When Everything Dies - Gardening Report

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Lately I've been posting about the beauty of autumn as we're lucky to have four seasons and this is the time to capture autumn on camera. Those colors are unforgettable and wanted to make sure I have plenty of photos and memories to remember it through winter.

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However, everything comes to an end as nothing lasts forever. Today I went to my dad's and took photos of how the garden and the surroundings look like and had to acknowledge that it's over.

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This is how the garden looks like at the moment. Natural fertilizer is spread on top and waiting for the autumn plowing that is going to happen very soon. I couldn't even go closer as it was really muddy and besides, walking in animal excrement is not fun at all :) However, that's how things are done, the soil needs it and we're going to benefit from it next year. (The animal excrement is not fresh, it's one year old and it's basically recycled as we used it this year already for the greenhouse, to heat the seedlings. Fresh animal excrement would burn everything, so that must be avoided.)

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This is a walnut tree, that is full of leaves most of the year. Now it's literally naked. In a way it's a good thing as cleaning leaves for two months on a daily bases is not exactly fun.

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This is the gooseberry. Nothing but a bunch of dry leaves and branches. I stood in front of it, remembering those delicious gooseberries that were something to admire for every point of view. Gorgeous, healthy looking and delicious.

It is sad as in a way nature is dying, but it's necessary to take a break and rest.

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Not everything is dying though. There are vegetables that need to be sowed during autumn, to be ready at the beginning of spring. One of these is spinach. For some reason, we've never gotten good results with spinach. This spring we sowed spinach, hoping to have some in the summer and we got almost nothing. I mean my dad was able to collect a handful to have for a small portion of pottage. That was all.

Now we wanted to try the autumn sowing hoping to get a different result. As you can see on the photo, we've already got some, but not as much as we should have, not by far. It's still not too late, but I'm starting to believe that the soil is not suitable for growing spinach, among other vegetables, like carrots, parsley, cauliflower for example.

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The onions are looking good. We're going to have fresh onions early next year.

Now you may ask what's going to happen with all these young, green things if winter kicks in. The natural process should happen as follows. Snow should cover the spinach and onions, keep them warm and nicely hydrated during winter and once the snow melts, they are ready to grow. Are we going to have snow this winter? That's a million dollar question as no one knows. Winters are getting warmer every year, therefore snow has been lacking lately.

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Last week I believe it was, when I went moss hunting and came home almost empty handed. This time I was able to find some. It's amazing how different it looks on a close-up photo.

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You'd think it's like velvet but having a closer look reveals it's made of very tiny and slim leaves. It's cute.

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You may wonder what this is. Well, this is for our feathered friends. Nature is not the only one that has to go through winter, birds also has to survive. We do this every year, place seeds (sunflower seeds and walnuts) mixed with grease to feed the birds. They will find it and empty the box in a month.

The gardening season ends here. The garden is cleaned out and will be plowed soon, after which it can be covered by snow. The next gardening season however can already start as planning can be anytime, without restrictions. Buying seeds is also something that needs to be done till the beginning of February.

In retrospect, 2021 was a good year. We didn't have any grapes, there was a hailstorm in June if memory serves me well, but other than that, I can't really complain. I am grateful for everything we've got so far and looking forward to the next season. Growing your own, healthy, organic fruits and veggies is priceless.


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4 comments
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For some reason, we've never gotten good results with spinach

It is a common problem with spinach, they have slow germination. Many say it is greatly affected by the weather but I have seen a spinach slow growth even in a perfect weather condition.

Health is important and the best way to keep a good health is by eating healthy. We also have a small garden in my family house with some vegetables. Another importance is, I could just cut some leaves quickly and boom! It's meal time.
It's great you had a successful garden year! Wish you a better season. Are we going to get pictures of the garden covered with snow?

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I agree with you. I've been blogging about the fact that there's nothing better than to go out in the garden in the morning and handpick your breakfast, fresh and organic.

I don't think you're going to see the garden covered by snow and first we have to get snow and second, I have to be there when it snows. But who knows.

!ENGAGE 20

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Thank you for this! I can’t wait for your dad’s garden to look amazing.

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