So this morning I make a short trip out to the garden and just as I get there it starts to rain.

Now one of the dogs was smelling so bad in the car that I went out in the rain to get him to do his business and start to walk down to the creek garden when the culprit that eats my trees is about 30 feet from me.

I did not have the camera so I grabbed the dog and put him in the car and went back with the camera but the beast was gone.

I looked around and spied him over on the Trailways (part of the Trans Canada Trail System) that is between us and the ocean.

He walked along the trail way for a bit and I went down to get a picture of him and then next thing I know he is bounding straight towards me. I thought it was strange and was surprised at how fast he could move. I started to snap pictures but they are pretty blurry.

Then the bugger ran through the strawberries..

Caught Red Footed!

After the rain stopped I went down to check his tracks..

JD checking him out!

And a ship was going by. Lots of activity today.

Turnips are doing well!

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Some of the harvest.. Chard and Zucchini rollups, Brussels Sprouts, Corn, Scarlet runner beans, and Turnip

The grass and clover around the boxes is coming along nicely but I need to finish off the area behind them. So much work, so little time :)

The Two Sisters SqFt box of corn and bean is to the right and the corn has died off. The scarlet runner beans I had planned on letting them got to seed but they keep getting too may so I keep picking them. The Kentucky Runner beans are just flowering now and get very tiny beans on them.
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And here is the missing 3rd sister, which is the Atlantic Giant pumpkin that isn't. I have 8 pumpkin plants (4 Atlantic giants and 4 others) and this is the first pumpkin that pollinated. Of course we are going to get a killing frost any day now so I am guessing no pumpkin this year!
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How about some mooseburgers for that fridge?

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

ROFL, granny and I were thinking alike: venison. That guys looks like he could put away quite a bit.

Can't remember at the moment where I saw it, but I once came upon a street sign that said:

Please do not approach the moose
As they are dangerous

QUOTE: Please do not approach the moose
As they are dangerous

That is funny as I think that applies to almost all wild animals.

Most of the time they are more scared of you but they are on the news fairly often when they wander into the city and have to be either put down or drugged and taken away. This is also their mating time so you have to be careful as they are more curious and attracted to sounds in the bush.

Considering they all started from 4 moose brought on to the island in 1904. They are becoming pests. They have no natural predators on the island. There are about 150,000 moose and about 25,000 hunted annually.

I have seen many Moose/Car accidents on the Highway and will not take the highway after dusk unless I have no other choice.

I was watching a documentary and they were saying in some park areas there are only old trees as all the young trees are being eaten by the moose.

I am going to have to start to fence in the areas I want to keep them out of but just to do from the creek to the road will require over 1000 feet of fencing.

I think the sign must have been placed to warn the idiot tourist-folk whose only experience with moose-like animals has been the deer at his local petting ranch. They see four legs and a rack and start hearing the soundtrack behind Bambi.

We know of a guy here down here who is in HOT water for transporting elk through the state. He thought they'd be "cute" to have on his property (yes, he's a couple tacos short of a combo plate). He got into an accident and his trailer flipped and all the animals escaped. Last I heard, granted about 4 years ago now, he was told he'd be responsible for any damage caused by them (accidents etc).

idiot

First killing frost yesterday.....
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Potato bin never flowered so I will see in a couple of weeks what I got...
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Corn Nubs anyone????
I picked the rest of the corn. Small but tasty.

MY BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! ARRGGGGHHHHHHH!
It killed the tomatoes in my tomato house. I figured with them being closed in that they would be ok for a little longer. The front was closed in and they were still killed. Gosh Darn it. Another year without a red tomato!

Latah tomatoes next year!

Bye Zucchini!
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Only one tiny immature pumpkin. That is also a disappointment as I put much more effort into these this year and last year I got 5 pumpkins of various sizes with total neglect.
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Oooh, I'm frustrated for you Mike! What did the tomatoes die of?

Carolyn...

The killing frost got them which surprised me as where I live 1/2 hour away we did not get a killing frost here. I just figured that the Tomato house would keep them protected for the first frost or two.

So sorry Mike! Were there any green tomatoes to harvest, wrap in newspaper and ripen inside all winter long?

