Wow, Alice, that's awesome!

I do still have carrots and lettuce under a row cover, and a couple of pots on the porch with Gazanias and African daisies that are still hanging in there, but for the most part everything bit the dust when we had a couple of nights below 20 degrees. Even the mums are gone, because I was too lazy to drag out the row cover.

On the cherry tomatoes, I had the same problem, so I sent a couple of bags full to work with DH, and he gave them out to his co-workers. Next year, more slicers, less cherries : )

BTW, did you get my email about the Achillea?

Bonnie

Zinnias dead and brown before I pulled them.
Roses, snaps and calendula blooms refusing to open because of hard frost every . . . single . . . morning. Roses are turning brown and snaps, transparent.
Petunias looked like they'd been trampled by a thousand cats (I may be confusing the forensic evidence) before I dumped their containers in the compost.

Lettuce, bok choy and mustard greens are tough - as in tough to chew. I'm losing interest as to whether they can "tough it out."

Harrumph!

On a brighter note . . . it certainly has been sunny and pleasant almost every day up here! I saw a bee the other day. And, there was a fly on the deck yesterday, making lazy circles all by himself. He was out there again today - oh, how I wish he'd go away.

Steve's digits

Chickens have been having a feast cleaning up all the leftover tomatoes. I have to pull the vines tomorrow and throw them on the compost. I also have to dig all the potatoes.
The good thing about us being so close to Novemnber is that all the ads will stop soon, thank goodness.

Billie

IÂm pretty much all closed down for the year. I cut my SheffieldÂs down a couple weeks ago when I was leaving on a 4-day trip and it was supposed to (and did) get down into the low 20's while I was gone. I still have a vase full of them inside but theyÂre not looking too spiffy anymoreÂpartly because I havenÂt been changing the water often enough. They do last a LONG time in water when you take care of them. There are still a few stems outside that I didnÂt cut down, and, amazingly, theyÂre opening up and looking pretty goodÂbut thereÂs not enough left to be attracting bees or butterflies this year.

Everything else has pretty much bought it and is waiting to be cut down. I just "moved" my compost pile today, making room for all the leaves and the perennials as I cut them down. IÂve already gotten 14 bags of leaves from my neighbor, and they havenÂt even started raking up the maple leaves yet! The maple leaves are what IÂm planning to dump on top of my beets, carrots, parsnips, and leeksÂ90% of which are still in the groundÂand will remain there till I want them over winter. Maple leaves are GREAT mulching material since they donÂt pack down at all (if you keep them mostly dry). Once I have my (neighborÂsÂin my yard) cottonwood leaves raked, and the bags of "donated" leaves dumped in the "compost corner," IÂll be moving the "almost finished" compost back up against the edge of the pile where it will be more accessible next spring. The rest of the veggies are cleaned up already. ThereÂs still chard left, but I didnÂt really eat much of that this year! IÂve decided I like "real" spinach a lot more, and may not grow chard at all next yearÂtho IÂm still looking for a spinach that wonÂt bolt immediately so I can get a useable quantity of it. A friend recommended Bloomsdale Long Standing to me. Says sheÂs had a lot of luck with itÂbut she lives in Nederland, so she has much colder temps than I do. But I havenÂt tried it yet, so itÂs on my list for next year.

With the cherry tomatoes, Alice, you donÂt necessarily have to pick them all at once just because theyÂre red. TheyÂll last quite a while even after theyÂre ripe if you leave them on the vines till you want them. Mine are ripening pretty quickly this year tooÂI think itÂs because itÂs been so much warmer in the garage than it usually is by the time I hang them. I just leave them on the vines till I want them. Some of themÂespecially the cherries, may even start to dehydrate a little bit, but I find that usually just intensifies the flavorÂalmost as if theyÂre being sun dried! So keep an eye on them for any that may start going bad, but donÂt be too quick to pick them all since they wonÂt last long at all once you do.

Happy fall,
Skybird

It really has been a nice October, hasn't it?

I've still got kale, onions, and carrots going in my little plots. The kale was a decorative variety, (Nagoya mix) so the cold nights turned the leaves into vivid shades of purple and white that are almost too pretty to eat!

The containers are still being lugged in and out of the garage every morning, so I'm hoping to get a few more late strawberries...

