Fall 2014 Garden Diary, Post 1

We've decided to plant a small fall garden out in the field this year and take this time to work with the soil in our older raised beds.  The soil has become dried out and needs some organic material.  John's about taken down all of the beds, one left to do.  He's added a bunch of sand and tilled it in, and we're going to add some new top soil and compost, too.  I honestly don't know how he can stand it out there right now, though, the temps have been so high, and we've been pestered by mosquitoes since the recent rain. Yuck.  I last about 10 minutes, really, but he's out there all the time. Superman.

Out in the field I planted some blue pumpkin, a regular orange pumpkin (Connecticut Field), a couple of fall squashes (honey boat, and turban), and a couple of rows of red okra (which have not sprouted yet, so I'm worried about my seeds.) That's gonna be it for the fall.

 These photos are a few weeks old, and these plants have all really grown!

 I'm planning to really fertilize these pumpkins -- hope we can get them in before Halloween.  We'll see!

 Here's the one ear of volunteer corn that grew out in the field this year and made it all the way to an actual ear!  The chickens got it!

 My garlic chives are blooming so pretty!  I think I'm gonna move this plant to one of my front yard beds this fall - its in a big pot right now.

 The morning glories are continuing to grow, grow, grow!

 Here is my final elderberry crop! I'm just so excited that we actually got some berries from these plants.  I made an elderberry tincture with them (soaking in vodka!) which is supposed to be great for treatment against colds, flu and chest congestion.  We'll see!

 Last week I cut back three of the tomato plants (Porter, Large Cherry, and Better Boy) that I'm going to try to keep going throughout the fall (until the first frost, anyway!)  They've lost about 2/3 or their limbs and height, and I added soil and fertilizer.  They're already sending out new shoots and John told me that he sees some blooms on them already.  I think we had a really great spring tomato crop from these three (24.4 pounds), and hope we can do as well during the fall.