I fired up the heater in the potting shed today. I have thought about trying to grow some lettuces under lights, but I'm not sure.
It certainly needs cleaned. It was somewhat neglected this summer.

Happy Halloween!

Raspberries

I picked a large yogurt container of red raspberries tonight. I was surprised to see that there are still a lot of green berries coming. We are supposed to have temps into the 30's the next couple of nights though. We will see how they do and if it frosts.

End of summer...lessons learned

Well, summer is officially over. The garden is looking worn out and neglected.
There are some things that I will do differently next year:

1. Put my cucumbers and other vining plants in the middle or on one end of my raised beds. This year I put them on the edge and they took over everything on either side.
2. Plant cucumber and other vining plants less intensively. I planted them every 6 inches as was suggested in a book that I read, and that was just too much for me. I could not tell what was what!
3. Cage and stake my tomatoes early!! Bad mistake to do this late. I know better!
4. My raspberry bushes went crazy this year. They were unable to be contained no matter what. I think that I need to move them out of the veggie garden.
5. Plant more flowers in the garden. I missed my zinnias!
6. More companion planting.

I am already getting the itch to plan for next year and this year's garden isn't even frosted yet. That is the beauty of gardening. Always another chance to improve next year.

Farmer's Market

Tonight is Farmer's Market downtown. We currently are up to 1.81 inches of rain and it is still coming down steadily. I don't think anyone will be there...
I was talking with Bill the other day about enlarging our garden and participating in the Farmer's Market next year. Poor guy probably groans everytime I bring up enlarging our garden. Like there's not enough to do! I know that I would love the opportunity to talk with other gardeners and the people that come to buy fresh foods. The atmosphere would be great!
I read an awesome article in a recent Guideposts magazine article that was very inspirational. I'm sure that there are kitchens in this area that would love to have excess garden veggies too.
Maybe the garden will get bigger after all....

Rainy day

Today is not a good day to be in the garden, but it is a good day for the garden. The remnants of Hurricane Gustav have arrived in Illinois and as of 1 pm, we have had 1.18 inches of rain. This certainly helps make up for a dry August. The rain has been nice and steady. No horrible downpours. Just what we need!
My hummingbird does not seem to mind, he is taking in food from the feeder throughout the rain. Maybe he likes it too!

We dug potatoes and picked peppers, tomatoes, and raspberries today.
Some of the potatoes were huge. Bill and Lauren and her friend, Bree, were the potato diggers. The girls had a blast. It is amazing how excited kids get about the garden. They were hunting furiously for the next potato. After they found them, they would say what it looked like. We had a V, a gun, and minuscule potatoes (one held by Lauren). I love to see kids getting dirty in the garden! All in all, we got a 5 gallon bucket plus close to another half of one from the garden this year. The potatoes did not do very well in the beginning of the year, so we were very happy with what we got.
I picked peppers to make some mild pepper rings for Bill. They are one of his favorites. Lots of tomatoes coming too. We will need to can again...
The fall crop of raspberries is well on its way. The bees really like them also. With all of the talk about Colony Collapse Disorder, it is good to see so many. However, I must admit that we see more bumblebee types than honeybees on these. The honeybees like the blooms on the pumpkins and cucumbers better.
The girls were then playing pilgrims and "gathering crops for winter". They had a great time with some of the large zucchini, old lettuces and radishes, a couple baby pumpkins, and too large green and wax beans. Soon, we had a number of neighborhood kids over all playing with the vegetables. Bill built a fire and they "cooked" their recipes and concoctions. They played well past dark... Great fun!!