Wow, I love it! We had two days of snow, and that is that. By this time, I should have been covered in snow and the trick-or-treaters would be slipping and sloshing down the road. I am NOT complaining, oh no :)

I cut everything back except a couple of the catmint because they seem to be very happy still. The roses are ready and although I miss the blooms, they had frozen solid too many times for the buds to keep going.

I do have to keep watering, though, and boy is the water bill high this year!

I wonder what kind of winter it will be?

Skybird, the spinach variety that has worked best for me is Unipack 151. But, raising spinach has still not become a sure thing.

Some years, it doesn't seem to matter which variety is out there - and I try to have at least 1 new-to-me each season. I can have some nice spinach in those years. On the other hand, despite a cool, rainy Spring in 'o8 (suppose to be "spinach" weather, right?), none of my spinach did very well.

OSU had some spinach trials in Corvallis. I gotta say that Corvallis must be pretty good spinach country but I realize that it can turn hot & dry . . . some years. Their recommendations are linked below. Correnta is at Territorial and Pine Tree. Regiment is supposed to be a "Spinner-type" and is sold by Johnny's. Google is NO HELP in finding Spinner - all they want to do is show us "salad spinners."

New Zealand spinach is in some folks gardens but it took 2 years to get this perennial started in Dad's. Then it tried to take over! He pulled it out. It tastes fine cooked but is not a substitute for spinach in salads, IMO.

Perpetual spinach is an alternative. Not an alternative to spinach, to my way of thinking, but to your chard. I don't care very much for chard but even tho' this is a relative (so are beets), I like perpetual spinach. Ed Hume packets in the garden center are usually my source. Thompson & Morgan also has it - I think T & M calls it "beet spinach" or something like that.

It is as close to a sure thing as you can get for not bolting - it's a biennial. The taste is more like beets & not too much like either spinach or chard. However, the slugs (is it?) like it as well as chard and can punch a lot of holes in the leaves.

And, as mentioned elsewhere - I'll go for orach with relish . . . er, salad dressing. . . . bolting? yeah, sorry about that.

digitS'

Here is a link that might be useful: Correnta and Spinner @ OSU

Has anyone here grown Good King Henry? (Chenopodium bonus-henricus) I've read that it's another interesting alternative to spinach...

Today was the warmest Oct. 31st I've seen in a looong time. It reached well into the upper 70s here in Fort Collins.

Bonnie - no I didn't get your email! Is this about the multi-colored (I think it was) Achillea?

Skybird/Digit... I have some of the Correnta Spinach seeds from Territorial. This is my second year planting them. I've been very happy with them, but I have to admit I don't eat them myself, but use them in the dogs food. Last summer I planted a second crop which overwintered quite nicely and had spinach very early on. If you'd like to try some, let me know and I'll send them to you.

And Skybird, I like the "sundried" affect idea for the cherries left on the vine!

Alice

Dog's food!!!!

Yes, I'm not only know around the neighborhood as the "crazy plant lady", but as the "crazy dog lady". I have one recipe for spinach that I like, but beyond that we don't eat it much. Love the Swiss Chard though. (But we share that with the dogs too - the ugly, older, bug eaten leaves for the most part.)

On the cherry tomatoes - I made a salad with them for the party we had Sunday - simple balsamic vinegar, mozzarella cheese thing. Got rave reviews. Although one fellow was surprised when he found out they were tomatoes. He thought they were grapes! (That's those sweet Chocolate Cherry Tomatos.)

Alice

Okay Alice, if you must feed garden veggies to your dog: Here's a recipe for a dog snack using parsley and carrots. I've seen thise recipe all over the internet, so maybe it is a good one.

Also, the recipe is similar to a doggone successful one my daughter has used. I recall that hers had a good deal more carrots and I'm quite sure there was an egg in it.

Veggie Bones

Ingredients:

3 cups minced parsley
1/4 cup carrots, chopped very fine
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella or parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons bran
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 to 1 cup of water

Recipe Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, rack on middle level. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Stir together parsley, carrots, cheese, and oil. combine all the dry ingredients and add to veggies. Gradually add 1/2 cup of water, mixing well. Make a moist but not wet dough. If needed, add a little more water. Knead for one minute.

