Cold!!! Wet!!! Not much fun to work in...
Okay, so really, it's typical Washington weather but interestingly enough, things in the garden kept going for quite some time...I still had strawberries growing in November! That's unusual for us, but our first true, cold freeze didn't happen until pretty late this month. Typically we have our tomatillo plants growing late into October, and they were, but because we decided this summer to put a lot of effort into our 2017 garden, the plants were excelling from our extra effort.
Okay, so really, it's typical Washington weather but interestingly enough, things in the garden kept going for quite some time...I still had strawberries growing in November! That's unusual for us, but our first true, cold freeze didn't happen until pretty late this month. Typically we have our tomatillo plants growing late into October, and they were, but because we decided this summer to put a lot of effort into our 2017 garden, the plants were excelling from our extra effort.
For one thing, without all the livestock obligations there is more time to dedicate to our garden and without them, it is a lot easier to avoid accidental animal devouring of the crops - several times throughout the growing season. Chickens and ducks are extremely hard on the beginning garden, scratching away at any newly planted area they can get their feet into; ducks will get their bills into the soil and use them as wonderful scoops devouring all your freshly planted peas. They will also make short work of squash leaves come late summer or whatever juicy treat tickles their fancy. Oh yes, we fence, but inevitably a stray one or two find a way in and a LOT of damage can be done in just a few minutes. Many folks and little ones in and out of the garden mean a greater potential for 'forgetting'. One year, I had an entire 20 foot row of beautiful, vivid green, 2 inch tall sunflower starts growing happily and reaching heartily for the sun. I was already picturing the giant fence of towering sunflower heads and the many we'd be picking dried seeds from late into winter. Wouldn't you know it, someone let our turkey tom get access and boy did he make short work of every. single. top! He loved those sunflower sprouts!
What about those adorable sheep and goats? Goats love to browse. I mean they LOVE a huge herbal variety in their diet, and it's good for them - and they know it! Your delectable garden is a smorgasbord of highly nutritious sweet treats they love to savor again and again - and again! Once they've had a taste, they keep coming back for more - or at least try every imaginable way. Goats are really smart and can open gate latches with their mouths. They watch what you do and figure out how to do it themselves! Trust me, we've seen it. Our milk goat found her way into Dad's corn patch one year... massive munching took out a number of stout stocks in seconds. That was devastating to Dad...he had hoed and tended that patch like nobody's business.
Some may think sheep are baaaashful...not really! Yes, sheep prefer grazing your grass first, but when you allow your animals to eat as they're designed, with plenty of herbal variety in their diet, they learn how to meet all their nutritional needs as they graze throughout the day and your garden is a simple serving of the most delectable treats with the least amount of effort, all in one tidy little package! The sheep and even the horses loved the raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and especially all the comfrey! Someone left a gate open this summer and Dixie (our Quarter horse) had gotten in and cleaned up all the grass in the walkways (yay!) but stepped through a number of beds in the process! Twelve hundred pounds of hard hoof pressure is not easy on juicy plants.
We also worked really hard this year to mulch all of our beds nice and deep (2+ Inches) with plenty of our chemical-free, naturally raised horse manure. (Miss Dixie was last to leave the homestead.) We increased the composting power and enabled a greater nutrient take-up by sprinkling the manures with dolomite lime. Calcium tends to be lacking in our soils as forest lands are often more acidic and the dolomitic lime has plenty of calcium and magnesium. While both the manure and lime are breaking down together, they work cohesively to better bring those nutrients into the soils.
As well, we started in late summer with thick path mulches of (free) natural wood shavings and those strawberries were gobbling up all they could get from their side dressings of compost and watering with worm casting tea. We used an old galvanized watering trough for a huge worm bin (vermicomposting) and the worms made quick work of the weeds, veggy, & fruit scraps we added. With no animals to eat it, the worms became our composters. By simply standing it on a couple of cinder blocks when we opened the drain plug, the worm 'tea' came drizzling out into our bucket below. We diluted it with water and treated our plants to a natural power boost!
This fall we also started helping friends of ours clean their rabbitry for a manure return. It's a blessing to give and we're happy to receive these 'black gold' bunny nuggets that will add a significant level of nutrients and bio-activity to our soils. This, in turn, enables plants to grow sooner in the season, produce longer, the fruits & veggies to keep longer, and all will produce more abundantly!
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. Proverbs 24:27