While the rest of the crew went hunting, my oldest sister and I set out with leaf blowers to clear off their lawn before the first snow. It is a pretty big yard, so it was nice to do it together.
My own yard is not such a monumental task, but there are the beds to clean up and all the corners to clean up. I mulched the healthy leaves into my compost bin. The tar spot on the maples, apple scab on the crabs, and black walnut leaves all went to the curb. The weather forecast for this past week was not good. My goal on Sunday was to get it all to the curb to make the November 15th cut off for city pick up. I was so sore at the end that I had to push through. A hot shower followed by ibuprofen and a heating pad were so welcome.
When we got our snow on 11/11, I was glad to have it done. The rest of the week was pretty cold and windy. The flowering kale pulled through but it was pretty frosty after the snow.
The leaves droop and sag with the cold, and perk up as the temperatures come above freezing. It is fun to watch them come back each day as it warms up just enough. I still have some edible kale in the garden. This cold should add sweetness to the plants as they produce more sugars as anti-freeze. There is also parsnips and carrots to dig up. I need to get the garlic in the ground this weekend as well. I regret that I did not get my pot washing done this fall. It is time to put away the garden tools and make room for a car for the winter months.
Last fall I had the most amazing flowering/ornamental kale in my garden. I had grown the rose flowering for a couple years and love the way it looks in a pot. At Christmas I add greens and lights and it is even more stunning. Kale, both ornamental and edible, is an extremely cold tolerant crop. You really have to add some of this to the garden just because it is still looking beautiful when the temps fall below freezing.
I bought additional flowering kale seed to plant more of the peacock red that was in my front garden last fall. I only had four plants, but they were show stoppers. I wanted more. I picked up another more generic variety when a second choice I ordered was out of stock when my seeds came. Then I lost track of them. They didn't make it on my seeding list, and they weren't in my seed box. This "change of life" has not been always kind to my brain. I looked everywhere logical and then the illogical. No seeds.
I broke down and bought plants. Millager's Garden Center had several varieties of 3" plants in a 6 pack tray. I bought three kinds. Then I went to my favorite little local garden center Luxembourg Gardens and found three more varieties in the smaller 4 pack which made them really affordable. Lots of kale for this fall.
Two days later, I am putting away some condiments in the refrigerator and a little, plastic bag falls forward. Yep, it was the kale seeds. Since the seeds I have are all different than the plants I bought, I put them all in trays to germinate. They are germinating well. If all my chickens hatch, there will be a huge flowering kale display on the dead end this fall.
Now, I don't want to put it all in the garden all summer, so my plan is to pot some of it up and hold it for the summer. I will fill in the empty holes of fall with the pots. I started the up-grading process tonight to reduce the water requirements on the pot bound plants I bought. It may all seem a little crazy, but it will be worth it in the end.
