Fall Clean-up

We've had our first frost last week so the summer growing season has pretty much come to an end. I already have the greenhouse cleaned out and one of my 4 x 8 cold-frames planted with lettuce, arugula, kale and spinach to provide us with fresh salad greens throughout the winter, so now it's time to start cleaning the gardens and covering them with shredded leaves for the winter. 

 

Meet the cleaning helpers!

These are our two Pekin ducks, (haven't named them yet). They roam the back yard during the day foraging for bugs and pretty much anything else they can eat. After I pulled up the tomato, pepper and other withered plants, I opened up the garden for them to feast on the remaining summer kale and cabbage. 

They are excellent cleaners and have been doing a thorough job!

Since growing organically and applying compost tea to the seedlings in the spring, I haven't had much of a pest problem. I do get the occasional squash beetle or cabbage moth, but not enough to do any significant damage. I am hoping the ducks will clean any hibernating insects left in the garden and next year will see even less pests. I just need to keep them out of the garden when I plant the tender seedlings next spring!

alt="Blogfest" width="160" height="160"
src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-q_f-TCWe9vo/UH15StywSLI/AAAAAAAACLQ/VNr386rjwck/s288/square_fest_no_shading.jpg" />

Project Plans - Garden Bench

 

Each month I will be adding a new plan to the Garden Project Plans page on my website.

 

Most of the plans will be free to download. The more complicated plans, like the greenhouse, will be available for purchase for a small fee. The purchased plans will either be in book form, with step by step instructions, or as full size construction drawings.

This months free plan is a garden bench. 

This bench is an easy to build project that could be used in your garden or patio for additional seating or as a coffee table. It is made from only 5 boards so it is a pretty easy project that can be completed in a day. The bench in these plans is drawn at 36" long, but you can easily make it longer, or shorter, by changing the length of the top and sides accordingly.

Click here to download these plans for free!

Like Bepa's Garden on Facebook to receive notifications
when new plans are posted!

** Recommend a plan!  **

Is there a project that you would like to build but can't seem to find plans for? 

If there is a project plan that you would like to see added to the library, feel free to recommend it in the comments or email me. If a recommended plan is used, and is offered as a purchased plan, the first person who recommend it will get a copy for free!

 

Apple Picking in Vermont

Fall is my absolute favorite season. The clean crisp air, the woodsy smell of leaves, the aroma of wood stoves. It's a time to finish harvesting from the gardens, saving seeds for next year, cleaning the gardens by gathering up and composting withered plants, and covering the garden with crushed leaves to protect it during it's winter rest.  

One place I love to visit, especially in the fall, is Vermont. Just a short drive, it's like traveling to another world. The skies are deep blue and clear and the air seems so clean and crisp. You are welcomed with the colorful fall foliage and smells of leaves and pine trees. 

Earlier in the week we took a trip to Woodstock VT, and on the way back we stopped at the Green Mountain Orchards in Putney, VT. to go apple picking.

The Green Mountain Orchards is a great place to visit. You can pick your own apples and pumpkins, and they sell their own apple cider, donuts, and apple & pumpkin pies, which are absolutely delicious! They also sell their jams & jellies, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, plums, pears, and sweet corn, when in season.

It was a perfect fall day to go apple picking. The skies were slightly overcast and the temps were in the low 50's with that crisp Vermont air. The apples were unbelievably delicious and sweet, most likely due to the cooler Vermont weather.

Vermont is a special place. 

If you are ever in the Putney area, be sure to stop at the Green Mountain Orchards, it's worth the drive!

Fall in New England

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.  For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.  ~Edwin Way Teale

 

 

Seed Saving

Saving seeds from this year's plants will help save you money next season and help preserve some of your favorite varieties.

Each year, in late winter, I used to pull out the seed catalogs and start making lists of what I wanted to plant in the garden in the spring. The costs of seeds would start to add up and with more and more people putting in backyard gardens each year, it was harder to get the varieties I wanted.

Hybrid vs. Heirloom

Saving seeds is a fairly simple process, although it can vary greatly from plant to plant. The first thing to remember is to start with the right type of seed when choosing a variety to save from. You want to make sure it isn't a hybrid or GMO seed.  Hybrids are created by crossing two different parents to create a variety that will produce certain traits, give higher yields and are resistant to diseases, but they should be avoided for seed saving because they won't grow true to the original plant. Seeds from hybrids will either be sterile, incapable of producing any fruit, or they will revert back to one of the parents and won't give you a true variety. Hybrid varieties are usually labeled as "F1". Open-pollinated and heirloom seeds will produce "true-to-type" (produce plants like their parents) if they don't cross with similar varieties nearby. There are several places to buy organic, open-pollinated, heirloom seeds such as Baker Creek Seeds and Seed Savers Exchange.

The Process

For this example I am saving Basil seeds. The plants were grown from organic seed so I know they will produce true. I harvested most of the basil throughout the summer, but left some plants to produce flowers, which in turn produce the seed. Each flower produces four seeds, and as you can see from the photo, there are quite a few seeds per stalk. The flowers mature from the bottom to the top of each stalk, so when the flowers at the bottom start to turn brown they can be cut and dried. I cut the stalks when they are dry (not in early morning or after a rain), tie them together in bunches and hang them upside down inside brown paper bags. Some of the seeds will fall into the bag as the stalks dry, but to get the rest, rub each dried flower gently between your fingers and the seeds will fall out, or rub over a fine mesh. Once the seeds are separated I store them in paper envelopes in a cool dry place until next spring. A great resource on seed saving is Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth. 

Saving seed is a fairly simple process that will save you money next season. Just be sure to start with open-pollinated or heirloom seeds. Having a hand in preserving a certain variety and preserving our food supply will leave you with a good feeling.

Greenhouse Plans Now Available!

Plans for the 6'-10" x 8'-0" hobby greenhouse are now available for purchase!

The plans come as a 33 page, 8-1/2" x 11" spiral bound booklet that contain:

- Full Materials List

- Full Cut Lists

- Step by Step assembly drawings

- Detail drawings for greenhouse and benches

- Templates to help cut angles

- Sources to purchase the greenhouse covering and vent opener

All the information you need to build a greenhouse for yourself!

This greenhouse design was developed out of the necessity for an inexpensive, sturdy, functional and aesthetically pleasing alternative to the aluminum and plastic panel greenhouses kits on the market today. It is easy to construct and the plans are broken down into simple steps with diagrams so that anyone can understand them and build a greenhouse for themselves.

Visit my website to purchase the plans!

I hope you enjoy building your greenhouse and I hope you get the pride and satisfaction of doing it yourself!

Happy Gardening!

Greenhouse Plans

Greenhouse plans will be available soon!

I have had a lot of interest in the greenhouse that I built and wrote about in some of my posts so I have decided to offer plans for those who are interested on building one for themselves. This is a project that I have been working on for a while and now that the gardens are winding down and fall is settling in, I can finally get back to finishing. I hope to have the plans available soon!

 

The plans will consist of:

• A full size set of drawings with all details to build the greenhouse, including the benches and optional roof vents (which I will be adding to my greenhouse this fall).
• An 8-1/2" x 11" spiral bound instruction manual that will include step by step instructions with assembly drawings, materials list, templates, cut list, and resource to buy all the components like the (optional) automatic vent openers and plastic covering.

If you are interested in the greenhouse plans be sure to check back soon. I will post when they are available and you can also check the website where you can download the free cold frame plans.