This is time of year means lots of things need to get done quickly unlike the lazy days of summer. Yesterday we got a lot of things done around the house and at the apartments.
I started the day doing the daily chores of feeding the animals and checking the plants to see if they needed water. I had covered the strawberry beds the night before so I needed to uncover them before the sun heated things up.
I had a bunch of things on my list but we had to go to town to install a storm door at the apartment building. That took us four hours but it looks great and the tenants are happy with it.
When we got home it was time to feed the animals again before going to work in the greenhouse. I spent two hours transplanting seedling into larger pots. The greenhouse is full and I still need to take the seedling on the enclosed porch back out to the greenhouse. They were the super tender summer plants that I brought in during the “freeze.” I need a bigger greenhouse!
Above is how the enclosed porch looks like!
Bill folded all the sheets that I had used to cover the beds and put them away.
It was too dark to continue working in the greenhouse (need to find some way to light up the place) so I moved to the garage where I finished painting all the boards ( 9 – 2 x 4’s)for my next garden project.
I came back inside and finished my Spanish lesson for the day before I edited and upload a video for YouTube.
Weather
How to winterize the vegetable garden
Cleaning out your vegetable garden in the fall will help to prevent disease and pest issues next season. Putting the garden to bed for the winter is simple and doesn’t take that long.
- Clean up the area. Remove all of the dead plants, and pull out any plant stakes and temporary trellises. Don’t put diseased plant material, or plants that were infested with bugs into your compost bin, but everything else goes into the bin.
- Have the soil tested especially if this season was not profitable. You can do it yourself using an inexpensive home soil test kit
- Fall is the best time to amend the soil in your garden. Add compost ( homemade or brought compost), aged manure, organic worm casings or organic fertilizer can be added in the fall. Leaves, pine needles, grass clippings (don’t use grass clippings if you treat your lawn with chemicals) and coffee grounds can be added directly to the soil, and don’t need to be composted first.
- Turn the soil use a garden fork, shovel or hand garden claw tool. Turning the soil in the fall destroys pests and disease spores that overwinter in the soil as well.
- Mulch the beds with a thick layer of leaves over a layer of newspapers or cardboard. Use black plastic if you had a lot of weeds during the past summer.
- Check on warm days and remove any new little weeds that are starting to pop up.
I know it is almost February but with the strange fall weather we had I did not get the garden beds finished until now. I did get the old spent crops removed but did not get the compost spread, the soil turned or many leaves added until this last week.
Now to wait until the stores start stocking compost so I can finish topping off the beds this spring before planting. I have more compost cooking but it may not be ready before spring.
Winterizing the annual flower beds
The last two days have been too nice to stay inside and since I had the house all cleaned and ready for Thanksgiving guest I had time to play outside. I already had the gladiolas bagged up and in the garage and the potted plants are inside the house but the other gardens still needed to be cleared off for the winter. We have had our killing frost so it was time to clean out all the dead foliage. It is easier and faster to weed these gardens then to prepare them for winter. First I needed to remove all the leaves and dead plants. That included cutting all the perennials down and removing their stems and all the dead leaves from under the yucca plants. I love yucca plants but they “bite” when you pull the dead leaves off the bottoms.
I also wrapped twine around the crepe myrtle and rose bushes and trimmed up the evergreen. Two days and I am happy with the results. I still need to clean off five more flower beds and weed, fertilize and cover the beds in the sun garden. In other words 17 flower beds finished, 4 garden beds put to bed, greenhouse plants cleared out and 10 garden beds cleared out but not completely finished.
If your beds only grow annuals, tender perennials or tropical plants they will be killed off by freezing temperatures, and won’t survive the winter.
- Tropical bulbs (dahlias, cannas, elephant ears, gladiolas… etc) should be dug up and the bulbs stored for winter. Once dug up remove all of the dead foliage and allow them to dry out a bit to prepare them for storage. Store in a mesh bag or a box with newspaper to keep them from drying out or rotting, and then store them on a shelf in the basement or garage.
