10 things I love about Autumn

Autumn has always been my favorite season. As a child, autumn began when my grandfather put away the garden and brought in the pumpkins, and ended when we brought the youngstock (heifers) into the barn at the first snowfall. PaPa would place the pumpkins and squash in the dairy barn, in front of the cow stalls on sections of straw. I remember scrutinizing this "array" of pumpkins for just the right one.


I was allowed to choose one pie pumpkin as a "pet". It had to be small, and perfect with a neat green stem. I would bring it home and wash it. I assure you I slept with it. Then, of course, I had to choose a jack o'lantern pumpkin, because I wouldn't have the heart to put a knife to my pet. If it survived without bruising, it would be made into pie.


We also had leaf piles. Country farm sized leaf piles that were sometimes so big that we had to bring our horses and jump from the saddles. This ritual ended when the farm got geese. Geese made all the leaves in the yard....shall we say.... unjumpable. Apples were gathered from the orchard by spreading tarps under the trees for the apples to fall on, then hauled to be made into cider. The last of the corn would be eaten, and the corn stalks cut to feed to the horses.


For a gardener, there is a lot to be done in the fall. I call it "ungardening". Plants are pulled or cut, the ground is tilled under for spring. Supports and cages have to be pulled and stored, and pots washed and stacked. What tomatoes and squash that can be saved are put away, and the last of each vegetable becomes a precious commodity.

Usually, but not this year, I have an abundance of green tomatoes that have given up ripening due to the cool temperatures. Each Sunday through September, as the football game comes on TV, I fry myself a plate of green tomatoes. I like them rock hard to keep a sour tang to them. I dust them with corn meal for a crunch coating, put some coarse black pepper on and fry them in olive oil, or, if I've planned ahead, bacon grease. If you spend the summer eating BLTs, save the bacon grease for an autumn of fried green tomatoes!

So, here, in no particular order, are the 10 things I love about autumn...

Scarecrows, and Mums.... Mums are the perfect way to brighten up a tired landscape. After they pass their prime for decorating purposes, I plant them in my perennial beds.

Maple leaves... leaves are my husband's LEAST favorite thing about fall.

Crisp, tart, fried green tomatoes...

Pears... Mom has a wonderful Bosc pear tree in her yard which produces bushels of pears each year. I think this is my husband's favorite thing about autumn... and my horse's....

Corn Shocks... my husband was kind enough to bring these home after Mom's corn field was harvested. They always miss a few....

Hot Mulled Apple Cider (with a shot of spiced rum Mmmm...)

Horse Chestnuts.... we have a large horse chestnut tree in our front yard. I cannot resist picking them up. And my sister will agree with me, it becomes an obsession. I always have pockets full of them, and each year I collect a bucket and spread them in the woods where they'll have a chance to grow. I drop them, then push them into the soil with my heel. My husband hates them almost as much as leaves. Both interfere with his lawn mowing. He hates it worse when he finds one clunking around in the dryer.

The Weather... the colors, and the cooler weather make autumn my favorite season for horse back riding. There is nothing better than a high autumn sky, and a firm, newly harvested cornfield to gallop through...

And of course, pumkins...

The Barlow Jap makes it's Debut

I no longer have to be concerned that I have the sole responsibility for maintaining the Barlow Jap variety. It has hit the mainstream tomato scene to a rave review. Last year someone from the IDigMyGarden forum asked me for some of PaPaw's seeds. He, in turn shared them with a couple of friends, one of whom collects specifically Kentucky Heirlooms. The other person he shared them with is my friend the tomato fanatic known as "camochef". Camo grows nearly 200 plants of more than 70 different varieties. This year the Jap was the last variety on his list, being a new gift and something interesting to try. It is variety #72 for 2009. Camo lives for tomato season. He has more varieties of sea salt and dressing for tasting tomatoes than I knew existed. Then, he taste tests and reviews each variety and rates them in order of preference for the year. Here is what Camo has to say about the Japs...



Barlow Jap-72
Ok, here we go again with another great tomato that few are going to know. It's the first of three new to me varieties that I tasted today. Its a pink Oblate. I picked two. One was 13 5/8 oz. or 386 grams, the second was 9 5/8 oz. 0r 274 grams. As you can see from the pictures this was a very meaty tomato. Really solid with a great taste, initially tart but adding a touch of Pink sea salt, brought out the sweet overtone which it's full flavor contained. A little zatarain's creole seasoning takes it to a whole 'nother world! It had a very thin skin, Which is something I look for, and almost no core at all! Another quality I favor! It was a very tasty tomato! Right now I'm thinking it falls next to the Cowlick Brandywine with taste, but I'm gonna hold off until I taste a second one before deciding if it goes before or after the Cowlick! Either way 4th or 6th... its a really good tasting tomato.



