Free tulips from a very nice lady!

One afternoon, recently, I had just finished raking leaves and had sat down to rest when a Champaign colored car stopped in the road in front of my place. A pretty young woman looked at me and asked if I would like some tulip bulbs she had left over. I said ‘sure’ and then later on that afternoon when I got home from the grocery store, sure enough; there was a plastic bag full of bulbs by my front door!

Now, I’ll admit that though I’ve seen this lady in the past, I could not for the life of me come up with either her name or in which house she lives on my street. My bad. I would have like to ask her a few questions as to how and when I should plant them (if you read this, please leave me a comment so I can get in touch). In the mean time, the net came to my rescue. Turns out the ‘now’ is the right time and that tulips are pretty tolerant of soil conditions.

So, trowel and bag of bulbs in hand, I went out and planted bulbs all over the front area of my house where I already had other things growing. The few extra’s I had left over went into the backyard. Now, hopefully all I have to do is wait patiently for spring to arrive and I’ll see just what kind of tulips they will turn out to be!

Fall weather is a perfect lettuce growing time!

As most people know, lettuce likes cool weather. And, while most gardeners plant their lettuce crops in early spring, it’s actually even better if they think to include these in the fall months as well!

If you think about it, the fall provides plenty of warm weather early on to get seedlings up and growing, while providing cool and damp conditions later on. The lack of insects later in the season also helps the plants to reach their fullest potential. Most forms of lettuce, especially the romaine’s are not affected even when the temperatures dip below the freezing point. That makes them perfect for growing in cold frames where a harvest can be extended even into the winter months here in southwest Missouri! I also like to plant a few radish seeds as they mature fast enough to harvest before the real cold sets in!

This picture pretty much sums up my life!

The rose is probably the last one of the 2011 season and it got stuck in a generic olive jar cause I couldn’t fine where I had stashed my small vase! The green tomatoes are there because I can’t decide if I want to make fried green tomatoes or not. And the picture is rather blurry! So you see, I’m a cheap late bloomer that never got vine ripened, and I have poor eyesight. Hmm. That's me alright!

Lettuce starts go into Cold Frame for the winter!

Since I had a few romaine lettuce plants that were doing pretty well in the general garden, I thought it might be fun to transplants them into one of my two small cold frames for the winter. I call them CF1 and CF2 so I can keep them straight in my garden diary.

CF1 already had a couple of small kale plants growing in it while CF2 had two small basils. The basil will be a real challenge to keep alive this winter I can tell you that. Anything much below 40F and they’ll be goners for sure!

I also thought to place a wireless temperature sensor in CF1 to keep an eye on just how cold they will be getting. Generally speaking, temperatures are not a problem until sometime in December when things can get a little dicey. But, right now, the daily highs normal in the mid fifties, the growing conditions will be just right for them to get some growth on prior to winter.

Better late than never!

Like most men, I have a tendency to put things off until the very last minute. That goes double for my garden which has basically sat neglected for much of the fall. Now, just two days before a major cold wave that is sure to kill all my basil plants, I’m under the gun to get as much dried or frozen as possible.

For this job, I got out my trusty dehydrator, cleaned it up and then cut up a bunch of basil to go into the multiple tray thing-a-ma-jigs. I set the unit for 125F and will let ‘er run until late in the evening. On Monday, I hope to get another batch processed although I may end up chopping and freezing them in my deep freeze. Either way, I will be just a step ahead of a killing cold that is expected to drop into the low thirties by Wednesday. One advantage to drying basil inside is the wonderful aroma that fills a kitchen when the dehydrator is running.

Added to my list of chores will be moving all my plants that currently reside on the front porch inside. If I can get those two things done, I’ll count myself lucky and then go out and sit on the porch while it’s still warm!