If I had a month I loved the most, it would be October. It starts off warm, but not hot, and by the end it’s nearly freezing at night. I love watching the garden shut down for the season this month, here in the PNW, the hours of daylight cut back quickly.
At the start of the month, I had a few sunflowers hanging on.
Even in the 4th week I still have roses, though this is from the start of the month. The bushes now are out of direct sunlight in the day.
We started working on removing more sod, on sunny days, after heavy rains. Makes the work a lot easier.
In early October the Winter Wheat was coming up like crazy, this is before I covered it with mulch for the season.
The herb garden is a hard one. It ends up with no direct sunlight after the first 2 weeks of October. It fares OK, and shuts down for winter.
In the first week, I picked the last green pepper.
The fall peas, on a warm afternoon.
Payoff till the freezes kill them!
Will I get any beans from the fall crops? I don’t know but the bees love the blooms.
Tucked in for winter. Although…sigh, I got really seedy hay, so I’ll be weeding come next spring. Oh well.
More to come on this, but we got all the citrus in for the winter, into the greenhouse. We now have beyond the Meyer Lemon (which just in this section has 11+ lemons!), a Key Lime and now a Washington Navel Orange. Kirk got the heater set up for the greenhouse, and it will run off solar power. I don’t need it to overheat the greenhouse, but to be a stop-gap for the annual arctic freezes that comes down from Canada. Keep it at 40*, on the coldest nights. These citrus trees can go to 20*, but it hurts the leaves.
This past week, on a lark, I started a number of late fall “wintering” over veggies in the greenhouse. The Kale popped up within 2 days. I’ve also planted 2 lettuces, radishes and more. We shall see how it goes, if need be I can run grow lights and heating mats on solar as well.
Dug up carrots for the boys. Still have a number in the ground, and they taste just as good after it freezes.
But the Nasturtiums, they have gone crazy in the dwindling light. The bees have been happy to still have things to visit.
(This was early October, and this week it’s way more flowers!)
The Boysenberry is putting on a few last moves in the sun.
Anytime it’s not raining, the bees are out, still gathering whatever they can find. Dandelions are a huge thing for them.
Alistaire out with me the other day.
My Avocado tree, that apparently I didn’t kill after all. I had nearly dehydrated it over the summer in the greenhouse (not realizing that unlike citrus, it was too delicate for days when it hits 124* and up in there….I had dumped it out in the gardens and ignored it all summer, and it has shown life suddenly. So yesterday, I wrapped up the plant in frost fabric (it’s white), and have it so I can fully cover it as we reach first frost. That will give it 5 to 10* protection over the winter.
Of the plants I am growing for sale next spring, a number of the Golden Raspberries I started from shoots, have thrived and taken off – and are even attempting first blooms this week. They should be ready to produce berries next spring!
And the alpine strawberries continue to produce. My sale plants are tucked in for the winter, alongside the greenhouse, where they get a lot of sun.
What does November bring? First freeze, and a lot less light. But I am excited about what we will do with the solar power, and how it can produce food in the greenhouse.