We had about a week of Fall, and now it’s on to winter, apparently.
Forecast is for mid-20’s at night this week, so we’ve been wrapping things up out in the garden and pasture the last couple of days.
First came tucking in the chickens. Our new scheme this year is using extra hoophouse plastic to cover the large open areas on the south and west sides of their “atrium”. We had installed the single channel aluminum earlier in the year, and cut the plastic to size, so the installation went pretty quickly.
He have a tarp staged on the north side as well that we can drop when snowy/windy weather hits. I think this is really going to help keep the chicken area drier and more comfy for everyone over the cold/wet season.
Then we moved on to compost. Flipping and harvesting the compost is important this time of year so that I have room to start a fresh pile with garden debris and all the mucky bedding that will get hauled out of the shed over the winter. Here is our nice rich, well-cooked compost that is now ready to be cycled back into the garden
Yum 🙂
Once that was complete, I was able to thank all this year’s tomatoes, peppers, zinnias and eggplants for their good work and send them to the pile.
Well, almost all of them.
I did save one of each kind of pepper (Blot, Sheepnose Pimento, and Jalapeno) to see if I can overwinter them.
And you might remember that I took cuttings from most of our tomato plants about a month ago. About half of them have rooted pretty well- here are the winners so far
The Large Italian cutting was looking kind of sketchy, so I tossed him, but the others are still in the running and might be ready to pot up in a couple more weeks.
So here is the crew that will be overwintering on the back porch.
Just need to get their grow light hung and they will be all set.
And lastly, I moved Yellow Chig to her winter quarters, in the hoophouse.
It’s all cleared out now, except the perennial herbs and some weeds I need to pull. She has a spot over by the oregano that she likes to hang out, so hopefully she’s happy with the arrangement.
Have a good week folks- and make sure you vote!
As you know, I winterized quickly. What a sudden change. I have left the tomatoes in the greenhouse and hot house on the off chance that some of the tomatoes will still ripen. I will probably regret this decision. I hope the chicken atrium works out well.
thanks Donna. yeah it was a really sudden change. so far so good with the chicken quarters. makes a huge difference being able to keep the wind out.