- After a hard killing frost pull up all the dead annuals and clear the area.
- Move all potted plants indoors. Tropical plants, succulents, and tender perennials can be brought indoors and grown as houseplants. Cold hardy perennials that are growing in pots should be moved into an unheated garage or shed to give them extra protection from the cold. Be sure to leave the soil on the dry side all winter so they won’t rot.
- Bring in outdoor furniture or cover with protective covers.
How to winterize the perennials
It is that time of year again when the nights are getting down right cold and the days are still a little warm – the perfect time to winterize the perennial gardens is after the first hard freeze in the fall. A hard freeze occurs when the temperature gets below freezing overnight, killing off tender annual plants and vegetables. Freezing temperatures will also trigger perennial plants to start going dormant, so you know it’s safe to start cutting them back.
- Stop fertilizing the plants.
- . Clean up the area and remove all weeds. Depending on how energetic you are and how much time you have you can either clean all the beds or just do the bare minimum.
- Cut back all of the spring blooming perennials (peonies, irises, columbine, dianthus…etc) to the ground in the fall as a minimum. To prevent iris borer infestation it is important to cut the iris leaves all the way down to the tops of the bulbs. The borers overwinter in the leaves so place the leaves in a trash bag and get them out of your garden. Continue removing spent flowers and dead and dying foliage.
- Cut down the rest of the summer perennials (lilies, hostas, phlox…etc). Not all perennials need to be cut down as some can be left for winter accents and as food for the wild birds.
- Keep the base of plants free of dead leaves and debris particularly before frost.
- Keep watering until the ground freezes.
- Apply a layer of mulch or mulched leaves in late fall. Begin gathering leaves now! Don’t add the mulch until mid-November, but this way you’ll be far ahead if you begin mulching leaves as they fall. This protects the crowns of plants. Note: Don’t mulch bearded iris.
If you can see the perennial bed from the house be sure to add a winter accent for viewing pleasure from the house. I add bird feeders and a bird bath which is solar heated to provide water for the wild birds that visit.
These perennials can take care of themselves and all you need to do is remove the dead stalks or stems .
Aegopodium (bishop’s weed)
Ajuga (bugleweed)
Armeria (sea thrift)
Artemesia (wormword)
Asclepias Tuberosa (butterfly weed)
Astilbe
Aurinia
Coreopsis Verticillata
Delphinium
Dianthus Barbatus (sweet William)
Dianthus (pinks)
Epimedium (barrenwort)
Euphorbia (spurge)
Helleborus (hellebore)
Hens & Chicks
Hosta
Heuchera (coralbells)
Iris Siberica (Siberian iris)
Lamium (dead nettle)
Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower)
Ornamental Grasses
Pachysandra
Phlox subulata (creeping phlox)
Saxifraga
Sedum
Thymus (thyme)
Tiarella (foamflower)
Vinca Minor
These need to be Cut back a few inches above the ground
Aster
Catmint (Nepeta )
Crocosmia (Crocosmia)
Hibiscus (rose mallow)
These need to be cut back to basil foliage after flowering. Basal foliage is also called vegetative growth. Many perennials will grow new leaves around the base of the plant after flowering. These should be left on the plant in the fall as they are there to protect the crown.
Alcea Rosea (hollyhocks)
Achillea (yarrow)
Aquilegia (columbine)
Campanula (bellflower)
Coreopsis Grandiflora (tickseed)
Echinacea (coneflower) or leave standing for the seed pods for the birds.
Gaillardia (blanket flower)
Leucanthemum (Shasta daisy)
Monarda (beebalm) or leave standing for birds.
Polemonium (Jacob’s ladder)
Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan) or leave standing for the seed pods for the birds.
Perennial plants to cut back after a killing frost.
