Putting The Garden To Bed For Winter

Yesterday brought harsh winds off the Cascade Mountains, that are still howling – and as well the first freeze of the season. Which leaves one knowing fall is nearly gone, and the cold dark months await. But it also means the bugs go away for awhile 😉

Oh wait, this is before the leaves fell yesterday! This afternoon I got to spend it picking up what felt like thousands of pine cones and branches. And I am sure there will be more tomorrow 😛 Gardening…good for a workout. The boys had no desire to go outside. They claimed it was “cold” 😉

Having said all that, I worked hard this past week to get more work done, before the ground freezes for winter. These are two of my new bigger beds – made with masonry blocks, which sell for around $1.o9 at our local Home Depot. They are very heavy, but are affordable, last and work well. PS: They do settle into place, once soil is added. In the picture above, you can see the new beds on the far right. We were originally going to put beds on the fence that runs to the right, but decided instead this would be where our greenhouse will go. The land is flat as can be, and wide, but also it gets less sun there, meaning that raised beds wouldn’t do as well.

The next bed I am working on is over in an underused spot, which gets full sun in summer.  It isn’t quite done yet – it will need more grading, the spot goes downhill. The area sits on a very shallow area of soil, this is where the builders threw many of the rocks, which my rock “garden” corner to the left, out of the picture, it will become a garden spot as well next spring!

I’ve been asked why I chose these bricks over cinder block style. It came down to cost (they run a little more), but also as the cinder style is wider and takes up more space. I have a few beds still to be developed that I will be using cinder blocks on – where tightly spacing isn’t a huge issue.

Unable to pass up a great sale at Seattle Seed Company a few weeks back, I got a vast array of organic and non-GMO seeds for next year.

They were clearancing the 2014 seeds at 50% off. Yes, there maybe some reduction in seed life, but it isn’t huge the first year, if they are stored right. This week I am going to do a pictorial on how I store seed packets, so that they are viable for years! PS: I was figuring these might be tiny packets, with a few seeds, as the prices were already lower than many organic seed places, but no, they are well filled bags. If you live in the PNW, consider checking them out.

And I have to share this – it says it well on why I choose to do suburban homesteading 🙂