It can snow if it wants too

For the last time this year I hung laundry on the line. After I unpegged the last dried t-shirt I piled all the wooden pegs and the metal line thing, that keeps the laundry from dragging on the ground, into the cloth laundry bag and put it away.

I pulled all the tomato vines out of the greenhouse, harvested the last of the frost bitten broccoli, cabbage and collard greens piling the remains on the compost bin. I ripped all the pea vines and the dead potato tops out of the garden, dug up all the potatoes and laid them on the deck to dry in the sun. I cut the green stuff off the tops of the carrots and the turnips, laying the turnips in the sun and bringing the carrots inside to be washed.

Like last year my beet crop sucks. All I got was a couple handfuls of teeny tiny bulbs? I know my soil this year was not of a consistent tilth or nutrient balance and in some areas it was probably too acid. However, next year after adding copious amounts of compost and manure it will be nearing optimal conditions.

I thought I harvested all the tomatoes from the greenhouse last week before I went to Vancouver but twice I’ve been back inside and managed to pick a whole lot more, several bowls full. This means that even with the door open the green house can withstand several degrees of frost. You can bet next year I will be taking full advantage of this knowledge.

This year I planted four types of potatoes, I worried I had planted them too close together but both the Purple Viiking and the Fingerling Banana ones gave me huge crops anyway. I'm going to credit the soil in this area as being partly responsible for the amazing crop. The russet potatoes and another variety called Warba did not do as well. The soil was not as good where these tubers were planted so that has to be the reason they did so poorly.

I spread the last of the compost and manure on top of the garden beds and put a handful of lime underneath the lilac bushes. THey need a slightly alkaline soil to flower. In the greenhouse I stacked all the stakes on the floor, putting the empty pots, watering cans, empty milk containers, I fill with water for a heat sink, and small garden tools on the shelves. Bigger tools like spades and rakes I propped inside against the wall then I shut the door until next spring.