Anemone
Blackberry Lily (Belamcanda chinensis)
Baptisia Australis (wild blue indigo)
Bearded Iris
Corydalis (Corydalis lutea)
Eupatorium (Joe-Pye weed)
Geranium (hardy geranium) the foliage may last but will turn to mush at some point. Better to cut back after frost.
Paeonia (peony)
Phlox Paniculata (garden phlox)
Leave these alone
Chrysanthemum (mums) – mums are on a different schedule. Prune before July and leave these plants alone through blooming and the winter
Countdown to Winter
Yesterday was a beautiful day and we took advantage of the warmer weather. First thing I did was hang two loads of laundry out on the line before going to the gym. When we got home I started preparing for winter.
- Turned off and drained the water fountain by the back door before covering it with a thick black plastic bag.
- Rolled up garden hoses ( all but two which I will still need to use this week) and put them away.
- Collected all water nozzles and sprinklers and placing them in a bucket inside the greenhouse. (These will be moved into the shed once it is completed.)
- Finished painting the red chicken coop.
- Finished weatherstripping both chicken coops
- Checked the tarp that is a wind breaker on the north side of the chicken park to see if it was secure.
- Bill and I laid out the area for the new metal shed.
- Bill started leveling that area
- I cleared off two garden beds that were spent for the season.
- Brought in the potted plants I plan on overwintering inside.
- Added straw to the “cat house” which is inside the old shed.
- Placed dried gladiolus bulbs in a box with newspaper in between layers in the garage.
I don’t like to think about winter but I prefer to have most of the winterizing done before the weather gets cold. I still have lots to do before I can relax (hibernate) this winter. I need to wrap the chicken runs in plastic, run an extension cord to the coops and hook up the water dishes, clean the goldfish filter and set the pump on high for the winter, place a layer of clear plastic over the little pond to help keep it from freezing and to keep leaves out of it this fall, top off the water and put the last hose away for winter, bring in the water lily from the iron pot and turn it over so it does not crack. clean up all the gardens and get them ready for winter ( have to wait until after a hard freeze for that one). We also want to get the metal shed completed before winter. Looks like we will be very busy for the rest of this month.
Taking a break
This morning was a reminder that summer has ended and autumn will soon lead into winter. I am not looking forward to the ice, snow and frigid temperatures. I still have projects to finish and I prefer to do them in warm weather.
We have a lot of projects still going from this summer and I admit we waited to do a few of the things in cooler weather – like the inside of the newly enclosed back porch and the gravel path to the chicken park.
In the meantime we have been working on the foundation for the shed by the chicken park. This is a project that want from a simple metal shed to be placed over bare ground to a completely different project.
I found this 8 x 10 metal shed on sale and thought it would be nice to have out by the chicken park to hold the chicken feed and stuff. When I told Bill were I wanted to place the shed he said the area needed to be leveled out to prevent the shed from becoming full of muddy water when it rained . I thought about it and realized he was right so we started to make a foundation to level the building.
We measured the area off and Bill dug the holes for the posts. That was not an easy job since we have not had any rain for over a month! We leveled the post and set them in concrete.
It was super hot so we took a bunch of breaks which led to brainstorming. “What if we placed the metal shed here temporary and build a regular 12 x 12 shed over it next spring?” – he says. ” How about we use the little metal shed for the main garden and not try to move it later? I am not in that big a hurry for this shed especially if I can have a bigger one.” – I said. We both agreed that was a great ideal.
How is it I always end up thinking up more projects? All these shed projects started with ” I think I’ll clean out the garage this summer.” We have decided to use treated 4 x 4 on the ground topped with regular 2 x 4 as a foundation for the metal shed. This foundation will not require digging deep holes but may require a little leveling before we can put the shed together. I plan on placing it in the space between the greenhouse and the cherry tree. That way I can lock up the garden stuff and get a lot of it out of the garage and the greenhouse. I love the new cover on the greenhouse!