Roll dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Using cookie cutter or a glass, cut out the shapes and transfer them to the baking sheet. Gather the scraps and re-roll and cut. Bake for 20-30 minutes until biscuits have browned and hardened slightly. (They will harden more as they cool.) Speed cool them by placing them on wire racks. Store in airtight tin.

My dogs (especially my older one) take their veggies raw, cooked, or baked into treats (that's how I clean out my fridge/freezer). Raw spinach doesn't always get eaten though, too leafy I guess. If you put it in a salad, put the salad on the table, and turn your back too long, she might just eat it all though. This crazy dog eats about anything, even grapefruit. At a previous house, she used to get into the garden and do a little self-serve. I always knew when she got in there, since my green beans were half gone. Guess she didn't master picking the entire bean. She dug up (and ate) all my carrots as a puppy too.
Now the garden is outside of the fenced backyard. It seemed safer to take my chances with the rabbits and gophers, instead of my crazy dog!

One of our little dogs loves veggies. We suspect he was one of those dogs that had to find food on the floor in order to eat. If we drop a piece of carrot or other veggie, he runs after it, runs off with it and proceeds to start playing with it. He flings it into the air and chases after it. After about fifteen minutes of rough housing with his vegetables, he sits down and eats them.

The other dogs do not like veggies but they get jealous of Gordy's fun and start asking for veggies. Very strange.

Gordy's favourite is cabbage.
***
Still lovely weather and it really is November!! And STILL no snow....

Was supposed to snow Monday night and today. Now, NOAA is calling for:

"Tonight: Scattered rain and snow showers before 11pm, then snow likely. Cloudy, with a low around 26. Breezy, with a west northwest wind 17 to 20 mph decreasing to between 9 and 12 mph. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Wednesday: Snow showers likely, mainly before 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. Windy, with a west northwest wind 18 to 21 mph increasing to between 27 and 30 mph. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no snow accumulation expected."

But, There is no sign of weather outside.

Lovely weather!!!

jclepine - funny how your dog plays with its food. I though that particular play was limited to cats. I will spare you the details.

I hate winter, its so cold and I don't want to go out in the wind. We have not gotten any thing else here but wind.

Billie

As a child, I planned on becoming a veterinarian. Then I learned that they have take care of sick and injured animals!

I enjoyed having dogs and cats years ago but DW has little tolerance for anything but Madam Squirrel and my chickens. DD had to keep her dogs at Grandpa's house.

Fortunately, DD didn't ask for a beagle. My "across the alley" garden years ago had a beagle for a neighbor. I would buy her off with green onions. This was before I learned that onions have some sort of effect on blood cell development in dogs. She liked the onions and decided she didn't need to bark at us thru the fence.

Bark!? Is that what beagles do? My current nextdoor neighbor had a beagle for a short while. Gadzooks, it's constant!! They are in love with the sound of their own voice. She finally threw her husband and the beagle out. Now she's got a new BF and a pit bull mix. Lord have mercy.

Now, the neighbor behind her has a beagle. Serves her right!! But, he is waaay to close to me - and I'm hearing impaired!

Dad's backyard had the same beagle problem - for years and years and years. I heard that darn hound a little at the start of the 'o7 season but all was quiet this year. It's a shame that the only way to gain some peace is to outlive 'em!!

There's a Samoyed across the road. She isn't really loud . . . just neglected. The poor thing never, ever gets out of her backyard and despite there being 3 kids in the house, I never see anybody show her the least attention. She lets all of us know about her miserable life every time the family is gone. baaaark/baaaark/baaaark/baaaark/baaaark/baaaark/ Then the mail carrier comes thru bark/bark/bark/bark/bark/bark/ . . . or the family shows up in the car b'rk/b'rk/b'rk/b'rk/b'rk/b'rk/ I feel sorry for her and you can tell that she's getting old.

We got a new neighbor the other day. I was talking to him thru the fence and he was complaining about the dog noise. After a few days, he got all of his things moved into the house . . . including a fat cat that I hope will be too lazy to come over to cr*p in the flower beds - fat chance!

Then another Samoyed showed up in his yard and after a few days . . . a beagle puppy! Dueling duos on all sides!

digitS'
There you are, right back in the soup again.

