Well it's been awhile since I posted, but I mowed down all the summer plants (tomato, pepper, melon, cucs, beans, corn, et al) and tilled them under . I also expanded the garden by making the outside beds an additional 3 1/2 feet wider each. As each bed is 70' long, the additional 3.5' on two beds makes for roughly 500 sqft of additional space. I added about 4" of compost to the soil before turning it under. My neighbor has 3 horses and more alpacas than either he or I care to count and he and I make a mutually beneficial trade. I take his used barn stall bedding off his hands as he has limited space and in return I get to compost it for my gardens. A true win win for us both.
I have planted most of my cool season crops (broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, carrots, lettuce, beets, radishes, spinach) and I am going to try to grow some more sweet peas this fall. I have about 18 plants sprouted and will be transplanting them into the garden this weekend. This is my first attempt at growing peas in the fall, wish me luck!
I also have one pumpkin plant growing in the garden, I planted this plant in the 2nd weekend in July, so that it would be mature around the end of October. Last year I planted too soon and my pumpkins rotted long before Halloween.
I also made up a new raised bed for some strawberry transplants. My current bed will be in it's second season next spring, and after some extensive reading and some past experience, I doubt I will get a third season from it. So I am in the process of expanding my strawberry plantings and incorperating them into my crop rotation plans. From what I gather, I will need at least five beds to rotate strawberries through on a 2 years in, 3 years out, rotation. When the beds are not in strawberries, I plan to plant them with cover crops like buckwheat, rye, and legumes.
