the clock is ticking

Hurry, hurry, rush, rush.  I managed to get the meadow area finish mowed, and finally moved that pile of soil that was under the big blue tarp.  Unfortunately, my wicked awesome tractoring skillz being nonexistent at best, I shredded the tarp and only moved most of the soil.  I ended up dumping buckets full on the cottage gardens and spreading it by hand.  It should act like a mulch over winter and add some material to the bony soil that's there now.  Should.  I hope.  The rest I used to practice spreading and leveling with the bucket.  I think I did ok.

 

 

 

After much contemplation, I decided to replace the fence between Mother's yard and mine.  There was a bit of a kerfluffle earlier this year when I discovered that her cat had been using my leek planter as a toilet, and her dog would sail over the short decorative fence into my yard.  I wanted to finish the dead hedge, but I have big ideas and little ambition, so I went with a 4' snow fence.  

I may replace the gate next year with something more aesthetically pleasing, but for now it does the job.  I purchased a second roll that should extend from the back of the honeysuckle bushes all the way to my hillside garden fence.  This was so easy to install and I like it so much, I may just revamp my pallet fence idea for the hillside garden and use this stuff.  The grade stakes I used for the pallets have rotted and snapped, so the fence that stood so proud earlier this year is in total disarray.  

 

Another chore ticked off the list was cutting the brush along the paddock fence where I had pulled all the bittersweet.  

 I'm now torn between piling the manure here or hauling it to the woodland garden area.  Thankfully, the mules give me a plentiful amount, so I should be able to do both.  I'm thinking next year, this should be my squash garden area.  

Circling back to the hydroponic system I've been playing with...I've had great results.  This was the second round of mesclun mix:

Turns out it was mostly mustard greens, but still, I ate it!  I finally realized why you were supposed to pull the weaker seedling, as this was so packed, not everything was actually thriving.  I pulled a bunch of the mustard greens, planning to cut the greens and toss the plug, when I also remembered that you're supposed to trim the roots every few weeks, or you end up with this crap:

 

I eventually ended up pulling all the plugs and starting fresh with a head lettuce, a leaf lettuce, one tomato plant, and one pepper plant.

The lettuce did amazing and everything was thriving, then I noticed what looked like tiny shavings around the base of the lettuce.  Once again, I've been plagued with aphids!  I pulled everything and tossed it, then cleaned the machine, refilled it with distilled water, and will try again.  I'm really impressed with how well things grow in this system, but once they're full sized the limits of the water reservoir are definitely tested, as well as the space above.  It's also very much a learning curve compared to dirt gardening, but I'm glad I bought this, and I'm having fun despite the few issues I've encountered.  It's all about the fun, right?

Suddenly...

 Well now, that escalated quickly.

I feel like we only had a few weeks between too hot to function and why is it so cold?  One of the best things has been more consistent rainfall, though.  We haven't quite put a dent in the drought, but it's getting there.  Now the concern is the ground freezing before it can absorb this beneficial water.

I had picked all the squash and brought them inside after the second hard frost, which finally killed the actual plants.  Those were pulled up and hauled off to the compost heap.  I was shocked at how many acorn squash were still on the vine.  The other day I finally quartered and roasted one of the blue hubbard squash - the top one in this photo.  I gave the other one away because who needs that much squash, right?  

It's amazing that a squash that size, probably 15 lbs, cooks down to this:

I've given most of the acorn squash away, too.  Let's face it - the less I have to pretend to enjoy food prep and cooking, the better.  Since these did so well, I'm feeling like that's the path forward for next year; purchase small plants and be done with it.  The plants I buy tend to do better than what few I manage to start from seed.

On the chore front, I've been waylaid by weather and shortchanged daylight by the turning back of the clocks, but I have managed to get some fence posts pounded, the pasture mowed, and the wildflower meadow mostly knocked down.  Garlic is planted, so that's scratched off the list, and despite my best efforts to get everything in pots planted, I've had to bury a handful of perennials in the hillside garden beds to overwinter.

I decided to take down the section of track fence I had put up two years ago, which sounds like utter madness, but let me explain.  That section was put up with six foot posts, which are actually about five feet tall once they're pounded into the ground.  My fence is taller than the posts, so it just looked awful.  You can see in this photo how the top six inches of the fence isn't secured to anything.
 

My plan is to leave the fence posts in place and get a roll of fence that suits the height better - 48" should do the trick.  Hopefully the deer won't breach the shorter fence, as it's close to the house, but I've been finding deer poo not ten feet from my back door lately.  Clearly proximity to the house is not deterring them! Meanwhile, I've purchased 7' t-posts that should accommodate the taller fence nicely.  They were a bit harder to set, because I had to stand on the tailgate of the truck in order to effectively use the pounder.  

freshly mowed pasture

 

new section of mule track with 7' t-posts

old fence removed

  As I was working on the fencing chores, this happened.  Never a dull moment.

 

I also decided to take down the rope and post fence in the meadow area. I'm not sure if I'll put it back up next year - even though I liked it, I finally decided it didn't quite mesh with the overall feel of the area.  

I've been slowly emptying plant pots and spreading the soil in the meadow area to build it up a little, and to act like a mulch by adding a little protection over winter.  I still have some finish mowing to do, and some seed to spread.  I've bought a grass called side oats that grows in clumps, with long stems that hold oat-like seeds hanging down one side of the stem.  It's a prairie native, so I'm hoping it will fill in some of the bare spots.  I also have Valerian seed that I'll spread now, along with some of the wildflowers that I gathered seed from earlier this year.  

The polytunnel cover has been removed and put away for the winter, and the last of the tomato and pepper plants hauled off to the compost heap.   It looks so bare out there now.

The last big pre-snow chores on the list are to tackle the bittersweet and briars that have grown up outside of the mule paddock, and around the pine stumps in the pasture.

I spent nearly a day cutting and pulling bittersweet along the new fence area, and made a pretty good dent in it.  Two truckloads to the dump, and all I need to do now is get in there with the wheeled weed trimmer and knock down those briar bushes and weeds.  I'll open it up so I have another place to haul manure for the winter, and hopefully make the pasture look a little more tidy.  It's almost time to put the tractors, mowers, and trimmers away for the season, and it's been spitting snow for days now.  Time is a-wastin'!