Fall Garden Chores

I like Summer because there isn’t much to do other than harvest and weed a little. Fall and Winter are when we have the most chores. Fortunately after all the hard work we did last year with double digging our beds means we have less to do this year.

Right now we’re cleaning out our livestock yard and putting the compost on our beds so by Spring it will all be broken down and worked in to the soil to help with our seedcorn maggot problem. We’re tearing out old crops and putting in our Fall crops. Something keeps eating my seedlings, so I’ll need to replant some. And the squirrels keep digging up my carrot bed. Argghhhhh!

We need to go through our irrigation system and make sure everything is running OK. Parts will need to be replaced. I’m getting tired of the T-tape lines. They puncture too easily and always seem to be bursting. I’m thinking of replacing them with Rainbird’s XF Series Dripline, which is 1/2″ tubing with inline emitters inside the tubing. It’s not nearly as cheap but it will last a lot longer. Fortunately because I need 1,000 feet of it, I can get a bulk discount on it.

Our greenhouse still isn’t built, but after Town Mouse pointed out, we are going a different route and building it out of old windows. We’ve collected all the windows we need, we just need to get structural materials to build it.

We’ve also got a pile of wood chips that have been properly composted and need to get spread out in the garden. It really helps out when the rains come. It keeps us and the dogs from getting all muddy. It even allows us to be able to drive into the backyard after it rains.

It’s also goat breeding time. The buck is out with the girls. We’re logging their heats. Both have been in heat in the last couple of days. If they don’t come back into heat then we’ll know they’ve been bred. The buck we have is kind of a lolly gagger. He’s also a typical male – only interested in the doe that isn’t interested in him and ignoring the one that is interested in him. Hopefully he gets it together.

Yes, Fall is my favorite season. Sometimes I wonder why.

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