adjusting my chicken's lighting

My chickens still aren't laying any eggs. I came across this article: Why Aren't My Chickens Laying, from McMurray Hatcheries. I will follow their advice and set my light timer to come on early in the morning, before dawn, to give the chickens 14 hours of sunlight.

Near Boston, we're getting 10.5 hours of sunlight now (and decreasing fast!). Sunrise today was 7:15 MA, so I should the light to come on at 3:45 AM!! That's early!

I had my light coming on at 6:15 AM and after dusk until 6:45 PM. That was only giving them 12.5 hours, and most of the extra in the evening. McMurray suggests its better to have the extra light in the morning. So 3:45 AM it is. I just went out and adjusted the timer.

I sure would like at least one of the four hens to lay me some eggs.

today's harvest

cutting greenhouse plastic to cover hoops

I got my roll of plastic out and brought it down to the garden today. Its standard clear 6 mil greenhouse film from Greenhouse Megastore. Its the first time I've used this. Its 12 feet wide, so seems perfect for covering my 1/2 in PVC pipes, which are 10 feet long. There will be 1 ft at each side for anchoring.

I suppose I could have measured the tunnels, figured out the length of plastic I needed to cover the 12 foot bed plus the two edges and then added 1 ft for anchoring. Instead, I laid it out (still folded) over the bed and cut it in place. I secured the plastic with clips to hold it in place.

Once cut, I removed the clips, unfolded the plastic and laid it out over the bed. I secured the edges with the boards my husband cut earlier for me to use to walk across the beds. I have six, 2x6", 4 foot boards and a couple of 6 foot ones. These seem to work perfect to secure the plastic. I don't know how easy they will be to remove mid winter when I want to harvest from the bed, but I'll find out.

I left the plastic on the bed for a only a few minutes, then peeked in on the plants. Hot!! Its 60*F ans sunny today, so the greens do not need to be covered. I took the plastic off and got a good whiff of warm humid air flowing out. I'll wait til temps drop to cover again.

hoops ready for covering

My winter bed is ready to be covered. The weather has been beautiful so far this month. Perfect for growing a bed full of greens. Today, we are expecting more warm sunny weather, but Thursday, temperatures are going down. I'll get out the plastic and cover the bed today.

Not sure if I should put the gnomes in the winter tunnel. They've worked so hard all summer - may be ready for a rest from gardening.

what happened to this Romanesco cauliflower?

What happened to my mom's Romanesco cauliflower Veronica? It grew into a giant plant and now it has leaves between each floret. We've never grown this before.

carrot martini

This is a giant purple-skinned carrot that a friend of my mom grew. Perfect for a martini!

today's harvest

This harvest is from my kitchen garden in my back yard.

today's harvest

The dogs and I spent the afternoon in my community garden plot. It was another beautiful fall day. I dug sweet potatoes. A 4x4 foot bed full of them. I think I got a better harvest last year, but still the yield was good. I always love discovering fresh tubers in the dirt. I pulled the last small celeriac too and cut some of the ever present dill. And, once again, picked a ton of cherry tomatoes. That tomato plant just won't quit!

A fellow gardener told me the she cures her sweet potatoes. I vaguely remember something about doing this. She puts them at high humidity and high temperature for a week. I think she said she uses a tent and a humidifier. I just store mine in the kitchen and they seem good. I haven't even washed mine, I'll do that when I eat them. (Added later) I just now read back in my blog. Someone recommended keeping sweet potatoes in a box by a radiator. I will wash mine and do that.


Isn't my Skippy a handsome boy! And Suzie is posing for her picture again.

October flowers in my vegetable garden

vegetables in my larder

While rearranging shelves where I'm storing my winter vegetables, I spread out everything on the patio. Suzie even posed too!

I have metal shelves in the dining room for storage now, but am looking forward to building a storage pantry in the spring.

parsley pesto

I think I'll make Parsley Pesto today while it rains outside. I had a nice patch of basil, but it got the new basil downy mildew and never amounted to anything I could use for pesto. I don't know what I'll do next year for basil. Has anyone seen resistant seeds yet? Anyway, I have way too much parsley in the garden, so Parsley Pesto it is!

This recipe looks good: Parsley Pesto at Food and Wine.com. I'll just process the parsley, garlic, olive oil and salt then freeze it. Nuts and cheese can be added when we use it.

I scaled the recipe up.
10-12 cups lightly packed parsley leaves (a large bowlful)
7 cloves garlic
1 Tbs salt
2.5 cups olive oil
1 cup blanched almonds
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Puree parsley in food processor with garlic and salt adding olive oil gradually in a thin stream to the processor to keep the parsley processing. Add nuts and cheese and process to mix.

Serve over fresh pasta.

I made one batch and we ate a serving fresh off the cutting board (yummy!!!). We froze the rest in baggies. Then we made a second batch without adding garlic, nuts or cheese. Just parsley and olive oil. We could use this for anything! We'll remember to add cheese, garlic and nuts later if we use it for pesto.

today's harvest

today's garden work

It's 80*F a couple days after our average first frost date! And warm weather is still ahead of us. It's great to be still picking peppers and green beans, though the rest of my summer crops have faded with the fading light. i am ready to put up a winter low tunnel over greens, but no need for it yet. the hoops are standing bare and waiting.

Work today in my home garden:
- pull carrots
- pick green and red chile peppers
- start bagging late blight infected tomato debris for disposal in the trash (I should have done this earlier, but there is so much that I piled it and let it rot down for a while.)

October backyard

Not too bad for a cell phone photo! I forgot my camera at my parents' house last week. I'll have to make the hour trip back up there to get it soon. I set this photo as my desktop background.

This afternoon the dogs and I took the row boat across the pond to conservation land under those tall pines you can see. We walked on the trails for an hour. Lots of other dogs and people were out walking on this beautiful day. Sad that it took me so long to row across a little pond. I have to learn how to manage a couple of oars. It's a lot harder than a kayak paddle. At least the dogs didn't complain. They love being on a boat!

not much left in the garden

The late fall greens are growing and lots will be ready soon. Hoops are standing bare, awaiting cold weather. The corn is down, I pulled all the carrots and picked all the eggplants. The broccoli is trying to broc again, but may not make it. Green beans are still making a few pods. Shell beans are finishing up. The peppers are going strong. I guess they'll go right up to a frost.