Our fall garden is finally taking shape

Saturday's weather was perfect for working on our garden. It was cool and crisp and we were able to do more hard work in the cooler conditions. We really needed to clear out the nut grass that tends to grow everywhere. We keep pulling it up and it keeps coming back. The rain really helped our garden plants but it also helped the dratted nut grass.

After tilling was completed, we decided to mulch all the plants. The mulch will help stop much of the grass from growing up around the plants. It will also help to insulate the plants from the cold -- or the heat. These days we really don't know whether the days will be warm or cool! Mulch also helps to keep the rain from evaporating. It also makes things look finished and neat. We really loved the way it looked when we were finished.

We used a wheelbarrow to bring the mulch to the garden and then did the spreading largely by hand. That seemed to be more effective than using a rake. The two photos above are of our collards. They are looking quite good but we sure could use more rain.

We also mulched the broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower. Mulching is very hard work but it pays off in the long run. It will break down and add composted material which will enrich the soil.

We do have cucumbers that are finally growing. I don't know if we will have very many cukes before cold weather but we already have a baby cucumber. At least we do have one!

We added a little mulch around them, too. My husband said it was useless but he might as well do it anyway. It didn't really matter to him that we have a little cucumber.

The Brussels sprouts and broccoli are looking much better. After we were finished we gave the plants a good watering.

We also planted kale, red bunching onions and bok choi. It just looks like dirt at this point. We won't be planting anything else until early in the spring. We felt that we accomplished a great deal in the few short hours we worked -- though I will admit we really worked hard. We were all happy with the results.