Bed Time

The tomatoes are waiting to be put to bed

The harvest is pretty much over, just a few more apples to pick today and some grapes tomorrow. I have a few crops I’ll leave in the garden and in the hoop house to eat over the winter, but otherwise, the garden is ready to be put to bed.

This bed is planted with cover crop

With Steven’s help, I started clearing out a few beds a week ago. We worked on a few more this past weekend. I got some cover crop planted (fava beans and vetch). I am still experimenting with different cover crops, to see which works the best for us. I put the white row cover over it for a little extra warmth to help the seed germinate.  And after a week, it is starting to grow.

A fava bean germinating under the row cover

There is a lot more bed clearing to do, but in yesterday’s beautiful weather, it was time to plant garlic. I planted four varieties: Chesnok Red, Spanish Roja, Inchelium Red and Early Italian Purple.

The garlic is planted here

It is funny how a simple tool can make a task so much easier. I saw in a seed catalog some plastic tubes to put over the tines of a landscape rake, so it could be used to mark rows. It was a very simple, inexpensive idea that worked great.

Plastic tubes over the tines of a landscape rake...a simple tool to mark rows

I put tubes on our landscape rake and marked rows 4 inches apart. It was much easier to place the garlic.

My last task for the garlic is to put a layer of compost over the top. But first, I have to find the compost that is hidden under the leaves in our compost bins.

There is compost hidden somewhere under those leaves