Getting ready for 2015.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

Got my garlic in the ground last week, and bought a hay bale this weekend to spread over it, in hopes of not losing over half of next year's crop to a brutal winter like I did this year's crop.

I also bought cotton seeds to plant in the spring. I read somewhere a description of how it's actually one of the lousiest crops ever to try and harvest, both on height of plant and the jagged sharp pod edges that slice up your hands as you try to get the cotton out. It suggested that everyone should try picking some at least once, to get a visceral appreciation for even that particular sucky part of slavery in the US. I'll give it a shot, even though I actually decided to try growing it to provide winter nesting fibers for the birds and squirrels. Since I'm not after the cotton to use myself and just leaving it for the birds, I went with the more ornamental 'black beauty' cotton, which has a purplish-black foliage as opposed to one of the 'extra long strand' varieties.

Also did some weeding in the strawberries, although I need to do a lot more still.

[femmocrat]

1. I plan to get tulip bulbs in the ground this week.

We finally got a killing frost this morning (PA) so I don't have to feel bad about pulling out the annuals. They have had a nice long run.

Your cotton plants sound very cool. I always try to plant for the wildlife, too.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. I'll have to try and start them indoors early, I'm a bit too far north

and it's got a long growing season. If I were a few hundred miles south, it would probably be a lot easier. I've been looking over the red/blue LED light panels. I tried starting stuff indoors last year and it was a total failure, since I had far too little light on the plants. I got tiny little things that never really got above about an inch or so tall, and died as soon as I tried the slightest bit of hardening outside.

[alfie]

3. I' ready to finish cleaning out my beds.

i am saving up cardboard, junk mail, etc to completely cover every (4 of them, 12 x 4 feet each) bed. I will top that with several inches of new compost then wheat straw. I'm hoping all the weed seeds flying around will be underneath the cardboard/paper cover. This was my worst year for weeds. The beds are about 8 years old and have gotten harder and harder to weed.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

4. I have a small enough garden that I can still

get down on hands and knees and use a to loosen things up and shake the dirt off the weed roots by hand, then pitch the weeds aside. I have some vague understanding that I'd be better off if I didn't disturb the underground microbiome, but I've never gotten that serious about being the best gardener possible, as long as I seem to get a reasonable amount of crop from the way I've been doing things.