Winterizing

 That's what my tomato bed looked like after I ripped out all the cherry tomato plants a couple weeks ago.  Black spot was starting to take over and so I snagged up what remained of the ripe (or nearly) tomatoes and used the rest to make a big batch of green tomato chutney.  My other tomato plants were getting a bit more sun and still doing well, so I didn't take them out for another week.  Unfortunately because of the late start they got, most of the tomatoes were still green- and I'm hoping they'll ripen indoors (note to self: check their progress today!). 

I managed last week to get a ryegrass crimson clover seed blend from the local garden store to put out as a cover crop.  The seeds have sprouted and so of course, the birds have come calling.  This is where I'm thankful to have my dogs.  Even though they can't get into  the beds easily, their presence alone seems to keep the birds at bay.  I'm hoping early in the new year to get the beds build up another 12-18 inches to make them more aesthetically  pleasing in my yard, not to mention easier to harvest from.  I plan on putting down some wire screening also to keep those pesky moles out of my garden beds.

That's about all there is going on over here- I do still have that one pie pumpkin growing on the vine. It's just about ready to be harvested as I've noticed the vine starting to die off in the last couple days.  My kids have really enjoyed watching it's progress so I'm thinking we'll plant one yearly from now on.  Another thing we'll keep up with are the sunflowers!  These have been really fun to watch grow also- and pretty soon here we'll have seeds to roast. Looking forward to that.