Other Entries: August 2007 January 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008

Autumn is an exciting time for me, because it is the beginning of the rainy season. At this time of year, I yearn for the leaves to begin falling, so I can collect masses of them to use for mulch, compost, and entertainment. I can't get enough leaves: Truckloads and truckloads of them disappear into my gardens each fall and winter.

The fall is also when I ponder the successes and failures of the previous growing season. This year I learnt that it IS possible to have too many peas. I also learnt to turn the ringer off my phone, 'cause you can never have too much peace while dealing with a plethora of peas.

The joys of fall-bearing raspberries were made apparent to me this September, as a plant I salvaged from a long-neglected patch in March exploded with growth this summer and has produced a ridiculous amount of fruit. Luckily, I salvaged a bunch more specimens from the same patch, and have been planting them throughout my gardens.

Another of the joys of Autumn is the manufacture and consumption of Tomato Sauce. So far I have made 38 jars of it. I use a very simple recipe consisting of the following:

Tomatoes
Garlic
Onions
Grape Seed Oil
Salt
Pepper
Sugar
Basil
Oregano
Bay

It takes me hours and hours to make a big pot of sauce, then hours and hours of waiting while it simmers-down on the stove. It's worth it, though! This year I benefited greatly from planting lots of early Tomato varieties: It wasn't the warmest summer of record by any stretch of the imagination, and many of the main-season varieties I planted aren't ripe yet.

I am in awe of Calendula this fall. Last season, I had all these big plans to seed Calendula in my gardens, because I had hear that it is a joy to grow: Easy to start from seed, blooms quickly, has edible flowers. I forgot to sow it when I had planned to (mid May), and instead started some seeds on the first of July. The resultant plants began blooming during the first week of September, and are still going strong. It is now the end of September. Though I won't have enough seeds to offer them through the North Vancouver Food Plant Seed Distribution Service this year, I'm planning on growing a whole bunch more and offering them next year.

My fall/winter greens are coming along nicely, and every day I go out and look at the winter brassica patch: Seeds sown during the first week of July have produced mature, useable Kale, Broccoli, and Collard plants. Carrots sown at the end of June and full-sized and delicious right now, and the Carrot Rust Fly larvae are nowhere to be seen. That may or may not have to do with the fact that I eat all homegrown carrots with my eyes closed. If you bite into the carrot then inspect the half left in your hand, you are just asking to discover an infestation.

I recently began sowing a legume mix as a cover crop in fallow beds. First, I gently mix a whole bunch of compost and a little bit of lime and organic fertilizer into the top couple of inches of soil, then I smooth the bed out, thickly sow the seeds, and firm with the back of a rake. This is a good way to fix organic materials into the soil over the fall/winter/early spring. Depending what I'm planning on growing in the space the next year, I either dig-under the cover crop in early March, or smother it with a very thick layer of mulch in February.

In several weeks, starting in mid October, I'll begin planting next year's garlic. Until then, I'll continue the planting of potted perennials: The cool fall weather allows them to get established before winter dormancy, ensuring strong growth as soon as temperatures warm and days lengthen next year.