October's Garden (2019)

The words to describe this month in the garden would be burned-out.  The drought took the wind out of my sails and I am tired of gardening.  Knowing how much we need fresh vegetables during the winter spurred me on to plant anyway.  My heart wasn't in it but it was a chore needing to be done.

The first two rows will be hoop houses as earlier decided in the spring.  As soon as the drought broke, the seedlings which had been sprouted in cups on the front porch were transplanted.  There has been plenty of rain since then.

 All the tomatoes on the short fence have been picked.  Tonight the temperature is forecast to drop to 26 degrees (F) for three nights in a row.  That will end the tomatoes and all the other summer vegetables.  My hope was that winter would be late this year, but it isn't happening.

Behind the tomato fence is the section of the weird stuff.  All that is left is the big bunch of lemongrass Reese gave me.  Yesterday it was chopped down and is being dehydrated for winter tea.

The front middle of the garden will have three hoop houses.  The first row is planted on the right side of the picture but the seedlings are still small.  Next is the row of assorted unknowns and left of them is a row of collard greens planted about two weeks ago.  Those seeds just sprouted and I have no idea if they will be able to survive.  

Throwing out the seeds from my bag of "assorted unknowns"  in August was a good idea.  They needed constant watering during the dry spell.  I was willing to do the hard work so we would have something to eat this winter if my other seedlings failed due to the drought.  The vegetables are doing fantastic and are larger than I have ever seen. This is something I will do again.  

The row of tomatoes on the fence shaped like a scroll was a failure and it won't be done that way again.  Next year I might put the fence in an "L" shape or something else, don't know yet.  Scrolling both ends in a spiral made it hard to reach inside to harvest.  A success was planting winter squash along the bottom of the fence so they could run along the ground under the tomatoes tied to the fence.

The Tahitian Butternut squash plant growing under the tomatoes on the fence was almost dead when the rains returned.  It sprang back to life and began blooming again.  It is forming squash just in time to be killed by frost.  What a rotten year this has been for squash.

These will be short hoop houses in the back of the garden.  The bush Lima Beans in the very far back toward the field fence will not make it through tonight's hard frost.

In the back of the garden, under the trees are some winter radishes and turnip greens.  Many seeds were planted in the dust but only these few survived.

Everything has been planted except for this tray of winter lettuce still sitting on the front porch.  Other than that, all I plan to do this month is harvest greens and clean up the dead summer plants...or not.  I might not do anything at all!

Additional Links:
Next Month's November Garden (2019)
Last Month's September Garden (2019)
Last Year's October Garden (2018)
October's Garden (2017)
Through the Garden Gate