As for the potatoes, what variety were they? My yukons never flowered but gave me 10 times the poundage I planted despite only growing in the bottom six inches. I bet you will still get potatoes. Letting frost kill them is the norm. Keep the bin covered and dry for 2 weeks and then harvest. Good luck! Can't wait to hear the results.

He was back...

First Time that he has walked through these boxes.

That moose stew is sounding better and better...

sinfonian: I have some of the green tomato's ripening and I don't know what type of potatoes they are in the bin.

I did feel down about 12 inches today and there is nothing that I can feel so I am going to assume that they are all on the bottom, If they exist.

There is still chard, endive carrots, Brussels Sprouts, and Turnips growing in the sq ft garden.

I grew the Brussels Sprouts this year just cause I like the looks of the plants and have never tired them before but I actually hate eating them. I had one meal of them and both my better half and I did not enjoy them.

I finally finished off these boxes.

I am going to move that high bush cranberry tree as soon as I pick the berries and the leaves die.

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Now the moose will have a little more cush for his feet when he walks through it.

I am going to let them settle over the winter and then top up with compost in the spring. Currently they are just filled with peat and the sandy soil that is in that area.

I am waiting for the beans to dry as the scarlet runners are heirlooms and I want to save some of the seeds. Then I can clean out this box.

Herd is a view of the fall colours.

Another view and I marked where the 4 gardens are in relation to this picture.

There was a full page article on the weekend paper written by the head gardener for the Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden about preparing for winter.

The one comment that I thought was of note was:

"'In the 21 years he's been working at the botanical Gardens, this year has been the worst he's seen for Plants',White told the telegram after the class"

Makes me feel a little better about the amount of stuff that I had fail this year!

Here is a link that might be useful: Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden

I would have thought the structure would have made it through one or two frosts, too. I'm surprised it didn't! And a bit miffed for you. I've been moving the swc in at night to avoid the potential frost, but it's a serious pain in the neck and I've knocked off two or three tomatoes doing it ( and a couple of leaves and branches). I was hoping to do what you're doing next year, sigh.

Ok I finally picked the berries off the high bush cranberry so I will be able to move it out of the creek sq ft garden and another box can go in at sometime.

If I had known that they were nice berries for Jam I would have left more of these when I cleared the property.

They have a very pretty seed!

Here is a partridge in one of the high bush cranberry trees which shows the berries.

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Of course I waited until after we had a big bad storm and I would say I over 1/2 the berries blew away. My bad.

The storm also washed a bunch of wood up on the beach. This is the first time that I have seen that much wood on the beach.

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Oh well the teens that have a beach fire there on the weekends will appreciate it.

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So does anyone else grow anything that they hate to eat?

I did this with Brussels Sprouts this year. I wanted to see how they grew and liked the looks of the plant.

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Pardon him as he is now naked!

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Look at the roots on the sprouts compared to the size of the sq ft space. In my opinion 1 sq ft is only enough space if you are planting them side by side as the other smaller plants beside these DID VERY POORLY!

Seeing as I hate eating these I decide to try pickling them using the recipe below.

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Here is a link that might be useful: Pickled Brussels Sprouts Post

I meant to take a before and after picture of the garden. This is before I picked a bunch but I forgot to take the after picture. It is looking pretty bare now.

Funny the amount of variance within 1 square of the carrot size...I would have thought that I would have gotten more consistant sizes within a single square. I mean they are fertilized and watered the same.

With sprouts gone I was able to do some tilling

To sq ft or not to sq ft that is the question!

My future field. If it was not for the cost I would sq ft it in a flash but cost is holding me back.

You can see the sq ft garden up top left and the hill garden.

I worked some in the swamp. I broke the drive spring on the tiller but was able to take it apart and jury rig it so at least I did not have to drag it out of the swamp.

Leaves are going!

Great updates as always Mike, thanks for sharing.

Quick question - I see in the brussel sprouts picture you use black plastic mulch.

How did you get the plastic to stay down? I see it looks tucked between the soil and the wood - but how did you do that without having to dig trenches and then somehow back fill it from under the plastic?

I built a bunch of boxes this fall for next year, and I would really like to use black plastic again (I used it in my traditional row garden this year) but I just can't figure out how to attach it so it doesn't blow away / up / hurt the seedlings around it etc...

Thanks!

