My Garden Journal October Update With Winter in October...
Not much happening in the gardens outside for October except some fabulous winter wonderland scenes!
My gardening got moved indoors with the killing frosts we had the last part of September and it's good to be able to keep picking some fresh produce - lettuce, kale, green onions, celery, rhubarb chard plus some potted pepper plants which I got to flower again so I should have some more sweet peppers, and of course my different herbs - basil, cilantro, lemon thyme, lemon verbena, rosemary, chives, stevia, 3 different mints, lemon grass and a cannabis plant.
JJ isn't going out as much anymore with the cold and snow on the ground so he's enjoying having the outdoors indoors in our sun room.
JJ Taking Over a Box Left in the Sun Room
We call it our sun room but it doesn't get much direct sun in the winter for the sun is to low and it's behind the evergreens for most of the day. Last year I finally broke down and invested in some grow lights which I'm sure happy I did for we had a real long cold winter last year and folks were complaining of getting depressed but not me for I kept on gardening for the winter with the grow lights keeping away the S.A.D. syndrome!
This year we have ordered a couple more grow lights (ceramic halides) so we can use the whole area of the sun room for growing. That makes me happy and I think my husband too, for he has his cannabis grow project going on in there! We got mold on the cannabis plants we were growing in the greenhouse this past summer so we decided to keep the whole growing cycle in the sun room and keep a rotation of plants happening starting with a nice mother he got from our neighbor.
Growing Cannabis for a Mother Plant
Let's start by checking out some of the the winter wonderland scenes outside...
Lovely Wintry Scene of House and Yard After First Heavy Snow
Snowy Lilacs Bend Over Arches Entering the Gardens
Looking Through the Arch into the Side Yard
Plum Trees Garden Bed and Greenhouse All Covered with Snow
Winter Wonderland Created By Snow Laden Evergreens Behind Greenhouse
All that was left still growing in the greenhouse (amazingly after 15 degrees below Celsius) was the chickweed which continued to provide fresh salad greens for us. See the article I wrote about the other uses I had for that abundance of chickweed here!
Chickweed Fresh Picked From Snowy Greenhouse
Last year we had a heavy snow that bent the Amur Maple to the ground breaking the main branches so we cut it off and left a stump which sent out some healthy new sprouts and now this year the heavy snow came again and bent that new growth to the ground.
New Growth on Stump of Amur Maple Crushed To the Ground With Heavy Snow
Bruno Sitting on Snowy Deck Winter Wonderland Behind
Snow on Vines Holding on to Their Green Leaves and Snowy Deck
Bruno Running By Snowy Apple Tree Holding Onto Leaves
Icicles Formed with Mounds of Snow on Shrubs and Evergreens in Front Yard
Looking in to the Sun Room with a Beautiful Wintry Display Outside
Inside Sunroom with Snowy Scene Outside
Veggies and Herbs Growing Under LED Grow Lights
In the courtyard on the other side of the house the growlights created a beautiful scene with the snow mounded honeysuckles and choke cherrry bushes - lets have a look...
Scene From the Courtyard With Snow Laden Honeysuckle
I'll leave you with some photos taken from that snowy courtyard in the early dawn light - Enjoy!
In the Early Dawn Grow Lights Highlight Snow Mounds in Bushes
Pop on over to @simplymike to check out her
SteemIt Community Garden Journal Challenge here
This was my October Entry
All pictures were taken with my Canon PowerShot
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It is so great that in the middle of winter there is a corner in which it is warm and there are plants!
I never been in the snow. The place looks very pretty. Though I have no idea about this type of winter.
Planting here, is very easy. The ground is fertile and always green. We don't have to struggle much.
I often forget that some areas of the world can grow year round. How fortunate that you have fertile soils and easier time of growing things! One thing about the killing frosts and snow we don't have as many bug and pest problems on our crops. Winter does have it's own beauty but if you are not accustom to them can seem very harsh indeed!
Yuhh in my location qlso fell first snow. And I think my garden outdoor season is almost finished for this year
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Ya, it's always sad to see the outdoor growing season end and here often very abruptly! That is why I'm focusing on doing more indoor growing, in a more controlled environment!
Loved the arches photos, but my favorites were the growlights shining under the snow mounds. But the entire post was just lovely!
I wish I had a sunroom like yours! It was in the original plans decades ago, but no longer. I'm still hoping for a hoophouse.... Speaking of, do you leave the plastic on all winter? Has it ever collapsed from snow load?
We have a strong weaved cover on our hoop house and we take it off every winter - it is easy to do and it lets all that moisture into the ground from the snow.
We don't have any heat in there but just having it covered gives us a couple weeks extended growing season and some seasons it is just what is in the hoop house that will thrive. This year was terrible for peppers and tomatoes with the cool and wet but they were fine in the hoop house.
I miss the snow, so beautiful and just gives an atmosphere that shifts the senses. Thanks for sharing these lovely photos!
I love the winter wonderland but wish it wasn't so long of a season here. I got some great photos of Jack Frosts artistry that I'll be sharing on one of my #Wednesdaywalk post, as well as more winter wonderland shots!
Awesome, look forward to it :D
That is indeed a winter wonderland! Always amazes me to see pictures of snow like that when it seems so early, but that's probably mostly because summer only just now let go it's toasty claws and let us start to enjoy some cooler weather. We could probably still be growing some things through the fall, but we missed the boat a bit on planting things early enough. Some of my herbs are still hanging on outside, and we've managed to pull off some more hot peppers and what looks to be the last of the cherry tomatoes. Just looking at your grow room makes me feel all warm and cozy inside, though! :)
Ya, I kept going back and salvaging one more thingfrom outside. I bring in alot of things from outside into the sun room. I even dig out some of the smaller plants from the garden that were in the shade and hadn't grown much, potted them up and let them produce inside. That gives me a jump on my salad making stuff until I get more seeds planted and producing.
Okay, I see what you mean about hitting the winter period! It definite is that for you... me, I'm just a wimp who doesn't want to go out into the cold!
We are well prepared for the cold and I find once you get out and moving about it is quite beautiful outside. Even more so since I've gotten more into photography for there are some beautiful winter nature shots to be had!
wow!! You have so much snow already. Hard for me to imagine sitting in fairly hot weather here. Your sunroom looks great!! And good on you that you got those grow lights and are keeping the garden going!!
Cute
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