Sunday, December 2, 2018

Late Sweet Potato Resuls

If you have been keeping up with the blog you know that at the end of Spring we picked up some sweet potato slips on sale for $1. We planted them just to see what would happen. 

We set them out in shopping bags, and they grew well as you can see from the following pictures:

Then it got cold and the tops died off. So we dumped them out (sorry we did it on a whim and I forgot to get pictures) and found....

that they needed a little longer. Tubers did grow but didn't have time to fully reach potato status. Now I wish we had left one in to see if they'd continue growing or not. I don't think they would have and wish I had remembered to cover them before it got cold. If I had maybe they would have had time to maje a more substantial tuber. Also, if we'd had a typical (warmer) November they might have had more time.

It wasn't a success, but does let me know we can plant on sale plants later than usual but probably not as late as we did and that they do grow well in shopping bags. I would pick a thick strong bag. Our smaller and stronger bag can be used again but the larger one just tore to pieces. 

It is nice to have that area clear since it allowed us to put the side garden to bed. Look for a post about that soon. Happy gardening everyone!



Tucking the Garden in for Winter...

     I shared the lasagna gardening technique with everyone awhile back. Today I am going to show how I tuck my garden in for winter. I live in TN so usually I have cold temps, a little snow from time to time, and well a lot of rain/sleet/ice. Usually freezing or hovering near temps, but sometime it dips into the teens or single digits. So, what works for me may not work where you are. However, this technique saved my strawberries and grapevine one dry cold winter a few years back. If you are in a cold area you may wantto add mors protection such as plastic covering over the top. 

     I like to rake up my Fall leaves and use them to cover my garden area. Some people prefer to use mulch but I like leaves. One- I already have them in my yard. Two- this is similar to how nature works. Three-I like the look. It is like my garden is all snug as a bug in a rug. 

We will start with the front gardenbed. 

Mr. Rubber plant(which I need to research if he needs more protection) now has leaves covering all but the top of his head. 

Then we have out little patch of green. I covered behind my trusty red fencing that I had the tomatoes on earlier this year. As you can see this is one area we planted for Fall, and even with a few nights in the teens and me forgetting to cover during frost is still growing. Slowly as this has more shade than the back, but growing none the less. I let little E help with this so all I can say is that there is a combination of peas, lettuce, kale, raddish, and spinach. Possibly beets or cabbage too. There are some spots I can tell what is growing and others I am not sure about yet. I am actually surprised there are still things growing. I left this area alone just to see how long it can last. I covered the back garden so I will be able to tell the difference and find out which is better to do in the future. 

Then I covered everything else in leaves. Between the green area and the purple garden lives the strawberries. Sometimes I loose a few of the plants but usually most if not all of them make it through the winter. 

Little E's purple Fall garden bed is growing as well. I piled the leaves up around it to help keep it from freezing as much. Interestingly enough it did freeze a few times already, but the plants popped back up. In this picture you can see a strawberry plant peeking out on the left and the lemon thyme in the front. I covered half the thyme and left the other half out to see what would happen. 

I hope you enjoyed our first tucked in tour. Soon I will show you the side and back garden. Happy gardening everyone!

Beautiful Fall Day

I am not the type of person who enjoys the cold... seriously. When our area was hit with some colder than normal temperatures I was ready to mentally prepare myself for the winter blues.  I know many in the Northern areas have already had SNOW so feel free to chuckle a little at me. 

This weekend we had some lovely temps though. I was so pumped and then the rain came and stayed Friday and Saturday. Sunday, however, was truly wonderdul. 

The air was crisp and cool. The sky was so bright and blue with little wispy clouds. The sun was bright and warm. It has rejuvenated me!! I was able to get out and finish up some Fall chores that I had pretty much given up on doing in comfort.  

Tonight (Tuesday) it is cold and spitting out a few snow flurries. December in Tennessee shorts one day and a coat the next. 

I hope that wherever you are safe and warm surrounded by love. Happy gardening everyone