Last work session

 Brian and Judy are loading one of the Truckloads of horse manure at the secret compost location .  A week earlier, we had loaded leaves and manure.  During the week, additional leaves and manure were transported and placed in the compost stockade. 

 Brian, Judy and Marcia enthused and effused loading the first of an additional two loads of manure. 

 

Only crazy committed gardeners can get excited about shoveling a truck or two of manure and be all smiley in the photos.

The bin is finally full.  There are a total of 9 truckloads of material in the bin.  We had some small amount of material from the garden.  However, the tomato vines corn stalks were taken to the landfill to prevent the spread of powdery mildew, and  southern corn rust.

The compost bin measures 6 feet x 4 feet and is 5 feet high.  Doing the math, it contains 120 cubic feet.  Since the manure was already "hot" we expect the pile to heat quickly.  It has been rained on several times during the loading process.  So we have all the ingredients needed for a treasure trove of Black Gold in the spring.  The leaves are not very compact and the pile will settle to about half the current height.  We are also using the wire tomato cages as mini-composters.  About 1/3rd of the height has been filled with manure.  Additional leaves and manure will fill the height.  We will see how much composting will take place since there is not much volume in the cylinder.  The material can either remain in the cage or be scattered in the bed. 

There are post holes already drilled and enough treated lumber has been purchased to construct a bin like the one already filled.  If the weather cooperates, we may have an additional bin before Spring.

composing and composting

On November 11th, the composting bin received its first large deposit. Two truckloads of partially shredded leaves and horse manure were picked up and placed in the bin by the "usual suspects".  Only gardeners can really get excited about locating a prime deposit of horse apples.  One of the Senior Center members provided the hot tip and we were off.  The manure was at a farm quite close to the garden and was steaming when we loaded the truck.  It was very clean and did not contain the detritus that sometimes accompanies the barn run stuff. Because of the garden's location we needed to be careful of the appearance and odor of compostable materials. 

It is preferable to know the types of trees when you are composting leaves.  Certain trees and their leaves (such as black walnut) contain toxins and can inhibit growth of certain garden plants. The leaves we used were mainly maple, tulip poplar, gum, and pecan.  If grass clippings are included in compost, it is preferable to use clippings from lawns that have not been treated by lawn services. 

Another composting session is scheduled for Nov 18th.  The weather hopefully will cooperate in placing another truckload of leaves and manure.  This will probably be the last gardening session of the year.  We plan to harvest the remaining mustard, radishes, and other greens.  The volunteers are all scattering for the Thanksgiving holidays and we want to gather and distribute as much as possible before a killing frost. 

Billions Perish as Frost Decimates Populations in Church Hill--Species from Arachnids to Zinnias Succumb to Sub Zero Celsius Temperatures

As we changed the time last night, nature also changed the seasons.  At 6:00 AM when the dogs shook the family out of bed, the temperature was 23 F .  I took a few pictures showing the demise of a few old garden friends.

The tough garden geezers brushed it off and are back to growing for another day.

hardfrost and harvest

The weatherman promises that there will be a hard frost tonight with temperatures dropping to the low to mid 20's.  After consulting Marcia, I harvested the Black Seeded Simpson lettuce,  There was one pound after cleaning.  Picked a large bunch of radishes the day before and pretty much cleared out all that were ready to pick.  I wasn't really thinking about harvesting the local wildlife, but came on this large group of wild turkeys on the way to the garden.  Cut the heads off the lettuce, but the turkeys are still roaming, blissfully unaware of a certain holiday later this month.

People ask me every day, "Garden must be done by now??" and are amazed that we are still picking things every week.  We have picked 31.25 pounds since the last posting in October.  The lettuce would not have survived the overnight temperatures, but the mustard, kale and turnip greens will all be fine and continue to produce.

The last of the floral arrangements were distributed on Oct 29th.  There was not many remaining flowers, but some holly, nandina berries, cosmos and herbs from other gardens combined with  snapdragons, okra foliage and some other flowers to make 5 bouquets.  The staff at the health department send a very nice "Thank You" card for the arrangements they received.

The Rogersville Review  printed a very nice article about the garden in their October 20th edition.  It was on page 16, however this is the first page of their Life & Style Section.  It was a full page long with several photographs.  Our thanks go out to Joel Spears,  feature editor, and the Review.

We have located a supply of horse manure and intended to pick a truckload up this week.  The heavy rainfall that morning canceled the loading, but we intend to get a big batch of compost started before the end of this season. The delay will also enable us to incorporate a truckload of partially mulched leaves to the pile.  The wind, rain, sleet and hail of today and the past week have almost ended the leaf peeping season.  The cyclone rake gizmo was ready to pick up, but it was too wet for the operation today. 

The initial work on the Blurb book has started.  We are gathering information from the web and have a draft outline that is being reviewed.  A meeting to evaluate this year's garden and plan for next season is scheduled for later this month.  There is only a little clean-up work left to complete, so this is a good time to start the review and think about improvements for next season.