Friday, October 04, 2013

Sky Garden

From up on the cliff on a sunny day, it looks like my garden is floating in the sky rather than on the lake.

I am busy putting it to bed for the winter months.Things I still have to do are:
  • cut down my asparagus ferns and use them to mulch the roots
  • put sand around my strawberry plants to protect the crowns
  • put a plastic row cover over my remaining lettuce
  • cut down my bean and tomato plants for compost
  • save my dead marigold flowers for spring planting
  • make a mini-greenhouse for my geranium roots
Things I will leave in the garden for winter use:
  • curly leaf kale (great in salads and slaws)
  • red-leaf chard (also great in salads or cooked like spinach)
  • carrots (they winter fine in the soil, ready for use)
  • beets (they also winter fine in the soil)
What are you doing with your garden for winter? -- Margy

11 comments:

  1. This is a gorgeous photo, Margy. I love it. And your garden gets such wonderful care, I'm sure it will be great again next year. We can't overwinter any veggies here because everything freezes (22 below 0 F) but it sounds like you and Wayne will do fine.
    K

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  2. Oh what a lovely shot Margy. Your garden looks wonderful.

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  3. That is an amazingly fabulous shot. Great reflection and composition. I have already pulled out the petunias - I'm done. :-)

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  4. Anonymous3:07 PM

    Amazing photo. I've just about put all the garden decorations away, there is just 1 tomato plant to cut down, some plants have been trimmed back, others have seed heads left on them for the birds. The weather changed overnight from lovely and warm to wet and chilly.

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  5. Gorgeous shot. Tell me something, how do you save your Geraniums for next spring?

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  6. How do you save Marigold heads? Mine are still blooming but it is getting cold for them. I would love to save some money in the Spring

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  7. This is one beautiful reflections shot. Your garden does look to be floating in the sky. Wonderful capture. genie

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  8. Until you told me we could keep the carrots in the ground during winter, our plan was to remove everything and prepare for winter's rest...now I may rethink that. How nice that you have asparagus, we are going to plant some and are hoping to find some good starter plants; we've always hesitated because planting them by seed takes so long for them to produce, now we've learned about getting cuttings/transplanting and are excited about getting the asparagus ball rolling:)

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  9. I'm overwintering for the first time by leaving in beets and turnips. Does being surrounded by water keep the soil warm in your beds? I'd love to do a post on your garden for my blog, I think my readers would be intrigued. Let me know if you are interested?

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  10. Thanks all for commenting on my "Sky Garden" post.

    Stephanie - I've tried several time to save geraniums. Last year was my first success. I covered the plants in place with plastic before the first freeze and left them alone. The leaves and upper stems died, but two of the three roots survived. It did take them a long time to recover, but by July I got leaves and flowers. I chose to transplant them to another pot because I didn't want to wait that long for color in my window planter.

    Lise - I always use bare roots for asparagus. That way you only have to wait one year before harvesting. My first plants are now 15 years old and need replacing.

    Susan - I'd be honoured to do a guest post. I'll get in touch.

    Margy

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  11. I am delighted to learn about your 'chinampa', or floating garden, on Powell Lake.

    Some folks in Washington state are using a variation of these to increase wildlife biodiversity in ponds down there.

    :-)

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We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy