the inside from the bottom up.

Each fall we always end up with a burn pile.  Each year we think we have done all of the major clearing and maintenance and this will be a year where we do not use the chain saw or create a burn pile.  We are always mistaken.

We waited until we had a cool rainy stretch, and at the end of it, when all of the grass is well saturated, we light the fire. My husband squirts Kerosene on it while we light it, and I apply the leaf blower and it instantly springs to life.  This pile six feet tall and very compact because twice as we were building it we crushed it down with the tractor loader.

We chose a beautiful clear day in the mid-40s with no breeze to speak of.  Burning in the cool weather of autumn is so much easier on the fire tenders than say July with the heat and humidity.

A fire such as this requires constant attendance for one to two hours.  I put my flame resistant hoodie on and we take turns raking with a leaf rake to get the loose leaves and twigs back towards the bare ground beneath the fire to prevent the grass from catching.  I remember one fire when conditions were much drier when we filled the tractor loader with water and used watering cans to douse the surrounding grass.  The ground is squishy at this point so there is little danger of the grass supporting much flame.

10 minutes

Even when the flames diminish, it is throwing heat off that you do not want to get your face close to.

20 Minutes

As the center burns we use a metal garden rake so push the unburned ends of limbs into the fire.

40 Minutes

The fire reduces to a manageable size quite quickly, and we enjoy sitting out in the nice weather.  Back when I built my potting bench and compost sifter from a pile of scrap wood, we still had a few boards leftover.  From that we built three simple camp stools to replace the stools that had rotted away over the last twenty years.

It is so peaceful out here watching the golden leaves drift lazily to the ground.

After an hour and a half the fire can be left unattended.  We continue to check back through the afternoon, pushing ends into the center and stirring the coals.  By morning this will be a cold pile of ash with nothing identifiable left.

The next morning there was a colder frost, and my Dahlias are beginning to die.

Next chore: digging dahlias 

Coleus Cuttings

 Since I had such good luck with propagating Coleus from cuttings this spring, I have decided to give it a whirl this winter.  My hope would be to keep a few plants indoors that could either be set out or have cuttings taken from them in early spring.  The frost burned plants were looking a little rough but I was able to find enough side shoots at the base to take for cuttings.

I mixed up 50/50 compost and fine vermiculite and watered it well with a watering can.  The vermiculite will stay moist, and the compost will give them some nutrients.  I removed the lower leaves, and dipped the stem in rooting hormone.  Them I made a hole in the cell, inserted the stem, and firmed the mix down around them to make good contact with the stem.  I placed the cells in a solid tray so I can bottom water them.  I set them in the shade for the afternoon and today I am putting them in under a LED grow light.  This spring I had no trouble with them wilting, but if that were to happen, I may need to put a moisture dome over them.

I took 24 cuttings.  In about a month I will see if they are rooting, and if so, I will transplant them into larger cells with potting mix.  Yes, there is a cost to overwintering plants, but 24 El Brighto Coleus would cost at least $120 in a nursery or $240 mail order.  Hopefully some of these plants will look good in the spring, or at least provide more cuttings.