October thoughs

Fall container

I know I said that the garden was dead a few posts ago, but the rumors have been... well, slightly exaggerated, anyway. It's true that the majority of the summer vegetables are done now. I spent a day last week pulling out all the tomato plants, the tomatillos, the beans, and the squash. But in the process, I harvested a number of green tomatoes that will hopefully ripen all right indoors.

And after the tomatoes came out, I put some raspberry canes in the back bed as a temporary holding spot until I'm able to build them a better one in the spring. The raspberries were being given away by someone at work, and I couldn't resist.

Elsewhere in the garden, the dahlias are still going strong-- the frost that got the tomatoes didn't touch them. Admittedly, my dahlia collection was based around autumnal colors (predominantly oranges and reds with muted yellows and pinks), but they're really producing some gorgeous seasonal bouquets.

Also going strong? The leeks and radicchio... finally! I'm beginning to understand that I planted them at the wrong time of year. In theory, they're supposed to be planted in early spring, or fall. I suspect that I planted mine too late in spring, because the leeks stayed spindly, and the radicchio green and floppy, all spring and summer long. But now the radicchio is turning red and looks as if it might actually form heads, and the leeks are starting to look almost leek-like. I'm very pleased. The sorrel is still going strong, as well. I'm going to have to thin out the plants before frost, so there is a large pot of cream of sorrel soup in my imminent future.

Today's photo is of a fall planter that I crammed together. I've never thought much of asters, but this year I'm into them-- they're autumnal without being chrysanthemums. If that heather makes it through the winter, it's going into the front yard.

If you are a gardener, you might want to check out Folia, an exciting website that's in beta testing at the moment. I don't know how long the waiting list is for an account, but it's very fun-- a plant journal, social website, photo album, and garden brag sheet all in one ;-) It doesn't look as if pages are open to the public yet, but if you snag an account, you can find me listed under the username Satrina0.

Halloween (and the average first frost date in this area) is coming up fast! Hopefully I'll be able to sneak in another post before we really get into the winter doldrums.

Winter Sowing Update #1: Alpine Strawberries

Alpine Strawberries - 7/23/07

These poor strawberries never even received a passing mention here, so it's time to give them their due. Back in April, after most of my other winter sown seedlings had been transplanted to larger pots, I picked up a packet of alpine strawberry seeds at the store on impulse. I'd tried growing strawberries from seed before (with poor results), but thought they might be good candidates for winter sowing. It could have been a disaster if a heatwave had hit, but our April was quite cold and rainy, and the seeds germinated in about two weeks, to my delight.

It was a month before I transplanted the seedlings to a larger pot (the strawberry pot seen here), by which time it was almost too late; the roots had really taken off in the shallow bakery tray in which they'd been planted. To untangle the seedlings from one another, the roots had to be almost completely exposed. I spread the roots out as best I could in the fresh soil and hoped I hadn't killed my new babies.

Their fate seemed uncertain, but I kept the faith by watering the seedlings carefully and daily, and am pleased to say that about six weeks after transplant, they seem to have made a full recovery. I really love this container! Given, since alpine strawberries don't produce runners, the point of planting them in a strawberry pot is probably lost-- but the plants seem happy, so I'm happy, too!

P.S. You can see what they looked like one month ago here.