good idea if we can just keep it going.

Won't repeat the visit to the Memorial garden.

This morning spent 2.5 hours cleaning off garden (mowing down corn stalks with mower.) Pulled all the steel tomato stakes; plan to redesign garden layout next year.

I also watered the first year blueberries, grapes and fruit trees. Cut loose all my bird house gourds but haven't picked them up yet. I will hook up the garden cart to my trusty mower for that chore.

Of course, still haven't planted some things so will just mulch them in heavy on the east side of the chicken house (as usual).

I didn't realize the blackberries got such a deep burgundy. I was surprized by mine....also how much they have grown, helter skelter of course. I dream of having long, straight rows of brambles between wires.....never going to happen.

The temperature is already dropping here and it is overcast.
I need to rest up some before hauling in the gourds.

winterizing is the theme.

pulled everything fruit wise 2 days ago. still have 7 peppers in containers that went into the greenhouse tonight. cleaning out all the raised beds.

temps are supposed to be 28 tonight. so imagine we will pull the elephant ears and dahlia bulbs tomorrow.

ceresone- i didn't think you were going to plant any more op tomatoes?????????

my tomato list for next yr looks like this even though it will change a doz times:

silvery fir tree
black from tula
aunt gertie's gold
cherokee purple
german red strawberry
neves azorean red
brandywine sudduth
san marzano redorta
earls faux
mariannas peace
gregori's altai
fireworks
yellow brandywinwe platfoot strain
isis candy.

this is all subject to change.

there is so much to be done in the next coupla weeks!

william- in yellville

Anyone ever use a lawn sweeper? neat, next best thing to the lawn vac I want but dont have yet.
Anyway, mulched 2 of the finished beds yesterday with 6 ibches of chopped leaves and grass. My SIL has this neat machine that just rolled along behind my tractor, and picked everything uo!
Cold this morning, 30 degrees, supposed to be hars freeze tonight. Just had to tell you about my "outside sweeping".

William are you raising the tomatoes just for yourself or do you sell? I am just amazed at how many you do.

Ceresone, that sweeper sounds like something I need! Do you know what brand you used? I did some checking and Lowes has the Agri something or the other and Sears carries their own brand.

I am thinking of the grass clippings in the summer. Could they be used for that?

More cleanup planned but will wait for warmer weather. Last year I left the dahlias in the ground and just covered the clump once cut way back with a large clay pot. Plan to do that again.

William, do you ever plant greens in the greenhouse for your use for salads in the winter?

These are just random thoughts that keep popping in my head.

The sweeper of my SIL's is one he bought at a farm sale--cheap--and its a new Crafstman, if its ever been used, you cant tell it.He buys the neatest toys, and lets me use all I want, as a matter of fact, I have to store them for him over the winter.
William, I just can't resist the flavor on a few of the OP'sThis year was a trial, I guess, to see which I liked the best. I thought it ironic that the wild animals like the same ones I did--living proof was a big red tomato with teeth marks--and no bite removed!!
Gldno, I have grass clippings and shredded leaves almost 6" deep on a few of the garden beds so far. One lady tells me she saves a few garbage bags full to dump in her chicken houses mid-winter to "sweeten" up the hen house. When I get my first 10 acres mowed, I'll see if I have to start on the woods--LOL
Oh, yes, William, remind me to severly limit the plants I start this year!!

i am doing the same thing as ceresone. got my mower deck back from the shop this am and cut and bagged leaves with my husky varna today. filled up three raised beds. i looked at a lawn sweeper but wanted to double chop the leaves so i got the biggest bagging system they had.

my original plan was to raise tomato and pepper plants and sell them at the mountain home square on the weekends. i lost about 200 tomatoes and 140 peppers in the late freeze this spring. probably just as well. the price of gas and the lack of disposable income for this area would not cover my cost in my insane ideas. i will not plant/ start as many plants this yr. also, i might be going back to china for 6 mos in the next few weeks. if i do, all i will have this spring is what is offered at walmart.

ceresone- it is not in the tomato taste or yield but in the chase. i am sure you know this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my greenhouse is really a hot house. i did not put heat in there even though i can. i usually build new structures in the winter rather then raise winter vegetables. was going to build bent raised panels for green beans and cucumbers this winter. who knows??????????

william

Come on, everyone else thats reading this, chime in-- your thoughts are important, cant be any more disjointed than mine!!what is everyone else doing>
No, william, you arent limited to walmart plants, starting some for you might help ease my pain at "selecting" a few to grow next year. If you want anything I havent got, send them to me--and pick up the plants after you get back.(I've never known anyone-except "Survivor" thats been to China-LOL)

Do we want like a daily journal or just gardening related things?

My gardening things will soon become just reading catalogs and visiting websites.

Yesterday we did go to Lowes and picked up a few different kinds of seeds for the birds. I am keeping track of how long it lasts.......was kind of expensive, but we do enjoy watching them.

We now have leaves all over the yard. I am torn between trying to capture them for the garden or just leaving them in place. I love the look of leaves on the yard in the fall.

