Fall planting & prep for spring

Too windy to get on the lake today, so out came the okra and squash and melons. We were blessed by an absence of serious insect pests this year. A few leaf cutters and grasshoppers and some other leaf gnawers, but no squash borers or aphid or white fly infestations. Horn worms on the tomatoes a couple of times, but no blight or leaf disease that I saw. The squash and okra went gangbusters, but the melons only produced one melon per plant - tasty but skimpy. The asparagus was outstanding!!! Not enough, but really delicious. We'll put in more next year. The pole beans are growing well but setting only a few beans, so we'll see how that goes. Planted a dozen cauliflower and two dozen broccoli a few weeks ago - growing nicely except one raised bed which is being eaten up by insects. I've put replacement seedlings in, maybe they'll make it before mid-December freeze. The outside tomatoes are thriving and producing, but the greeen house tomatos are lots of foliage and little fruit. I'm thinking the fertilizer put on the previous GH tomatoes (a light treatment when they started developing fruit) left enough N in the soil that these plants are overfertilized. Sigh - when will I learn?

Discovered that I'm out of cabbage and spinach seeds, so off to the store.

Spring prep for the raised beds is to remove 4" to 6" of soil, put down a thick flake of composted hay and re-cover with the soil (I couldn't believe how many toads I dug up). If we'd experienced soil borne disease, I'd cover with fresh soil. Come Feb I'll till it in. This coarse material in the soil along with a thick mulch of the same stuff on top is the best method I've found so far to manage soil moisture here in the desert. Beds done this way require water only two or three times a week even in the sunniest, hottest, lowest humidity weather & have room for error. I find the hay superior w.r.t. water retention than peat moss and several kinds of commercial compost I've used. The square foot method was a debacle - very difficult to maintain moisture in the clime out here.

We had an object lesson this summer in two new raised beds that were native soil covered with the thick mulch. This soil has pretty good tilth and waters well, but without the added organic material, keeping soil moisture right required much more attention.

About the first of July I found a dozen or so 3-string bales that had begun to mold & couldn't be fed to the horses. Six we treated per instructions on the straw bale gardening forum. They became beautiful coarse compost by the end of September - I've used up four already, so maybe should have treated more. The others have been sitting in the weather and I'm certain are decomposing. It will be interesting to see what their condition is come spring.

Also have to do some maint on the little GH to cut down heat loss over the winter. That'll take a full day. I'm still mulling whether or not to make a hot frame.

The fun never ends.

Frank

sounds like you been busy and learned alot this year.

about greenhouse heating---- I dont know what your little greenhouse looks like but if you are growing seedlings on the tables, you can put roofing felt around the bottom edges of the walls from the table down to the ground and that keeps out the cold breeze and holds in more heat. Just a thought for ya.

I cannot wait for the leaves to fall this year.
I am impatiently waiting.

Happy Fall Gardening
Cricket