Did I just comment on the lovely weather?!!

And now it is well below freezing and snow is blowing around like mad in the howling winds. I kind of like it, actually.

Billie,
I know just what cats "do" with their food and it ain't pretty! Our bigger dog tortured her first vole and even though it was gross, there was something cute about the whole thing.

You are silly, DigitS!

It is probably only a matter of time before your dad goes out and picks up a beagle of his own!

I wish we had more dogs...really. three is more than enough and I prefer wanting more to feeling like I have too many. Nope, no more for me.

My neighborhood is all dog, all the time. They even have a bumper sticker that I see everywhere, "Nederland, a dog in every Subaru" Oh, yes, really!

Too bad the whole neighborhood forgets to mind their dogs. They bark all day, they wander the streets all day and some of them are truly ignored. Lots of good dog people here, too. I see the same people/dog combinations when walking our dogs.

I feel awful when people ignore their pets but and I think that for some folks, it is normal behavior and the way it is supposed to be. I also think people feel as though it is bad to take dogs to rescues. Although the dog does go through a trauma, they adjust quickly to new homes if they are cared for.

I think I'm rambling!

J

Wow digit, that's a lot of beagles. The lonely samoyed should get together with the sad husky-type across the street from me. He has a howl that varies between
sounding heartbreakingly (that's a word, right?)sad and downright tortured. I never see anyone in that backyard. I see the mom take the little kids out front to play outside once in a while. None of my adjacent neighbors have pets. My next door neighbors both work so much, they feel they don't have time for them. Lots better than leaving them out there neglected. One of them pets my dogs, who now just suck up to them, through the fence on a regular basis.

My older dog downs almost all her veggies. My younger one is so funny every time I give him a new food. He takes it from me, then spits it out, picks it up, takes a nibble, spits it out, picks it up....for several minutes. The second time I give him the food, he just eats it. He has to carefully taste test things for some reason. Kinda weird. Especially since he's a 90 lb lab mix... {{gwi:1226746}}From 08 Aug 08

Hopefully the picture worked, I'm new at it...
After driving from CO to VT and back this summer, they still wanted to be in the car...

Jclepine, we had a little snow last night, but it didn't stick to the streets, and was gone by the afternoon, even though it never got out of the 30's today. Brrrr.....

Digit, I grew up with a basset hound, and his bark was very similar to a beagles. Our neighbors were always complaining about it, but my Mom didn't allow dogs in the house. After playing with a frog to death one time, he kept barking at, and his breath would move it slightly, and then he would just bark some more. Not a real intelligent animal, but we loved him.

This afternoon my two sons were outside riding bikes, and I heard someone banging on the door. My older son tried to hand me a meowing, little gray kitten, but I wasn't falling for it. I wouldn't even look it in the eyes. I told him to take it back whereever he found it. 'But Mom, it's freeeezing outside!' he says. We already have two, and I'm allergic to them, so I stood my ground. He talked another neighbor kid into taking it home and begging HIS parents!

Bonnie

The beagle goes on and off like a radio, Bonnie. Or, maybe more like an air raid siren. DW was asking why that was so. I said it's simple, when the dog goes in the house, he stops barking. When he comes out, he barks.

The way I figure it, he's inside nearly 20 hours each day. The pit bull next door is in the house even more - way more. I think those folks are embarressed that he rushes at his fence and barks every time someone or some car goes by. And he will NOT come when they call . . . so his brief forays in the yard attract attention. He's sometimes locked out on an upstairs balcony. He doesn't like it there and he howls.

Bean, no one should be too familiar with the word "heartbreakingly," the adverb form of heartbreaking. Of course, that's the real purpose for dogs - to protect people from this condition. Labs are especially skilled. Bassetts, who doesn't smile just looking at them? And, is there anything cuter than a beagle puppy?

The Samoyed once got out of her backyard while I was shoveling snow in the pre-dawn darkness. A hood was over my head and my eyeglasses were fogged. Suddenly a large pile of snow moved against my leg and tried to push its way thru my front gate . . .

The owner came after her and dragged her back across the road without so much as a word to either the dog or me. That woman has never spoken to me in about 5 years that they've lived there. Husband is about the same. Gotta wonder how their 3 little girls will turn out.

digitS'