Flo picked a bad time to molt.  With night temps in the high 20’s/low 30’s, i felt like i should knit her a scarf.  all the ameriacanas are also molting, which currently means no eggs from them.  only light brown and dark speckled brown eggs.

i finally was able to get the garlic in the ground (last week).  i mostly planted “chesnok red”… probably because it was what i had left in storage, and it was starting to sprout.  i also planted “spanish roja”.  they are both hardneck types, but the only the “roja” is an heirloom.

if you look closely, you can see the tips of the garlic in their rows

i covered the planted garlic with finely shredded leaves, and then a covering of straw

of course, you can not forget the chicken protection.  a bale of straw is like chicken crack.  they go nuts scratching at the straw.  i put down plastic fencing on top of the straw and then use a few pieces of hard plastic tubing to hoop over and keep everything in place.  that way when, and it will happen, the girls venture to the upper garden, they do not destroy the planted garlic.

as you can see, more leaves found their way in to the garden and over the garlic (and everything).  i’ll remove the top layer of leaves in the spring, and some of the straw, leaving the plastic cover as long as possible.  basically, before the garlic grows up through it.

here’s most of the upper garden put to rest for the winter

the sweet potatoes were one of the several vertical plantings i experimented with this year.  (especially after they took over the lower garden last year).  a lot of green, but only a little ‘fruit’.  too much nitrogen…and, now i know.  i planted this years sweet potatoes in the upper wall garden ( a long, but narrow raised bed).  they did fantastic.

this is from the beginning of the season

not the greatest pic, but in the middle of the photo you can see the tops of the sweet potato plants.  guess, i forgot to take follow up shots as the plants grew…this the best i have.  the taller plants to either side are the lima beans.

this is just part of the harvest, i had already taken some up the hill to dry in the sun.

next year i am going to find another location to grow them…and try to double what i planted this year.

i have already planted another blackberry bush in part of the sweet potato location

chickens are funny.  i think i say ‘they’re so funny’ as much as i say, “they’re sooo stupid”.  either way, still entertaining.

they have been “helping” me put some of the garden/flower beds to rest.  which translates to me removing whatever barrier was up to keep them out, and them jumping in and going to town, destroying whatever’s left.

vera

pickles

bonnie

jumo and maple…with the last of the summer crop of black seeded simpson lettuce (from the lower garden) 

pickles and flo ‘helping’ with the sweet potato harvest.  more on that tomorrow.

chicken coop…because i dont think i ever showed it

decided to pull more plants/flowers, even though they are still producing.  i guess its better to clean up the beds when 1. the weather is not too bad,  2. i actually have the time, and 3. you know its gonna look like s**t next week any way.

picked more lima beans…