I am still waiting for the plants I ordered to arrive so I can finish the wildflower garden. I am afraid that cleaning out the old red shed, the wishing well project, the wooden fence around the shade garden and the gravel path to the chicken park may have to wait until next spring to get finished. I need to take time to winterize the chicken park and the coops, clean up the vegetable garden beds and prepare them for winter.
This past week we have stopped working and taking a mini “stay vacation.” We started the week by enjoying a great cook out with good friends.
The last part of the week our middle son come in for Oktoberfest and a little golfing.
And of course setting and relaxing around the fire pit.
Power tools – Music to my ears
It was a beautiful day to work outside yesterday and we were busy all day. Bill worked all day putting siding on the west side of the enclosed back porch. I had to stay close by to help measure, cut and hold pieces of lumber so I was limited on what I could actually do. We made good progress but still have a lot to finish.
I had a few side projects that I was working on so the air was filled with the sound of power tools. One of my many items on my “to – do ” list for this month was to repair and upgrade the old chicken pens and coop. I originally had all four chickens in a small red coop which was marketed to hold up to 6 chickens. That was not the case and soon I was forced to buy an extension. The extension was not really that big and cost way too much and they soon outgrow that as well. I didn’t want to sent a lot of money for another small addition so I build my own and the problem was solved — for awhile. Then they started picking on Shimmer and I ended up separating her by closing off the new addition and keeping her on that side. That led to more problems since the three were again forced into tight quarters. Th solution was the chicken park – but the old coop was too big to fit though the established door and I did not want to take down any of the fence just to move a coop into the area. I brought a second coop and moved half the flock (can you call 4 chickens a flock??) into the park and left the two “bully’s” in the old coop. I have not decided if I will try to move them into the park or leave them in the red coop but I am leaning towards the separate coops just so they have more room at night and letting them together during the day.
However the old coop and pen needed to be repaired and painted as chickens are hard on things. I needed to unscrew and pull the homemade extension from the rest of the structure first. That was a messy job since the area was all muddy from the past rain.
Once removed I used the hose to wash it down well so I could see what needed to be fixed. I finally had the supplies I needed and the wood was now dry so I started working on turning the extension into a chicken tractor. A chicken tractor is a separate portable enclosed pen that allows the chickens to “free range” without getting into trouble. As they wear an area down by scratching everything up you simply move the tractor to a better location. The chickens are released in the evenings to go into their regular coops.
I had to add a door and another side to the original extension plus repair some of the old boards before I could paint the whole thing a bright apple red.
I even gave them a roost to sit on. The pen will house that small doghouse that is behind it when I place it in the back yard and I have a plastic top that fits over one section. This will give them a place to lay eggs and to get out of the weather in case of sudden weather changes.
I also has to water the greenhouse and the sun garden and harvest some green beans.
Rain = Mud=Dirty Eggs
All this rain has turned the chicken park into a muddy mess which results in muddy eggs. I know that muddy eggs can be cleaned and used but I prefer not to put dirty eggs in my refrigerator. I do not want to clean the eggs until I am ready to use them because removing the natural bloom reduced the life of the egg. Therefore , a lot of eggs are getting tossed or broken when the hens slip trying to get into the nesting boxes. I needed to come up with a solution.
I would love to cover the whole park with river sand and pine mulch with a gravel path to the coop or pavers but that takes money, time and drier conditions. It is impossible to dig up a path when it is this wet! So I have not been able to continue with my planned gravel path put did place a few pavers down in the park to help me keep clean and not fall.
In the meantime I have added some straw to the enclosed run below the coop and a rubber mat in front of the area they use to enter the pen which helps dry their feet on the way to the nest.
I still needed to deal with the dirty nesting boxes. I have been using plain straw in the boxes but the hens were sleeping in boxes at night and I have found a lot of broken eggs. I had two problems to solve. 1. Keep the hens out of the boxes when not laying. 2. Keep them from breaking the eggs.
I needed more than one solution. The straw below helped reduce the muddy eggs but I still needed an easier way to clean up from the broken eggs and the poop from them sleeping in the boxes.
