In Your Garden  Extend Your Growing Season

With November just days away, most heat-loving, annual plants like tomatoes, peppers and basil are done for the season. However, there are a few hangers-on that are still giving. Crops like kale, lettuce, chard, spinach, tatsoi, bok choy and other cold hardies may still be producing and can be harvested well into December, especially if protected under a hoop tunnel or cold frame.
 

Lettuce kept cozy in a hoop tunnel.	Harvesting sweet sweet kale!

We also like to leave our carrots and beets in the soil for as long as possible. With dwindling hours of available sunlight, they may not get much bigger but they sure are getting sweeter. That’s because plants in the cabbage family respond to cold temperatures by increasing sugars in their cells and root vegetables like beets and carrots convert their starches to sugars. It’s win win for both the plants and the eaters!  

Marc's Tips in the Middle #1

If you haven’t already, you will soon be turning your furnace on as the cold weather sets in. To make sure your furnace is running at its best, remember to replace the filter. Furnace filters are working just as hard throughout the summer when the air conditioning is on, capturing everything from pet hair to dust, so it’s likely going to be pretty clogged up. This will make the furnace fan work much harder to draw in fresh air through the filter and into the warming chamber, which can lead to very expensive repairs, and a very cold house. So before cranking up the furnace, replace the filter.

In Your Garden  Good Night Gardens

Now is a good time to put your garden to bed for the season. We like to pull out most of the dead and dying plant material but we leave the roots of bean plants and other legumes in the ground because they have developed nitrogen fixing nodules that help feed the soil.
 

Marc feeds the beds with vermicompost before tucking in our hard-working soil for winter.	Straw mulch protects exposed soil while a cold frame protects cold hardy veggies.

We then replenish the soil with a good quality compost like Jocelyn’s Soil Booster and cover with organic straw mulch. The mulch not only protects the soil from UV rays, erosion, and critter damage, but also provides food for the millions of hungry microorganisms that do a great job of feeding and excreting, which keeps the soil healthy and nutritionally balanced.

 
 Also remember to shut down your irrigation system to avoid frozen and broken pipes. For those of you with in-ground systems, you’ll need to call in your irrigation service company. For those using surface irrigation and garden hoses, just follow these simple instructions for wrapping up for the winter.

Marc's Tips in the Middle #2

Not everyone owns a fireplace, but those of us who do absolutely LOVE it! However, fireplaces are a major cause of house fires. A clean fireplace is a safe fireplace. Bring in a reputable chimney sweep (yes, they do exist outside of Mary Poppins!) to inspect the chimney and clean out flammable elements like creosote that has built up over the years. Remember to close the screen when using the fireplace, and to close the flue once the fire is out and cooled. That will help to keep warm air in the house.

Marc's Tips in the Middle #3

Winter brings with it an increase in the use of fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil, and wood for generating heat. The burning of any fossil fuel generates carbon monoxide (CO) gases, which, if not vented properly, can be deadly. Not only that, but CO is an invisible, scentless gas that, if entering your enclosed environment, will go unnoticed until too late - you’ll drift off as if falling asleep, and wake up dead! This is an excellent time to make sure your carbon monoxide detectors are installed properly, with a fresh set of batteries heading into the winter.