Jay,

Thanks for the seeds for this one. It's a keeper! Really great tomato with the weather we've been having, its kept its tomato taste, not the least bit watery, not sure how it will do under drier conditions. I wanted to tell the story of its history, but was afraid I'd mess it up. Perhaps you or TooManyTomatoes could share it with us. As far as seeds go, I'll have enough to send some back if yours fail. I only have the one plant, but its got a few more ripening! Thanks again for a great tomato, and for sharing it with me!


Camo




So now the Japs are out there and will be traded and grown by tomato fanciers and I'm sure their popularity will grow over time. Now that I have encouragement and a good review, I plant to send some seeds to Gary at Tomatofest.

Garden Shed and YTD Report

Looky Looky what I've got! This is the addition to my chicken coop. It's 8x12 with 2 windows and a 9 lite door. This will replace the sorry hand-me-down "outhouse" that I have piled my garden equipment in for the past 5 years. Hooray! My husband keeps his yard tools in the coop, so those will be moved to the garden shed part, leaving the chicken coop for strictly chickens and chicken supplies.

This is the view from the front of the coop. Those double doors will probably be replaced with an insulated 9 lite door, since the coop is insulated, and those doors are saggy and heavy (yet quaint). The door to the garden shed will be to the left behind where I now have my pots of tomatoes and eggplants.

I think we'll replace the horizontal window in the coop with a regular double hung to match the garden shed.

This is the back view of the "chicken porch" where the chicken run will be. My chickens used to sit along the rail on their little porch. There were always more chickens wanting to be on the rail than there was room. One would fall off one end, then run back around to the other, bumping the next hen off, and so on and so forth.

I haven't blogged much this growing season, because... well, not much has happened. The artichokes were a success, and fascinating as a perennial, and I have some started for next year.

I made a pesto dip for the artichokes. I didn't like it much. I preferred it as still life.

This was my best year for onions ever! These are Walla Wall, a gift from my neighbor, which were planted at Mom's house. Thanks Mom! And some elephant garlic which was also a gift from a friend and lived in a whiskey barrel in the perennial bed. They were a disappointment, but still much better than my last attempt. I don't use much anyway, so this will be replanted.

Sweet Pickle Pepper plant that I grew strictly as an ornamental... doing it's job.

This was a banner year for eggplants. Last year I got 2 off of four plants. This year each plant has upwards of 6 each. They're so pretty. These are Prosperosa. I'm still sad my Round Mauves didn't germinate. Next year I will buy fresh seed. I got a lot of tomatoes, but the plants look so ratty, I haven't taken photos. I will take some pictures of the actual tomatoes (although that delays the actual eating of them, and I still haven't had my fill!)

It was also an excellent year for blackberries. I've had so many, I've even decided to share a few. Look at his little left hand reaching up!

You know you're a desperate gardner when...

... it's 7:30 am, you're squatted under an umbrella wearing office clothes and duck boots, in a torrential downpour, attempting to hand pollinate the single (tattered) female zucchini flower. Then you briefly consider leaving the umbrella there for the squash. I'm skeptical that it will work because that poor flower was torn to shreds, and it was still pouring. Really, what possessed her to open up today of all days?

Which brings me to my point. Eating locally and growing your own food can put you in a very precarious position. What if the weather doesn't cooperate? First we had a major killing frost on May 18th. This didn't affect my gardening, but it sure affected our local fruit crops, the vineyards in particular. Then, we had the second wettest June on record, and are nearing the end of the coolest July on record.

A recent study showed that eating locally will have little affect on global warming. But, I can guarantee that global warming will have a big effect on eating locally. That study actually suggests we should eat less beef, because cow manure releases too much methane. Heck, apparently even a cow burp is a methane risk. The Argentinians actually strapped gas bags on the backs of cows to measure how much methane a cow releases before the manure starts to compost. Anyone else afraid this poor cow is going to float away?!?

Many gardeners are losing their gardens to too much rain, too cool temps, hail storms and the like. And if it isn't the weather, then it's the darn bugs. It makes you wonder how our ancestors managed to survive at all doesn't it?

