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Comment by Sentient Biped on September 13, 2012 at 9:00pm

Got up to 100 here today.  I expect it Fall to arrive like gangbusters any day.  Thought it was here last week.

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Joan I couldn't handle a frost in August.  It would really get to me!   I would need a greenhouse!  You are made of tougher stuff than I am.  :)

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iSpud your temp sounds like mine right now, except still a bit warmer here.  No rain yet.  That's not unusual in my area.  Last rain was.... June?  Will be glad when the rains start.  Watered all of the newly planted trees, after applying a thick compost mulch.  Labor of love, and maybe a new generation will benefit from the oxygen, shade, and beauty, some day, so a little water invested now is a good thing.

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Today I built a raised bed.  For engineering simplicity, I used 2X6s that were 8 feet long.  Cut some in half, so the beds are 4ft by 8ft.  They are 2 timbers high, which makes them a foot deep.  On the bottom, I screwed on chicken wire.  That's to keep moles from tunneling upward and disrupting the plants.  Then  bottom liner of cardboard and old cotton factory-made quilt that was about to disintegrate.  That's to keep perennial weeds and thistle from growing up through the new soil.  Eventually the bottom will degrade, so the beds will be connected to the underlying soil structure, which is good.  I think.  I filled it half full today.  Then wore out.  The filler is about 3/4 topsoil and 1/4 yard debris compost.  Roughly.  I get the compost at a composting center locally, $25 per cubic yard, which is what my truck holds.  The dry soil is too hard to dig.  I made use of mole hills, filling my wheelbarrow with the tops of mole hills.  There are many, many, many, many of those.  The moles make the topsoil nice and granular and loose in their hills.  I figure they are bringing up minerals too, from the lower layer of soil.  Thank you moles.  We also had a fence put in, and the post holes were surrounded by the finely ground 'waste' soil, so I used that too.  Watered it in, mixed together, watered in, mixed, and raked.

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Plan on filling the rest of the bed on Sat or Sun.  Honor the Sabbath, not.  Then I can plant garlic and heritage onions - white multiplier onions, my favorite.  I've been growing the multipliers from just a couple, to now a few dozen.  Now there are enough that if next year's crop is generous, I will finally have a lot to eat.  So far just eating a rare few, to save and expand the "seed" crop.  Sticking mainly with Inchelium Red garlic, which grows so well here I find it hard to believe.  Love that garlic.  Last year I grew them in barrels which worked great, but the raised beds have more room, and with the larger amount of soil should need less watering.  Plus, it's in the countryside and the sun is really brighter there - I hope that makes for bigger and tastier crop.

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The only fall planted veg's this time, for me, are the onions and garlic.  So that is the only bed that needed "urgent"  preparation.  The others can be built through the winter.  Maybe set one or two up as cold frames?

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I'm exhausted and my back hurts.  And my knees.  All of which is good.  There was much to get out of my system.

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Peace and love to my fellow godless gardeners.

Comment by Joan Denoo on September 12, 2012 at 11:13am

 Idaho Spud, Historically, my first killer frost was 8/11/2011. I keep track of the earliest. I haven't kept tract of first frost ... I shall start this year. Thanks for the question. 

Comment by Idaho Spud on September 12, 2012 at 7:11am

Joan, is the cold weather at your place normal for this time of year?

Comment by Joan Denoo on September 11, 2012 at 11:10pm

I like my seedy Concords better than seedless as well. By the way, frost is getting closer. My tomatoes stopped blooming and I eat the Sun Gold faster than they can ripen. They are so good. 

Comment by Idaho Spud on September 11, 2012 at 3:36pm

Thank you very much for the compliments Joan.

The temperature here hasn't fallen below 50 deg yet.  It's predicted to reach a low of 45 this week, but it's usually warmer at my place.

My cabbage and cauliflower are taking-off like gangbusters now the temperatures have dropped from the daytime highs of around 98 to 78.

Sentient, YES!  I would love some cuttings!  I'll give you my address in a private message.

I planted an Edelweiss white grape a year ago.  It had two shoots this spring, but one of them broke-off when they reached about 1.5 feet.  I think the wind did it because it's shoots are unusually brittle.  After it reached 4 feet, the top 2 feet of leaves turned yellow.  Don't know why, but the main vine is now at 9 feet and the leaves on the top 5 feet are green.

I keep my garden log on my computer.  I only started this year and don't remember to write as much as I want to, but I'll get better!  It just dawned on me that some of the things I write here can be copied and pasted into that log.

Comment by Sentient Biped on September 11, 2012 at 9:59am

Mostly I use the grapes for fresh eating.  I usually share a lot of them. Grew up eating fresh grapes.  People are surprised at the flavor, not like the California and Chile - shipped grocery grapes.  I have made raisins - use a food dehydrator.  They are good that way.

I. Spud, the blog is my garden log, although a very public one.  I use it for reference to see what happened, what I thought, what worked or didn't work.  I used to do it on paper, but blog is better.

If you want some grape cuttings I'd be happy to mail you some.  That way no cost if they don't grow.  I use Pacific-NW-adapted varieties that bear with the shorter season - Price, Canadice, Interlaken, Venus.  I once chopped up grape prunings and used them for much.  Many sprouted and there were little grape vines all over the place!

Joan, that's too cold too soon!  I was looking forward to fall, so I could plant and move more fruit trees / vines / shrubs in the cooler weather.  Now I don't know!  OK, fall, here we come!

Comment by Joan Denoo on September 11, 2012 at 9:49am

It got down to 35 degrees last night in Spokane. My daughter lives 50.1 miles north of me near Newport, WA. and they had 31 degrees last night. 
Idaho Spud, you are becoming quite the horticulturalist! Your comments delight me and encourage me that gardeners are coming along behind my generation. 

Comment by Idaho Spud on September 11, 2012 at 8:58am

I want to reach-out, grab some, and pop them in my mouth.

I've read quite a bit on your blog (wow, you have a lot written), and I saved your paragraph about grape cuttings, as I want to try it next year.

 I'm trying a tree cutting this year from a nice-looking and delicious crab apple tree I found decorating the entrance to a new subdivision.

Comment by Joan Denoo on September 11, 2012 at 12:01am

Your grapes look yummy! A nice bowl of grapes, feet up on a hassock, and munch away! Do you preserve some? 

Comment by Sentient Biped on September 10, 2012 at 10:22pm

Now for some ripe grapes.  This variety is "Price" which ripens well in the cool summer of the Pacific Northwest.  It's too cool here for Concord.  These have a great sweet Grapey flavor.  They have seeds - not a problem for me, and a lot of people don't like grapes with seeds, which means more for me.  I think they have better flavor than seedless grapes.

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