Winter is Coming!!!

Seriously, I can not believe how fast the end of this year is going. It is half way through October as I write this and the time just doesn't slow down. Our chicks are growing so fast, we just moved them out to their new temporary home. When they finally have all their adult feathers, we will be moving them outside to slowly incorporate with the older girls.

Speaking of the older girls, with the weather changing as fast and erratically as it can, our older girls have begun to molt. Which means they are no longer laying for now. Their energy is focused on new feathers and keeping up with the energy needed for their lives. Now most people will put UV lights in their coop so the chickens get the necessary "Sunlight" to keep producing eggs. However, we decided to let them go their natural route with the molting process as it tends to be healthier for them. They need a break just like we do, otherwise, they will stop laying early and their eggs will begin to lose their taste quality.

However, soon they are going to get some amazing grub. My garden looks like a disaster zone with overgrowth, however on any nice days (meaning no rain or snow) I have been and will continue to work outside to get that garden prepped for the winter. Who knew this much work went into prepping the soil for the following season. Once I get the tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos (all from the nightshade family) cleaned up, the girls will be able to escape to the garden and help destroy those weeds that have taken over.

There are so many ways to prep a garden for the winter. The first thing we did was clean out one of the beds and we planted about 150 cloves of garlic. Four different varieties to be exact. We still have to get a nice thick layer of mulch over them and that will hopefully be over the next few days. This is so the Garlic will stay warm and won't freeze over winter. However, the garlic we have chosen are all the Hard Neck variety, which are a lot hardier for the rough winters we have here. However if you live in the South, soft neck varieties are great as well. Just make sure you get what works best for your zone. 

Now that the garlic is in the ground. The next step we have to do is get everything pulled out; weeds, plants, old mulch. Everything must get cleared up. Then we have to get the cover crop down. That is basically a combination of different plants that will force nutrients back in to the soil. Throughout the growing season, nutrients are depleted quite a bit, so the best way to offset is through a cover crop that will put it all back in. And the cover crop will also be able to be used as "compost" in the spring. Once turned into the soil, it will decompose and put even more nutrients, mainly nitrogen, back into the soil. 

One thing we are going to try out this year, is planting our potatoes in the Fall. One reason is you end up getting two harvests, and two because they will have extra growing time in the spring. Usually we get them planted later than we want because the springs here are so unpredictable. We have had tons of rain so our ground doesn't get dry and we have to wait. We have also had late snowfalls, which means the ground is still frozen over. So we are going to try this method to hopefully have an early start to some of our planting. If I can get my hands on some onion seeds I may try those as well. But that might have to wait till next year. 

This is also the time when we start planning out our garden for the next year. The kiddos ask to try certain plants and I begin my research on seeds and when to plant. My goal for this upcoming season is to get better with succession planting. Basically, as you remove one plant because it is spent you fill it in with another that will grow well in that place. Certain things grow best in the Spring. Where as the Brassica families like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts grow best in the fall. 

We shall see how this turns out. This upcoming summer will be the third year with my 1200 square foot garden. And I am excited to see what happens with everything I learned this year. We have so much we want to try for this upcoming year. And I am so excited to see how we do. One thing about gardening is that you are always learning and finding news ways to accomplish the goals you have. My main one right now. Is growing enough food to last us the winter. (I need to get that storage room cleaned and prepped for this).