November 3, 2009

Well, it certainly has been some time since I last wrote anything on my gardening in the Suburbs. The main reason might be that after a very lousy July of almost daily cold and rain, the garden not only started failing, but the weeds of summer came along and took over.

Even after 40 plus years of gardening, I somehow fail to keep in mind that there are two huge cycles of weeds that come along during the summer months. I can always seem to keep up with the first round, but it is the second cycle, one that begins in the middle to end of July, that seems to get away from me. The end result is that I spend about 3 to 4 days in September trucking away wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of weeds to my weed pile. This year was no different. I did take care to pull out all weeds by hand, instead of digging them under with my Troybilt tiller. I figured the less weed seeds I preserve, the better off I will be next year.

I spent the last few days putting away the last of my wood used for building raised beds (not sure if I will use as many next year) and setting up a number of raised beds with pvc hoops to be ready for next spring. I tilled all the beds completely, so all the horse manure, cow manure and compost I put into the soil this year is thoroughly mixed.

I am contemplating putting a fence around the garden area as with each succeeding year more deer seem to find the garden a great place for a midnight picnic. I am losing the tops of my carrots and parsley heads on a daily basis.