Is everyone getting ready for winter?

AuGres, MI(Zone 5b)

Our nice warm autumn temps seem to be gone. It's about 46 degrees and windy as heck here. We've got most of the fall chores done but still have more we'd like to do before the snow flies. We have the garden put to bed and a nice blanket of leaves over it. The flower beds are put to bed also. We still have to clean out the chicken coop and put the shavings over the asparagus patch. I had wanted to clean out the garage some but won't bother if it doesn't warm up a bit more than it is now. We like to park our vehicles in the garage in the winter. We still have hoses to put away and I'd like to put down a fall fertilizer on the lawn inside the picket fence. I won't cover my roses till November.

All in all I think it was a very good growing season. What are you all doing now? How did your gardens do this year? Any plans for planting something different next spring? What flowers, vegetables or trees are on your wish list?

I'm currently having fun with my new Excalibur dehydrator. We've had it going almost 24/7 drying apple slices. We have a lot of apple trees. Vern picks the apples and runs them through his gizmo that cores, peels and slices them. I add cinnamon to the slices and put them on the 9 trays in the dehydrator. Makes wonderful crisp apple chips. Vern eats them about as fast as I can crank them out. I'm hoping to make some sweet potato chips after we're done doing apples. I canned a lot of tomatoes this year too. The freezer is full. I bought a second freezer in hopes to get some venison in there.

I miss the lively chatter we used to have in this forum. Things are very quiet. Anyone watching the Tigers or Lions? How about the Michigan vs State game?


Take care all,
Brenda

AuGres, MI(Zone 5b)

Where is everyone? It seems that the Michigan forum is all but dead. I miss everyone. It's a rainy day here. We're all ready for hunting season. My son is coming up to hunt next Monday. I'm hoping we can fill the spare freezer in the pole barn with venison. This year we're going to try to process our own deer. I bought a video. :)

I'm already reading up on and deciding what fruit trees to buy for next year. We sure had a good crop this year.

My granddaughter wants an American Girl doll for Christmas so I am off to search for one on the internet. My neighbor is making outfits for the doll.

Our new batch of hens are finally starting to lay eggs. We got our first one yesterday. They are 25 weeks old so it was about time.

Hope to hear from you all.

Brenda

Sanford, MI(Zone 5a)

I'm still here Brenda but I'v been so busy at work good luck on the venison thing ;0)

Dearborn, MI

Hate to see the end of the season. I thought that the weather has been very mild and I still had impatiens in my front yard yesterday, in mid November. Seems that there is so much weirdness with the weather one never knows what to expect. Long cold spring. Intensely hot summer, mild fall. Wonder what winter has in store for us. Think most predictions are for very cold one.

The tomatoes did fairly well despite getting in very late. Found some great new varieties. I was particularly pleased with some new dwarf varieties that were introduced this year. They will be good for us urban, container, and small space gardeners. The cherry tomato project for the 6th floor roof top garden at church fizzled or should I say sizzled in the intense heat up there this summer.

The apparently unsolvable problem of getting the deer to not eat so many of my perennials and shrubs at the cottage continues. I've tried new products and new ways to defend my space but with no real success. I am auditioning local coyotes to sit in my beds and howl when they see the deer approaching. Any other ideas?

Now the planning phase for next year begins. Always fun.

AuGres, MI(Zone 5b)

Good luck Nancy with the deer. I finally gave up and pulled all my daylilies. I moved a lot of them inside my fence since the deer don't bother to jump my fence to get at what's in here. I replaced them in the other big bed with things the deer don't like to eat like Russian Sage and Bee Balm. I hope it works. I have a very tall wildflower they don't bother that I like. It looks like a sunflower sort of but smallish. They also don't seem to bother calendula and I still have those blooming their heads off in spite of the cold weather. I'll keep up spraying my roses with Liquid Fence. I add some of it in the sprayer when we spray all the fruit trees. It helps.

We had a bumper crop of apples this year. I've been running the dehydrator day and night. We put a lot of them out for deer food too. I want to plant a few more apple trees next year and maybe a few more peach trees. We'll see what's offered by the conservation dept.

Some kind of predator ate one of my chickens. :( We set a trap and caught a very cute bunny. :) We put him into the relocation program and reset the trap.

My granddaughter is visiting today and we went to the neighbors to visit the baby pigs. She loves pigs for some reason. :)

Gun season starts on Tuesday. My son is coming up tomorrow. I sure hope all this fuss we've been making pays off and we get to put some venison in the freezer.

Allen Park, MI(Zone 6a)

Is winter over yet :(

Sanford, MI(Zone 5a)

I'm with Paul '0( I'm not a big fan of cold !!!!!!!!!!

Plainwell, MI(Zone 5b)

Hello all.... How are you all doing I've ben kinda slow on getting this site. We are all doing well. Yes I have been busy with getting ready for winter. Platic on windows putting away my treasured garden art! lol. Rotating the warm and colderest clothes lol. Christmat shopping. Finally got to chat with my son who was in Iraq. Now he is in Kuwait. He is not coming home for Christmas. Probably not until March on his R&R. Hopefully has been one year since we've seen him. Really miss our Army son. Chatted for a long time the other night he is really sick now. Hard even though hes almost 26. So many miles between us. Any way we have a couple parties coming up that will be so much fun. Love getting togeter with the family. Hope everyone is good. jJust wanted to say hello. Ronna

Niles, MI(Zone 5a)

Winter is here,Lake Effect Snow has arrived. We are to get between 14-18 inches by the end of Tuesday afternoon. State Police would not let me go to work today, they said, "turn around and go home and stay there." Guess it is time to fireup the snowblower!!

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