Fall has arrived

Even though it doesn't feel like it outside, the calendar and the sun angle and the day length tell us that the end of the growing season is very close. I took a walk around the garden yesterday and saw that most beds still have viable produce in them. Keep harvesting as long as you can, it looks like we have a respite for a bit before a killing frost comes.

When you are ready to put your plot to bed for the winter, please follow these guidelines:

1. Remove all stakes, fencing, tomato cages and decorations. Only leave vegetation.

2. Leave all your vegetation in the bed, do not try to put it in the compost.

3. Large woody plants such as sunflowers and cornstalks, kindly either cut down, pull up and lay flat or chop up to aid in decomposition.

4. If you have a raised bed, you may remove the vegetation and put it in an empty plot in the main garden.

5. Anything you choose to store in the shed is public property available to all gardeners. If you want to keep personal fencing, decorations, etc. please take them home.

   
   

At a point after the leaves fall, the leaves will be raked onto the garden beds. It is much easier to do that if the beds have been cleared by that time of anything that can't be tilled up in the spring. So, watch the trees. When they are bare, it is time to make sure you get your plot cleaned up.

Looking forward to spring - if you think you will want a plot for spring, please let me know for planning purposes. We had some issues with vegetables being taken out of beds without permission this summer. If you would like a plot in the spring, seriously consider some real fencing to place around your plot. Yes, if you can get into it other people can, too, but it is easier to place a polite sign on a fence, and also it gives the person pause to consider if perhaps they shouldn't enter. I will make a better effort to cultivate more than one community bed and I will also work on better signage to explain the purpose of the garden for next season.

If you are still harvesting, remember you still need to water. It is very dry right now.