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Remembering Autumn

As mild as this winter has been, it’s still been winter! Don’t get me wrong – I’ve greatly enjoyed our -4° instead of our -40° weather – but veggies & fruit won’t grow in -4° any more than -40°. (Well, except for haskap…. but that’s not the point.) The point is that I’m getting anxious for spring as I assume many of you are. I’ve order my seeds long ago and I’m ready to get planting. However, the time is not yet upon us for such things, even though technically, I guess, it’s not ever too early to figure out how to prepare your garden for spring.

So in the meantime, I thought I’d look back at a few of the photos I took last autumn to remind myself of what I have to look forward to. The first is a photo of my prized pumpkin. I only got one this year – that’s why it’s so prized! I wish I had a Mighty Max garden cart to carry it in from the garden! This baby became pumpkin pie. And pumpkin pie. And pumpkin pie. And more pumpkin pie.  (I can think of no greater purpose for a veggie!… or a melon… or whatever a pumpkin is classified as…)

Another highlight of my garden this year was the corn! Man, did we get corn! Not only did the kids love “exploring in the corn”….

We also enjoyed eating lots and lots of beautiful peaches and cream corn on the cob!

The kids also enjoyed the wildlife that came through this year. We had an ABUNDANCE of ladybugs…

And a we had our first visit by a salamander. This little fellow was living under our composting lettuce heads.

And of course, we took time to stop and smell the flowers.

Well, I’m afraid all that reminiscing didn’t pacify my longings for spring. In fact, perhaps, it even intensified them a little. But as I look outside, I see the sun shining and the snow melting – and I know that, while it’s not here quite yet – spring is indeed coming. And I shall be ready for it!

10 replies on “Remembering Autumn”

Your corn looks great! We too had a nice harvest from our small (urban) patch but I just can’t justify the room this year and will plant beans instead. I’m already hovering over the seedling trays in the basement shouting encouragement as the first leaves appear on the kale.

Bob: Thanks for the comments! Could I recommend not replacing your corns with beans – but rather, planting your beans with your corn? I’ve found corn and beans grow great together! The only thing I would recommend is, if you are planting your corn in a block (as I do for pollination purposes), only plant the beans along the edges. I find the ones deep in the middle kinda get lost near the end of the season! But if you’re planting in long rows with walking space between, fill ’em up with beans! Both will do great!

Dave: Thanks for the advice. I did do that last year (and added squash in too) and it worked just fine. But I’d rather have the space for various climbing and bush beans. I’m keen to see if I can get various types of beans to dry out on the vine and store. And yes, planting in the middle of a block is pretty much a waste! Bob

Bob: Ah I see! Cool! I grew a variety of beans in my corn last year – Yellow Roma, Purple Royalty, Kidney, and Scarlet Runner. I dried the kidney beans with a few scarlet runners in there. Turned out good – but was a lot of work with limited results.

What a great pumpkin! And what great pumpkin pie it must have made! Love you salamander pic too. We usually find one or two every year. Last year I found one laying next to the garage door…maybe he wanted to take the tractor for a spin?

Really enjoy your site Dave, and really appreciate your tips and sharing about your inexpensive ways to build hoop greenhouses!!! We live in the Yukon and we have growing challenges with cool temps and short growing season…but we still love tomatoes and cucumbers and squash and beans…which we have to grow under cover. We’re going to build one of your hoop-style greenhouses this summer, to add to the one we already have which we got second hand from a local nursery going out of business.
I’m including a pic of me in the greenhouse with a yellow stupice tomato that I’m developing…started with a ‘mutant’ plant 3 years ago from the red variety stupice and saved seeds from the original one plant, and now this year have started 54 yellow stupice to go along with the red variety. They are larger than the red, and sweeter, and low acid.
[img]https://www.albertahomegardening.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/DSCF0775.JPG[/img]

Dave your garden last year was lovely! It’s so nice to see the little Salamander hanging out too! I haven’t seen one of those since I was a kid.

I’m really looking forward to reading your posts this summer. We’re first time gardeners so we have lots to learn!

My husband and I threw a haphazard garden together at the last minute last year, and despite our lack of knowledge and planning, we ended up with more veggies than we knew what to do with! We’re hoping for even better success this year!

Happy Garden planning!
Leah

Love the pumpkin–I did a watermelon this year as well. How do you let it ripen? Both my pumpkins and watermelons grew out of a compost pile. If you want to grow peas mix them with sweet peas so they grow up the side of the house/fence or whereever you put them. My kids and grandkids love this because they love to pick flowers as well as the peas.

Geri: I just picked it and let it sit in the sun for several weeks. (Bringing it inside on frosty days.)

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