End of October Garden Notes

Eek! Are you guys all ready for winter? Have your garden stuff cleaned up, put away, everything tidied up? Oh good, me neither! I have been busily working at fall clean up since mid-September.

I started this post a couple of days before the snow came. We now since had snowfall and are looking at minus degrees for the high temp each day this week. Brr! A couple of inches of snow covers the yard and garden beds so is a real good thing I got the garlic and those flower bulbs in the ground on time! Some parts of Alberta are going back up to plus degrees next week, so hopefully our wee town gets some of that.

Innisfail and Red Deer are kind of in the middle of all the crazy weather stuff. Edmonton goes into winter mode and stays there till spring. Calgary blows hot and cold, gets chinooks during the winter that warm things up so that snow melts and ground thaws. We are in the middle of those two cities so sometimes get those lovely chinooks but sometimes get the stormy weather of the north. You just never know which way she's going to go.

Anyway... regardless of where you are, winter is nigh! This is what to think about in your winter prep..

So, what's happening around the potager?

Trees/Shrubs - I gave them all a good drink of water the other day. This is not necessary in the rain belt unless your plants are young or newly planted, haha, and is likely too late for us here on the prairies, but if you live somewhere that is still nice and can get to your hose, give your perennials, trees, and shrubs a drink before the snow flies.

See how many leaves fell in just a couple of days, before I got the cage around the tree?

I put large tomato cages around the shrubs to keep the dogs from trampling them in winter, while they are covered in snow. Last winter, Berkie nearly destroyed my little hydrangea. Luckily, that is one shrub that can die to the ground and come back again. Whew! Not letting that happen this year so everything has a tomato cage this year ; )

If you have tree form roses, hydrangeas, or willows, anything that may snap under a heavy snow load, give them some protection with a tomato cage or something that will not allow that top heavy bit to snap from heavy rain or snow. I lost all my tree form roses one winter, after an unexpected snowfall on the island.

You know those white spiral tree guard thingies, or the white tubes, that come with your trees when you buy them? Keep them and put them back on for the winter.

I removed mine for the summer but if we had planted it in the lawn where hubby uses the weed whacker, I would leave it to protect the trunk from accidental injury.

In fall, put it back on to protect it from the winter sun that may cause cracking, and also to protect the trunk from rodents (voles, mice, rabbits) that might nibble on it during the winter months.

If you leave it on year round, check on it now and again, to make sure it is not growing into the trunk or impeding the growth of your tree. (this applies to those name tags, and anything hanging from a branch, too).

These two new beds are ready to go in spring. Will be my brassica beds.

I was waiting for this zinnia to die back, at least some of the flowers, so I could harvest the ripe seeds... to no avail, it seems, as it just keeps on looking terrific. I had to pull it and do without seeds as it just did not want to stop looking amazing!

The Bishop's Children dahlia behind it was run over by the dogs before I got to take pictures of its' lovely orange flowers.

These are my two little blueberry plants. They were planted in spring and hidden in behind the sea of borage all summer. I am waiting for my two small bales of straw from Farmer Jason to arrive so that I can stuff more protection in those cages.

This blue flowered bee magnet ( you know the saying... bees love to forage for borage) was buzzing right up to the very end. We left it as long as we could to feed all the wee little insects. It also protected my blueberries from Berkeley as that is her favourite bed to lie in for some odd reason.

I also planted the Honey Queen raspberry canes that I was gifted by another gardener this summer. He had a gorgeous, wide patch of them, all along his back fence, in the back alley! It was a sight to behold. I have just two plants, hah, but two will sucker and become more.

I've been saving seeds, making my own flower seed packets for planting in spring, and gifting to friends/neighbours. I must say, this has been one of my most favourite things I've done this fall. Saving seeds, placing them out to dry on any flat surface out in the yard, making the little seed packets. Such a nice way to spend my days! Will be doing lots more of this next year.

I saved only the pink, peach, purple zinnia seeds this year, am wanting to grow a pastel zinnia patch one of these days. It's going to take a few years to save enough of my own to have a lovely pastel patch. Zinnia seeds are the little arrows at the bottom of the flower petals.

I found myself liking the solid blocks of colours this summer more than the mixes, so next years bed will be sown like a rainbow, with blocks of colours sown from light to dark. That is the plan at the moment (and what I wrote in my journal) but you never know where my fickle mind will go in spring. Anyway, the plan is to buy seed coloured zinnia packages to make this rainbow.

I also made my own Bouquet Garni.... little bundles of herbs to put into soups, stews, broths. This is such a super simple way to use those herbs at the end of the growing season. They are being cut down anyways, so bundle them up, leave them out to dry, then place in a jar to use as needed. Fresh taste of summer.

The Gardens were tidied up from weeds but flowers were left standing to feed the birds and offer wildlife a place to hide and sleep for winter. The leaves were also left alone, they mostly just blew in under the shrubs so that was perfect! They are feeding the soil life!

The greenhouse was cleaned up of plants, there will be about a million signet marigolds growing in there next year. Yikes, lol. We have put a table and metal shelving in there for me to work at next spring but the rest is jam packed with our patio furniture and flower pots as we have no place else to put them yet this winter. Next winter will be better as the shed will be organised and we will have shelves made, but till then, we do what we gotta do.