Planning the Raised Bed Garden

A couple of years ago it became clear to me that there had to be a raised bed garden in my future. For one thing, I hate weeding between the rows. Secondly, I have been using the intensive planting/square foot method anyway. It really doesn't make much sense to spend all the time to rototill a huge area (have to take the fence down to do this because we use the tractor), then locate the planting squares in the middle of the wide open area, put the fence back, then spend the entire summer weeding wide open walkways. Weeding around the plants takes very little time at all.

And the final compelling argument is that it will be so much easier to warm and prepare the soil early in the spring. I will no longer have to wait for the garden to dry out. The raised beds will drain so much quicker.

So, I have casually mentioned all these reasons to my husband over the past couple of years. The other day, he asked what I planned to do with huge pile of composted horse manure he has been mowing around. He decided it is done cooking, and ought to be spread. Of course, this year the big garden has gone back to lawn. So, I told him I was saving it for my raised beds. With an exasperated sigh he told me to count how many Rail Road ties and 4x4s I would need to edge and fence the permanent garden and promised to work it into our summer plans. Jackpot!

So, the plan is to edge a 24x32 area with RR ties, permanently fence it with the woven "no climb" fence, build a decent gate and install raised beds with gravel or cedar mulch walkways. With good stabalization mat under that, there will be very very little path weeding. Hooray! Mission accomplished.

So, on this cool rainy day, I have been paging through scads of internet pictures. This is my model garden.

I really plan on a very basic layout with just 6 4x12 beds. But, I can't help checking out some of the fancier options I've seen. I think the idea of a rim you can sit on is brilliant, but these finials are pretty facy.

The ever popular pergola

Of course, I have every intention of incorporating the area immediately outside the fence in my purposes. The chicken coop will be nearby, as well as my garden shed. It will be a great location for a compost bin so I can throw trimmings right over the fence. I've never seen one with a lid...

Leah has built a stylish litle raised bed garden...

http://minnesotagrown.blogspot.com/2009/05/may-day.html

Here are a couple of other neat sites I found in my wanderings...

http://diy-nation.blogspot.com/2007/07/building-cedar-raised-bed-garden.html

http://www.veggiebeds.com/


And Mom (I know you're reading this) check out this guy.... That's our idea!!! Great example to follow.
http://www.thewovengarden.com/index.html

Spring Progress

My perennial edibles bed is doing well, and the strawberries are ripening. They are pictured below on the left under the wire cage which keeps out both the rabbits and the deer.
Horseradish down the middle, and asparagus and rhubarb down the right side.

I even put some onions in window boxes, and the back left corner has a hill of summer squash.

All my tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are doing well, and have been moved to the south side of the chicken coop where they get 12 hours a day of sun.

We have had a couple of days of hot and humid with occasional showers, and each day I can see growth and improvement.

And here is my perennial nursery. The plants in the back are Windflower and Black Eyed Susan that were 'weeded" out of the perennial bed. The 6 pots in the front contain seeds for biannual artichokes for next year. And the two flats underneath are reserved for the Siberian Irises I ordered with no plan in mind.

My bearded irises continue to impress me. I have a couple of new colors blooming this week, but these two toned blues are still my favorite.

Without a Plan in Mind...

I know you've done it too, bought a plant with NO idea whatsoever WHERE you are going to put it. I just ordered some Siberian Irises. All my Irises are the big Bearded Irises. At my husband's last house I had planted some blue Caesar's Brother Siberian Irises and he loved them.

He happened to casually mention them again.... and since I can't find them at any of the local greenhouses, I ordered some bare root bulbs. Then, I ordered a batch of mixed Siberian Irises for myself. And I have NO idea where I'm going to put them. But that's OK, they can live in pots along with the Windflower and Black Eyed Susan volunteers that I dug up and couldn't kill. Really it's not a bad plan. I've saved a couple of flats of the big one gallon pots my local greenhouse uses, so now I have a nice tidy collection of the next generation of perennials potted up and ready for our future flower beds.

Siberian Irises are beautiful, and while they don't have the huge impressive blooms of the Bearded Iris, they also don't droop all over the place and require supports. Since I had such a profusion of iris blooms this spring, I quickly ran out of stem supports. The Siberian Irises have longer narrower leaves, and look grassy or rush-like. They love damp soil (which I don't have) but are so determined they will thrive just about anywhere and require frequent dividing if you expect them to stay in their designated place. The best situation for them is their own bed on the edge of the lawn where they can provide a natural looking background. With that in mind.... I still have NO idea where I'm going to put them.