First I had to give the area a good cleaning. I really had to scrub to get the nesting area clean!
I was going to order some nesting pads but the ones I wanted were out of stock and I needed something as soon as possible. I am one that likes to experiment and I found a rubber door mat with “fingers” that met my goal. I just had to cut it down to fit my boxes. You can use many things to line the boxes: plastic turf liners, excelsior pads, washed river sand, shredded newspapers, cardboard, outdoor carpet, cut up yoga mats, etc.
I measured the boxes and cut the mat to size. They fit nicely.
But they smell horribly and the chicken refused to go into the coop. I ended up introducing them one at a time. I started with the box that they actually used. I have no ideal why but they all seem to use the same box every day. Since they were used to straw I covered the mat with a thin layer of straw which I will eliminate as soon as they get used to the mats. Chicken hate change as much if not more than most people dislike it! The other mats were placed on top of the coop to air out and by the third day they were all inside the coop. Cleaning the nesting box now is a matter of lifting the mat and taking it to the washing area to rinse off. The “fingers” cushion the egg which helps reduce breakage.
Success! Well at least with the dirty egg problem I still have an egg eater that prefers the blue eggs.
The mats also took care of the cleaning problem but I still need to address the fact that the hens are using the boxes to sleep in and that egg eater. I did some research and a possible solution is to put up curtains. The curtains are suppose to discourage roosting in the box at night and reduce egg eating by keeping the laid egg out of slight. Looks like I will be making little curtains in the near future.
What to do when it’s too wet to garden
I have packets of flower seeds that I wanted to plant and the watermelons need to be planted but with all this rains and flooding it is impossible to work outside, I also have a garden bed that needs the spent peas pulled and sweet corn planted and the planting window is quickly closing.
I made the decision to tun on the heating mat and growing lights and start some seeds indoors. The greenhouse is full so this was my only option . Most of the flowers seeds are perennials so I really did not want to wait another year or later in the season to start them. They should germinate within 10 to 20 days so hopefully by then the rain will have stopped!
It was raining again this afternoon so I want around the house looking for things that needed to be repaired and painted. I found a few – the main project was this old “bird feeder” that I picked up in Myrtle Beach years ago. It had never had bird seed in it and sits on the balcony but age has done a number on it and it needed some TLC.
It still needs a finally clear top coat to protect it from the weather before I put it back on the balcony but I was able to save it.
I had a Mailman wind chime that I started painting the other day and I finished painting it. It will go in the enclosed porch area once we get it finished. This little guy looks so much like one of my old coworker!
New cushion covers
I remember when my mother brought home the wicker collection for her front porch. She was so happy with the pieces and I loved that she had finally gotten them. I inherited them back in 2004 and placed them in our sun room. 
My favorite piece is the chaise but it had a very thin cushion. I added a piece of foam under the cushion which helped soften the seat but looked awful.
In February of 2014 I painted the room a nice soft blue but did nothing with the furniture.
Last summer the cushion on the sofa and the old on the chaise both developed tears in the fabric. I replaced the sofa cushion first with one that closely matched the chairs. I waited until later to get a new cushion for the chaise. That one was harder to find since I wanted a thicker cushion and I did not want to spent a lot of money. That meant waiting till the end of the season and getting it on clearance. One problem with waiting that long is that you have a limited selection to choose from – my selection was anything as long as it was red! Okay given the money I was saving I figure I could make a cover for it during the cold winter months. Winter came and went and I never covered the cushion. Why? Because I realized I really liked the red, white and blue colors!
I went shopping and picked up some red fabric in different textures and placed it in the sewing area and waited for a rainy day. Yesterday was that rainy day. I made envelope pillow covers for the other four cushions and one pillow.
I find this colorful room much more inviting compared tot he stark white room and the dark cushions. Perfect room to watch the birds in the bird garden and to read in!
DIY with Kathy! 