Quote: "How did you get the plastic to stay down? "

What I did was just take a thin flat stick about 2 inches wide and push the plastic down the sides between the soil and the box frame. This stayed pk with the string on top but I would not do it that way again.

Next year I am going to rip some thin strips of wood on my saw and then roll the edges of the plastic in them and nail it to the top of the box sides then install the string. This will allow me to stretch the plastic tighter.

Black plastic was great for no weeding and worked well for transplants.

Also I did one box with plastic and one without and the growth rate with the black plastic was quite noticeable. I would say the cabbage were 2 weeks ahead on the box with plastic.

I was not that happy with it for seeds. I cut an x in the plastic and planted a seed but the problem was when they started to come up and were tender I lost a lot of the seedlings due to the flapping of the black plastic. Once they got strong enough through the plastic they were great.

I am thinking it needs to be tighter which is why I will change and also I will not cut an x but will cut out a circle for the seeds and try that next year.

For my corn box I used clear plastic which worked amazing but did get lots of weeds underneath the plastic.

Hrm, that might work for my beds built out of wood, but 5 of my beds are built out of recycled plastic timbers - I'll have to figure out a better way than nails to attach those ones.

As far as the seedlings, I found that instead of cutting an X like you do for transplants, I made a circle (3 inches in diameter or so) and then put little rocks around the seedling on the black plastic, it kept the plastic from flapping and damaging the seedlings. This does allow for a "couple" weeds to grow, but it's almost non existent, and still gives you the benefits of warming the soil, water retention, etc..

No matter how "tight" you get the plastic across the bed, when you cut those X's they are going to flap in the wind, so you need something localized to hold them down.

Thanks for the ideas, I'll have to think about how I will secure them, as I really love the plastic.

I found your messages about your garden invalueable! Thank you! I learned alot and have more info! hehe. How did the potatoes do after all? Did you take a picture of your crop?

Thanks again. I appreciate your work greatly. I too had an experience with a moose! We ran for our lives! It tried to get us, I was only 11 years old and I will never forget!

Beadaholic: I still have not harvested the potatoes. I wanted to leave them 2-3 weeks in the ground after the frost killed them. Maybe next week.

Moose rarely chase you and usually are more scared of you. Of course I would not approach one closely or taunt one :)

I've read some things about raising the beds without any boards or anything. I would go broke if I were you just in the cost of wood!! Do you guys have a craigslist? I've had some awesome luck in getting wood from there. I think I'd be tempted to till it and try rows (Sorry Mel!) if I were you.

I don't recall where I posted about it, but I have spent a fair amount of time considering ultra cheap gardening. Completely unlike me who spent thousands, hehe. I think it was on freedomgardens.org. It can be done and should work just as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

Before we tore down our deck, which gave me a bunch of 2x6s for constructing beds, I just made them without the boards. I loosened the soil, added amendments and then raked it into wide, raised beds. I made them anywhere from 2-4 feet wide and as long as I wanted, and did intensive planting. Basically exactly as I do now, only without any solid sides. To me, all the boards do is keep the garden neat and tidy looking. They don't help the veggies grow or anything.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Right on Granny. Mine is a combination of every gardening style you can think of. Some day I will sit down and in my journal, document all the styles my beds migrated from. I have tried the assets of all and the liabilities of nun. I only wish, I had done it earlier.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

Actually I jave not spent a lot of $$ on the wood frames as I got a lot of free wood from a neighbour and I buy the culled wood from the home depot when ever it is available.

I have spent much more $$ on the soil amendments as I have very poor soil. Usually when the 3.8 cu ft bags of peat go on sale I buy a dozen of them which fills up the back of the pickup.

When I get a chance I will break down what I have spent on each garden.

If I could find the time and the ambition I would use my chainsaw mill and mill some wood from the back for some boxes. The potato bin was made from lumber the I milled with my chainsaw mill. It is hard work and time consuming but it costs very little.

My Moose expierence was because they were in mating season, at least that is what my Dad told me, I was very impressed at that age to see something bigger than horse chasing us....hehe, it was so exciting, but scary too! hehe

Great. I can't wait to see what you got from the potatoes! I am thinking of sweet potatoes myself!

I am starting a part 4
My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 1
My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 2
My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 3
My Square Foot Garden History, Building ,Pics and Progress PART 4