Odds and Ends

Odds and Ends

Yesterday, Nov 7, 2007, brought the first freeze of the fall season. The temperature only dropped to 31 Fahrenheit. I don’t think it hurt my garden. I did not find any damaged figs, tomatoes or eggplants. I pulled all of them off anyway and took them inside. I only picked the figs that had swollen. The others will never ripen off of the tree. Green tomatoes can be ripened in the window, chopped and stir-fried, or made into fried green tomatoes. The eggplants are small; but they should be ripe enough.

I finished up the raised bed it is ready for strawberries and asparagus. Originally I had planed to run 2 rows the length of the bed with one for each type of plant. Last night I decided to check in “Grow It” one more time. Asparagus need a ph of 6.5. Strawberries need 5.5 to 6. I guess I will have to devote half of the bed (lengthwise) to each one.

I also consolidated my compost piles. This has been a bad year for compost. Normally I cut my grass every week to 10 days. The clippings go in the compost. I haven’t cut the grass since July. Normally at this time of year, I would have 3 full compost bins. They will turn into 1 bin by spring. This year I have 2/3 of a bin. I have got to find some more composting material fast or I will not have enough compost to do the spring planting.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com/ , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.