The carrots have been harvested, tops removed, washed and dried, and then placed in ziplok bags with a paper towel to keep them from going soft, and are now in the mini fridge. If you have a spare fridge with crisper drawers, put them in those! Check them once a month, replace the paper towel. They should keep nicely for many months.

To read about how to grow great carrots, see that post here.

Spring flowering bulbs - I planted nearly 200 tulips and another couple hundred of the small bulbs that perennialize (muscari, squill, crocuses, and glory of the snow). They are all beside the patio, along pathways, adding to the ones I planted last year for (eventual) carpets of colour in spring. I also planted some pink oriental lilies beside the patio and throughout the yard, for both colour and fragrance.

I used hubby's drill and my new auger bit, got them all in the ground lickety split. The ground here is hard, very heavy in clay, super hard to dig into. With a shovel, it is nigh on impossible to for me to plant into, but with that auger bit? I tell you, I feel like a rockstar, I can do anything! I will add the link at the bottom of the post, in case you are wanting one, too. We can be rockstars together : )

The garlic is planted, is covered in both leaves, and now straw, too. I just got the straw from Farmer Jason so had to wait a few days to spread it out on the bed.

If you follow me on fb, you know about this lovely find! While I was raking leaves into the raspberry bed, I started raking between the bed and the vine... and unearthed these lovely stepping stones. We knew we had a few of them, of course, in the middle of the pergola, but did not know how many there were! What a find! They had a carpet of thyme growing here but most all of it died last winter (perhaps because we dropped near 40 degrees overnight?). Not sure why, but only small bits of it remain now. I moved some to a more sheltered area to see if I can get it to take hold and move it back here next summer, and I was able to save some. But... I sure do love this flagstone area I unearthed and cannot wait to plant it up.

Journaling! I am writing down all sorts of things at this time of year. What I liked and did not like about the yard, gardens, flowers this summer. What I will change, do differently. Plans and ideas for next year, plus adjusted my planting times for next year according to what I learned this year. Being it was my first growing summer on the prairies in 15 years, I'd say it all went really well.

What I Look For In A Journal...

1. I buy a new planner each fall when the kids are going back to school. There are tons of options at this time, and all sorts of price points. I have bought pricey ones, I have bought super cheap ones. Guess what? They both work fine.

2. I prefer the wire spiral binding so that it lays flat/stays open.

3. I want the two year journal - (summer 2023 to at least September 2024, or longer) as I take notes about this year's growing season as well as planning for next year.

4. The month at a glance - the whole month open for me to write seeding dates on it.

5. Monthly tabs are a must, of course.

6. Extra notes pages - I need these! I use them to draw out garden design ideas, garden plantings, sketches of any garden plans, greenhouse plans, or things I want in or outside the new shop.

7. A pocket is helpful, though not necessary. The pocket is handy for keeping plant labels/tags to know what favourites to buy again next year, and for keeping track of guarantees/receipts.

8. I like hardcover but not necessary.

9. The pages of a week at a time are for when I have lots of notes to take, how to do something, etc... but I am not too worried about how they are laid out or how big the daily block is. Many weeks, the only thing written on it are the daily high/low temps.

If you do not yet have a good journal, here are a few that I like. Any of them would work just fine. None are pricey. The reason that I do not use a garden planner is because they do not do the 18 months thing.

*Disclaimer - if you buy something from any one of these Amazon affiliate links, I make a very wee bit of money to help support my blog, but it does not cost you a penny more than if you had gone to the Amazon listing on your own, without my link.

This one is my favourite out of the picks. It has all of my wish list except the hardcover and has no pocket. It does, however, have extra pages that I thought were cool - holiday list, passwords page, future planning, plus lots of notes pages.

This one is also nice. It is an 8.5 x 11, like a sheet of paper size. So, is good if you like a larger book, use it mainly at your desk or maybe in the greenhouse.

I changed my mind (hah!), I am pretty sure I like this one the best. Has the elastic band to save your page and has a pocket in the back! Plus, two covers to choose from. It is a bit smaller than the last one. Oh, it comes with stickers, too, if you are a sticker kind of person. Love that tree cover page.

And just one more for you to contemplate. This one has a 'vegan leather' cover, an elastic, a pocket, notes pages, and even an expense page, in case you want to keep track. Eek!

It comes in several solid colours, like this navy blue, and two sizes. I really like this one, too. Oh, how will you decide?

Here is the bulb auger bit that I used to plant all my flower bulbs and the garlic, too. It worked like a hot knife through butter. Highly recommended, especially if you have arthritis, as I do. No more digging.

Here is the link to the longer one, in case you wish to remain standing and just drop the cloves or bulbs into the hole... or get a grandie to pop them in for you!

I am thinking about getting myself one of these pink drills to use with the auger bits. Maybe a Christmas gift to myself? Last time I used hubby's but sure would like to have my own. The last time he bought me a nice light one to use for my bits and bobs, it ended up in his workshop rather than my tool drawer. He would never take this one ; )

I brought in my gorgeous Tradescantia that was growing out on the deck this summer.

That is it for my late October gardening bits : )

November is just 2 days away, on to other things and thoughts.

I will post a 'report card' soon, with my thoughts on the veggies I grew from seed this year.

Hoping you had a wonderfully fruitful garden year ~ Tanja