Winter's Comin'

We continue to work on putting the Garden to bed. Our pace has been slower, with occasional Bursts of Speed. We are ever watchful of Winter's Entrance and expected Stay. The Weather Forecast shows we have a 100% chance of Rain and may even have Flurries tonight. Expected lows are in the low 20s early in the week. "Winter's Comin'."

We knew today would be one of the last good days for Garden work. So once again, we experienced a burst of activity. Melanie's activity was sustained but Richard and I were somewhat irregular. As the Day went on, the Wind became more pronounced. Always watchful over our shoulders, we could see dark gray Clouds coming in from the Northwest.

So what did we do? We have been gathering structures from the Garden and preparing them for another Season's use. We placed the tall branches and wire cages at the back of the Shed. They look pretty neat and tidy there. I wonder if they feel a bit of contentment with the Work of the Garden Season. We 3 C's do.

We continue to remove Debris and there is an order to it. We place the Debris that holds potential for Disease or Bugs in a separate pile in back. We will burn that Pile so as not to reintroduce something that doesn't need to be there. We place other Debris in the Compost Piles to biodegrade and become Soil once again.

We are not cleaning off the Garden as most Folks do in these parts. We would like to do No-Till, but are unsure about how to do that. You could call it another place of learning to which we are directed. Seeing the Debris on the Garden means the Soil is covered and the Birds will have cover and Food to eat. The Chickens love it. The Songbirds flit about. Often we see Bobwhite Quail, at times as many as 30. Now who would not want to provide place for them?

Melanie planted Cold Season Veggie Seeds in our new Cold Frame: Kale, Mustard Greens, Beets, Chard, Arugula, plus she transplanted 2 Parsley Plants there too. You could call it an Experiment. We aren't sure if we will get anything. But we wouldn't get anything if we didn't try it either. Perhaps the Seeds will come up in the Spring.

Sarah Hughes, our Neighbor about 3 miles South of here, offered some Lettuce Plants for the Cold Frame. We may take her up on that. We will miss the Fresh Greens from the Garden over the coming Winter Season.
We still have some work to do closing off this Growing Season and getting ready for the next Gardening Season. We want to build some raised Garden Beds near the Garage. We plan to do "Sheet Mulching". My Gladiola Bulbs are still in the Ground. It is simply too wet to dig them. We are getting there. The last little task will be taking inventory of our Seed Stash and filing them away. I can imagine we will do that on one of those days when there is no denyin' Winter.

Stay tuned. Life is sure fun here on the Farm. No 2 days are ever the same.