A half sunny, half overcast day forecasted so as soon as the dew dries up a little more, I'm going to go outside and do what needs to be done.
The red impatiens I planted in the window boxes this year were lush and lovely. Now? Not so much. They're on the way out, and plans to pull them and redo the boxes with small pumpkins and a fall motif are on the agenda today.
Speaking of pumpkins, my jack o' lantern pumpkins are (surprise, surprise) coloring up. This shot of three of them is straight out of the camera with no tweaking of the color. Too bad only the tops are orange; the bottoms are still dark green. But, oh my, are they ever huge this year. I may need a forklift to haul them out of the garden.
The potatoes are still patiently waiting in the soil for harvesting. The temp in our root cellar is slowly (slowly being the operative word) going down, but is not nearly cool enough yet for good vegetable storage.
Each year we struggle to find a good place in which to cure our big crop of onions. This year Papa Pea thought of using our cold frames covering a couple of garden beds.
We pulled out all the onions (above are the yellow ones . . . obviously) and laid them out in two raised beds. The covers of the cold frames are closed at night to keep the temp from falling too low (and to keep any night time moisture from getting on the onions), and just cracked or opened more widely in the day time to ensure good air circulation. So far, they seem to be doing okay, but the proof will be in the pudding. Or in the well-cured onions. Stay tuned.
I'll close with this picture of our granddog, Tucker, living his hard life. Nuthin' better than an afternoon nap in the sunshine.
18 comments:
Those pumpkins look great! My youngest is bummed I did not grow anything but pie pumpkins this year. I'll have to buy her one to carve this year and a few to decorate with. Cut photo of the dog.
Tucker looks so very, very abused. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Mama Pea,
Replacing your flowers in the flower boxes with small pumpkins is a wonderful idea. I wish I had an idea for my large boxes out front of the house. You can't really see anything in the boxes unless it's at least 12 inches tall. All the flowers are done and pulled and the boxes look so NAKED.
Your jack o lantern pumpkins are beautiful, maybe the bottom sides will turn in time for Halloween and then Thanksgiving?
Tucker is a cutie........he looks so tuckered out, lol
Kristina - I never thought the pumpkins would make it to even half orange! Gotta admit I have so much trouble getting them to mature up here that I don't think I'm going to waste the space on them next year. (At least that's what I'm saying now!)
Carolyn - I know. I'll probably get my Doggie Day Care license revoked from showing that picture. ;o]
Sandy - Since the pumpkin vines aren't completely dead yet (we still haven't had our first frost), I guess there's still hope for more ripening.
Could you put a deep layer of straw in your large flower boxes and set pumpkins, etc. on top of that so the decorations would be level with the tops of the boxes? I know what you mean about the boxes looking so naked when the summer flowers come out!
Onions look great hope that works. Do, you ever plant the roots when you use your onions, mine are doing good from the roots I planted.
How long do you have to cure onions? Or do you just check them to see when they are ready? I have no idea about how to store onions as you can tell. If we grow any we eat them so never any extra to store. Your pumpkins look fabulous. I hope they get enough time to turn all orange.
Tombstone Livestock - I've never planted the roots like you describe. Would be nice to see a little tutorial (with pictures) on how you do that and the growth of the new onion in its different stages. Hint, hint, hint. :o}
Sparkless - The curing of the onions all depends on how mature they got while in the soil, the place you cure them, the air circulation, the warmth or coolness . . . can take up to three weeks. I'm hoping this way works, but I'm not real sure that we won't end up moving them inside to spread out . . . where? That's the problem.
What a great idea for the onions! I didn't plant as many this year so I had plenty of room in our garden shed. What nice shaped pumpkins! Sure hope they turn some more before it frosts!
Oh, that Tucker is a cutie! I love watching dogs sleep - they do it so well. Those pumpkins are amazing! It looks like a painting. Mine were puny and disappointing and all wilty. What a challenge this season has been. Glad you're enjoying a teeny bit of warm, sunny-ish weather. You deserve it!
Tucker is adorable! What is it about a sweet pup napping in a sunbeam that is so charming?! Great idea about the onions too. After harvesting our summer crop of pumpkins, I composted another round of seeds hoping for Halloween pumpkins.... but for naught.... as the dreaded vine borers took over the tender vines almost immediately and looks like we'll have none. Drat. For some reason I can produce pumpkins for summer.... but not for Fall.... weird. I really need to move our pumpkin patch. Your window boxes are always so pretty!
Liz - As we were laying out the onions, my husband asked, "Do we really use this many onions over winter?" Yep, we do! The pumpkins are very nicely shaped. I really like the variety of them I always plant.
Susan - We had our two days of warm weather last Saturday and Sunday. It's been down to the 40s since as daytime highs. Today it started raining about 11 a.m. and is still going. We just made a first in the wood stove 'cause it felt so chilly in here. Well, it's October 1st so I guess it's about time for a little inside heat!
Lisa - Yes, I've noticed in our climate, too, the success of a crop can depend on when you plant it. Thanks for the nice words regarding the window boxes. Don't know what I did yesterday but something interfered with me getting the flowers pulled and the fall decorations in. Today I processed the last of the Brussels sprouts so didn't get the boxes done today either!
Looks like you did well on your produce this year. I'm jealous of those pumpkins! Ours got washed away in the rain and we never replanted. :( Great to check in on you and see you're keeping on!
Amy - Great to hear from YOU again! Yes, our garden did exceptionally well considering our long, cold spring and a summer without sunshine! Now they say we're to be expecting rain and snow so I don't know how much more chance to turn orange our pumpkins will get. :o(
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