A little frost

Frost is here and that marks the end of the summer gardening season.  I hate to say good bye to those plants that have fed me all summer, but believe it or not there are a lot of gardening related tasks to do in the fall.  Cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, greens, carrots, and onions do well until a hard freeze arrives. In fact a little frost actually improves their flavor.  Since the frost is here it is a little late to start new plants now, but plan ahead next year and plant these 6-8 weeks before the first frost date.  Speaking of frost, as a gardener you should know the average first and last frost date for your area.  Your gardening life revolves around frost.

So, what else can you do in the fall? The parts of your garden you are not using now should be put to bed.  You can plant a winter cover crop such as buckwheat, clover, vetch, or turnips.  Let them grow and plow them under this spring to enrich your soil.  This is referred to as "green manure".  Sometimes in lieu of a cover crop I spread leaves over my garden and leave them through the winter. They will be tilled in early in the spring.

Fall is also a good time to plant fruit trees and ornamental bushes such as azaleas, lilac, etc. They are not as readily available in the fall as the spring, but if you can get them, now is a good time to plant. if you have pine trees rake the pine needles as they fall and mulch around your flower beds, especially around the acid loving plants such as azaleas and camellias.

Well I had better let you go get busy.

Welcome to my garden blog

Welcome.  This is my first real attempt to maintain a blog.  I have been a reader for years, but not a contributor.  Bear with me as I learn the "blog" ropes.

I have been a gardener for most of my life.  My earliest memories were going to my grandmother's garden and helping pick peas or maybe just getting in the way but my grandmother never made me feel that way.  When I was older she would send me to the woods to gather poke salad.  Not exactly gardening but it did involve picking.  My mother was a flower gardener and though I wasn't overly interested at the time I was often mustered into service to dig holes for planting and weeding.  By the time I was a teenager I expressed my interest in having a vegetable garden.  My mother immediately consented.  We rented a tiller and tilled a small spot in the backyard.  We planted radishes, tomatoes, peppers and various varieties of beans and peas. Just think. When I expressed the interest in having a garden, my mother could have told me it was a lot of work and declined to help.  If that had of been the response I wonder if I would have the gardening “spirit” I have today.  Instead she immediately consented and with the investment of a little work she planted a seed in me that has lasted my lifetime.  Thanks mom, you may be gone in body but not in spirit!  I will love you until I die.

Currently my garden is roughly 75’ x 75’.  I hope as I get closer to retirement to increase that size.  I live on 4 acres so I have the space for a large garden.  We raise most of the vegetable we eat during the winter.  We can and freeze everything we grow except what we eat fresh and I always enjoy giving some extras to those who don’t have a garden.  Who knows, they might just catch the spirit after eating some fresh organic veggies and become a fellow gardener.  Speaking of organic I try to stay as organic as possible when it comes to bugs, weeds and fertilizer.  I love always knowing where my food comes from and how it has been handled.    

I am blessed to have the space for a large garden.  Even if you have a much smaller area, don’t let that stop you.  If you plant a tomato plant in a flower bed you are a vegetable gardener in my book. Google "editable landscapes" and see what creative things can be done in small spaces.  You can garden anywhere there is dirt!   

I guess that is enough for now.  We have been officially introduced.  I will try as often as I can to post articles on gardening, canning, freezing, sustainability (my newest adventure), and any subject generally regarded as living closer to the earth. Also, I live in Arkansas.  I will post blogs when it is time to plant certain items.  I am also on Twitter so I will send a Tweet when it is time to plant. 

I am glad we are now gardening kindred spirits!