Leaf Mold

I'm looking forward to getting out tomorrow to finish raking leaves.  After raking them up into piles, I use my lawn blower/vac to grind them up into small pieces.  You could also use a mulching mower, and collect the shredded leaves into the mower bag. Then I bag them up in large trash bags, moistening them a bit as I go, poke a few holes in each bag, and tuck them away in an out-of-the-way spot in the back yard for the winter.  In about 6 months or so, those chopped leaves will have become leaf mold, an incredible soil conditioner for my garden.

Late Fall Gardening

Late November harvest of bell peppers

I know the posts have been fewer this month, but I've been busy actually doing all the things I described earlier.  That's a lot to do, and in much shorter days!  It's a real relief as I finish up each task, and can look around to see that I'm getting things buttoned down for the coming winter.

Now that we've had the time change from Daylight Savings Time, it's getting dark by the time I get home, so I have very little garden time except on the weekends.

Fall Garden Update

Sweet and hot peppers picked November 9th

This is a photo of today's harvest.  Even though it's November, and we've had several frosts, the sheet of heavy plastic I put over the pepper plants a few weeks ago has been enough to protect them from frost damage.  I use heavy transparent plastic, generally a painting tarp, and weight it down around the edges with bricks to keep the cold air out.