China.....now that sounds interesting William.

drained all the garden hoses yesterday and put my peppers in the greenhouse. didn't help, all were croaked this am.

cleaned out the gutters today and took all the dead annuals out of 6 raised beds. everything froze last nite. cut grass and saved the leaves and grass and filled up 2 flower beds and another vegetable bed.

have to prune the buttefly bushes and mulch the outside ferns. they looked pretty good this morning. will dig up the elephant ears tomorrow. mulched the dahlia's.

need to clean out the greenhouse. have to vacuum because of all the dead butterflies and bugs.

ceresone- thanks for the offer. just might take you up on it.

china is quite interesting. if you return , you are a survivor!!!!!!!!!!! if anyone would like some pics from china, just email me. i am an analog guy living in a digital world and do not know how to post pic's here.

william

We're eating the last of our watermelon this week. I grew Moon and Stars this year. I planted them late but still harvested about six. They were good but had hollow hearts for some reason and the texture was a little weird. I think I'll try something different next year. Orangeglow is supposed to be good.
My yard is a neglected weedy mess. We've been busy remodeling because we had a kitchen fire (teenage cook). Thankfully nobody got hurt but it sure is a lot of work. Hope I can find all my plants again in the spring.

I have several plants sitting in my garage waiting for spring and may dig up a few more if I can find a place to put them. The forecast says this weekend will be nice.

Saved by a Beerhog this week! We had to make a trip and he offered to stay with the animals and take care of everything. (Gardening friends are the best!) He put all the tender plants in the greenhouse....and then brought them back out after one night's freeze. Hurt his hip dragging in a record breaking banana tree. Can't say enough about how much we appreciate him.

This week, we've got time to cut back the greenhouse plants and dig the elephant ears and what banana trees are left out. With a warming spell, and all the work Beerhog did, we are in good shape going into colder weather.

The veggie garden was put to bed and cleaned up a while back. All that's left are maters and peppers and the 28 degrees the other night got them pretty well.

The roses have huge blooms with the colder weather..they love it!

Hope i get to finish this post. Am having big problems with my MSN2 and it freezes up on me before i finish writing. Hav got a new one,and DD is going to help me set it up.

We did'nt get a freeze up here and my petunias are blooming away. A friends mother finished picking her second crop of butterbeans thursday.She's down around Clarksville. Than 15 miles east was a heavy frost and everything was killed.

Deer season started today and the idiots are out among the responsible hunters. We have a good bunch close to us but alongthe Mulberry river are some idiots and cattle,dogs and whatever will bite the dust.Hopefully no humans will be shot.

Since i live in the woods we have leaves all over the ground. gld am like you and love to see the leaves on the ground. Still love to walk and kick the leaves as i go. Some people never grow up. Will have to rake enough up to cover my pots with piles of leaves,th rest will have to stay till spring.
My tomato plant has grown another three inches but still no blooms. the little mater bit the dust. So i only have one plant now. ceresone and William,i hear you about the chase for tomatoes and it starts about ten minutes after you look at your first seed catalog in the winter. LOL!!!!

William,i'd love to hear about the gardening practices in China, Do you get to see anything of chinese gardening? Will you have access to a computer while there?

Christie, That was an ugly thing you did, telling us about eating watermelon while our mouths were watering LOL. i can't think of the kind we grew. (old age!!) but it's an old standby,medium size,round,darkgreen,with the wavy markings,red meat.Which one am i talking about? It does well here and has a great taste.

This afternoon i've got to pick up some remains of my pot planting frenzy and some small limbs around that have fallen.

I'd better close now while i can still post this.
vickie

The watermelons are gone now Vickie. : ( We had to pick four right before that freeze and I was worried that it would go to waste but not a bit was wasted. Wish they would store longer. I have grown Christmas melons before and those are supposed to store well but the ones that finished ripening in the fall didn't have a good flavor like the ones I picked in summer. They're not a type of watermelon. They have sort of a honeydew flavor.

Gld - What kind of gourds did you grow? I need to try growing birdhouse gourds again. I'd like to have some for the kids to paint and hang for birdhouses.

William - We can help you learn to post pictures. Photobucket is free and easy to use. Lots of Gardenwebbers use that so it's easy to get advice. If you do a search for "photobucket" here on gardenweb, you can find it explained a hundred different ways. Some may be easier to understand than others. If you already have digital pictures stored on your computer, that's half the battle.

thanks christie. i have them all in a flickr account by yahoo. over 731 pics.

william

I haven't done much outside the last few days and still have the rest of the garden to clean
off.

christie, the only gourds I raised this year were birdhouse.
I will have tons of seeds to share next spring; let me know if you want some.

I usually just spray mine with clear poly, but I have seen them for sale in magazines painted in wonderful colors. The kids would have a great time decorating them. the wrens loved them this year. They just last a few seasons even painted.

William, I use Photobucket and it is very easy or I couldn't have done it!

Gld - I still have left over seeds that may still be good. I wonder if that's one you can store awhile.

William - The thread below has some how-to info on posting from flickr. I've only used Photobucket so I won't be much help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bird watching forum

This is a very long thread about how to post pics from the winter sowing forum. It's heavy with photos. The word flickr will be highlighted in blue if you don't have time to read through the whole thing.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to post pics - Winter Sowing forum

thanks christie, i will work on it this week.

william