With the larger of the gardens plowed and put to bed for winter it is time to do the same with the no till garden. We have continuously added bedding from the goat stall, chicken run and rabbit pens to the existing straw mulch. With fall leaves in abundance there is also plenty of leaves added to that mix. With a good thick layer of organic matter blanketing the soil this garden is ready for winter. As the winter progresses we will continue to throw straw from the goat stall on top of the mixture but for now it will lie dormant until time for the planting of peas around St. Patrick's Day.
So with the big garden plowed, the strawberry and rhubarb beds mulched with straw to protect them from the cold and the asparagus beds cleaned off and the fronds burned gardening is done until early spring seed starting.
That concludes our 2012 gardening season. What a ride it has been...deer, rabbits droughts, swarms of aphids, squash bugs and blister beetles. I haven't seen that many bugs in years. My garden must have looked like an oasis in the middle of a desert to those bugs. Some years gardening just seems like an uphill battle all year. But if I didn't love it I wouldn't do it and it does keep me out of trouble most of the time : )
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
What healthy lookin, beautiful black dirt. I fight japanese beetles and funguses mostly. Got some free wood mulch one year and now Ill be fighting stinkhorns for the rest of my life. Boy do I despise those things, and ever since then my apple tree has had apple scab. Ive tried everything and this year actually continually hacked any growth off of it. I so miss its blooms.
ReplyDeleteYeah I tend to turn down free wood mulch of any kind! One year I was given some and it was full of honey locust thorns which NEVER rot down. Ended up with one in my hand digging in a bed and almost lost my hand to infection. Lesson learned.....I also am wary of people giving me perennials as I have had a problem with invasive plants that have been included in the soils or root balls. I try to keep the invasives down at all costs and tend to prefer to start my perennials from seeds unless I am really familiar with the garden or gardener.
DeleteOuch! What a horrible way to learn it, must have been very painful. I am lucky then that this is all I have to deal with. But if the tree doesnt kick it, it will have to come down and I so dont like cutting down trees. Especially since it was such a beauty in its day. But the fungus can spread, and its such a chore not allowing leaves to drop to the ground and decompose, thus feeding the tree the fungus again which is why it was kept naked this year. My goodness. Free is definitely not always good.
DeleteOuch! What a horrible way to learn it, must have been very painful. I am lucky then that this is all I have to deal with. But if the tree doesnt kick it, it will have to come down and I so dont like cutting down trees. Especially since it was such a beauty in its day. But the fungus can spread, and its such a chore not allowing leaves to drop to the ground and decompose, thus feeding the tree the fungus again which is why it was kept naked this year. My goodness. Free is definitely not always good.
DeleteYup ya never know where that free mulch has been . We get ours from our local country garden center which is a huge garden center and company here in our area ! WOW ! You have been busy . I have flower gardens mostly but this spring coming we are putting in a raised veggie garden . so I will have that my flower gardens and photography to keep me out of trouble lol out here not much to get into trouble with lol ! Have a good day !
ReplyDeleteWonderful, CQ. Have a great Friday!
ReplyDeleteburning fronds? "asparagus beds cleaned off and the fronds burned" what is this and why haven't i learned this before? : )
ReplyDeleteTo stay ahead of any asparagus beetles larvae or fungal diseases that like to overwinter in the fronds we burn them. No composted fronds either : )
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