You can tell Fall is in the air. The Vine Maples are starting to change color. Some are in the red stage while others will just turn yellow before they drop their leaves.
It’s time to put the garden to bed. It shouldn’t take long. The critters didn’t leave much to harvest. The rabbits got the peas, Swiss chard, carrots and the first planting of the beets. The India Runner ducks got the Brussels sprouts, broccoli, squash blossoms and the potato leaves. The spuds had already started to grow, so no harm done. Planted corn two different times with no success. Finally planted some corn starts, and they only got eighteen inches tall. Couldn’t even get cucumbers or zucchini to grow. Miss the cucumbers but not the zucchini. Diane is the only one that ate the radishes. In fact, she had two plantings of them. Had to move the pepper plants into the greenhouse to keep the ducks from eating all the leaves off the plants. Might actually get a few peppers.
I was smart enough to fence the pole beans right from the start. Got enough to pickle a gallon of them. Next year the fence goes up around the whole garden after it’s planted. All I have to worry about then is the dog. He will pull and eat carrots plus dig an occasional potato.
We got a fair amount of tomatoes. They are on the south side of the pumphouse and not bothered by any critters. Just picked all the green ones yesterday and moved them inside to rippen. They won’t be as tasty as the vine rippened ones, but still tasty.
The ducks do serve a purpose other than causing me grief. They eat every slug they can find. Four females and two males. They have free access to all of the yard, except the garden. If the females are laying eggs, I can’t find their nests. Pickled duck eggs are really tasty.
