Today in Our Fall Garden #GardenCuizine #HappyThanksgiving

Today in Our Fall Garden
South Jersey 
USDA zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

Yesterday felt like the last warm Fall day here in South Jersey. With the exception of red, orange and yellow, the blue, pink and pale colored Summer blooms are starting to look out of place - yet they'll continue to bloom until the first hard frost:

• Salvias (Pineapple sage, Lady-in-Red, Coral Nymph, Black and Blue, Guaranitica), Cosmos, Firecracker plant (shown), trailing Abutilon (shown) and Nicotiana.  

Even Mom had a chance to sit and read the paper on the front porch while enjoying some fresh air and sunshine. 

And, what a difference a day makes; today became windy and 20 degrees cooler! 

Our gardens linger on and have not completely succumbed. Prolific red currant tomatoes and long hot peppers appear to glow against brown dying vines.

Once we get a killing frost we'll dig and store canna and dahlia tubers in peat moss to over winter as always.

Haven't the leaves been especially vibrant and beautiful this fall? Fall leaves make great compost when chopped up. A simple run over with a lawn mower will allow the leaves to return valuable nutrients to your grounds.

We wish you and your family a blessed Thanksgiving!

Photos and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Today in Our Fall Garden #GardenCuizine #gardenchat

Today in Our Fall Garden
South Jersey

Our unseasonably warm weather (77 deg F) has convinced a purple iris to bloom today! Even our creeping geranium and summer hanging baskets are still blooming away. The tulip and maple trees are not so convinced, though; their leaves continue to fall to the ground as fast as winter snow. 

Cannas and dahlias bordering our veggie garden show signs of dying down too. Soon we'll be digging up the tubers to store them for the winter. I hope to do better with dahlias next year - this season was not that great. Our best blooms were from red and yellow Show 'n Tell.

Garden for Wildlife
Just a few days ago our backyard neighbor had at least 5 deer peering over our fenced yard and garden! We welcome all wildlife and just wish they had more woods and undeveloped habitat areas. I saw the youngest dead on the road the next morning and always feel so sad to see animals hit by cars.

Just before watching all those deer, we saw a ground hog scamper up one of our wooden garden gates. He climbed right to the top, then hung his body over the gate, front legs dangling down. After a few long minutes, he dropped down into the garden. So it appears we have a resident ground hog that wasn't deterred by the fence. 

But, like us, not one of the critters seems interested in the remaining long, red Italian peppers that are still clinging to a few plants. 

Attention Seed Savers
Now is the time to collect as many seeds as possible before they drop to the ground. Some of my favorites include Jobs Tears, Coronado Hyssop, Coral Nymph and Lady-in-Red Salvias, which are actually still blooming!

Enjoy this beautiful Fall weather while you can. Cool, more seasonal air is sure to be here soon.
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Today in Our Garden | Harvested Garlic Chive and Chia seeds! #GardenCuizine

Today in Our Fall Garden

South Jersey
USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

October 7, 2012

Garden Clean Up! 
With the arrival of freezing temperatures here on the East coast, we need to finish getting the garden cleaned up. I wasn't at all surprised to see our Swiss Chard "still" growing!! That is one care-free veggie to grow. We never did get to plant more greens, so there really was not much else to see today in the garden besides oregano, garlic, strawberry leaves and a few stray peppers amidst dead plants and seeds everywhere.  

Overwintering Cannas and Dahlia tubers
As usual, we cut down our dying canna and dahlia stalks. We even put out a heated water bowl for backyard wildlife. Some cannas planted near the house foundation will come back next year. The majority, out in the garden, are too exposed and usually rot if they don't get dug up. Soon we will dig them up and overwinter the clumps, plus dahlia tubers, in Peat Moss in plastic bags stored in the basement. We have found through trial and error that this method works best for us. 

Harvest Seeds Now

If you like to grow plants, it's not too late to look around for annual seeds that you would like to plant in the spring. Annuals can be started inside under grow lights beginning around March. We don't start CHIA inside because it is so hardy and self sows prolifically throughout the garden! We plan on using the nutritious seeds harvested today in recipes.  

Today's seed harvest included:

• Garlic Chives, Allium tuberosum (shown in photo)
• Lady in Red Salvia
• Yvonne's Salvia
• Tarahumara CHIA, Salvia tiliifolia

Happy and Healthy Gardening!
Related Links
Check Out Chia - Super Seed Nutrition by Diana Wind, RD 
The Story of Yvonne's Salvia