Where is the time going?

I used to think that Fall was a laid back time of the year. Well, that belief seems to have gone out the door recently. I was so hopeful that after all the turmoil this year that things would finally settle down. Not so much. We did get the new room completed. Our contractor told us that if we had waited even a month longer, there was a distinct possibility that they would have not been able to get enough wood to build it. They did have a challenge but were able to piece the wood purchases together through various suppliers. Now, it seems, they can't even do that given the production problems caused by Covid. Sheesh!! We're still waiting for our couches to arrive which have been pushed back twice and now we sit at the end of September/beginning of October. We ordered these at the beginning of June. And we thought we were early.
While I generally just harvest the produce this time of year, I have had to actually do more than just be a caretaker. Given the issues I had, I decided to "invest" in my soil. I put a good layer of composted manure from a source I trusted. And, come to find out, the company has recently decided to close up the operations for good. They had been in business for 50 years and figured that they had a good run. So, I will be researching companies who produce dehydrated cow manure and are OMRI rated. Not an easy thing but I have time for now.
As the next step I my soil regimen, I have begun to seed in the Winter Rye early as I stated in my last post. Growth has been very vigorous to say the least.

This is about 3 days of growth. I was hoping for a faster than normal growth given the temperatures but this is beyond that. The shoots are about an inch or so high and the density of the growth is unlike I ever had before. So, I am optimistic that the rest of the beds will be the same. One never can never assume too much in gardening.
I have subsequently planted a second mini bed of Rye. And, it seems to be following the scenario of the first. This is it's second day of growth and I am very happy with this. Shoots are very evident when seen up close which is why this is so close to the bed.

The plants are about a half inch so far but, as seen with the first bed, it will only be a matter of time before they explode.
Concurrently, I sewed in two other areas in the garden on the 23rd an additional bed on the 24th. I told you this was a busy Fall season. Here are the pictures showing the beds.

The picture on the left shows the newly planted bed at the top, the middle picture shows the bed on the bottom and the right picture shows the area above the middle pictures bed. I am planting around my tomatoes since they are producing a crop of sorts. I will take pictures of all the beds tomorrow to show the total current status of the beds.
I do have another bed ready for planting which may happen tonight or tomorrow night. Here is a view of that one.

I have another half of this plot which has a melon plant which is fruiting so I wanted to give that time to ripen.
As I have stated previously, my focus is to bring my soil back to the condition it was in. Through my reconfiguration last fall and early this Spring, I definitely lost the soil fertility I have been accustomed to. If my goal for the garden is to be a hedge against price inflation and availability, then the soil has to be my primary focus. My belief is that we have not seen the worst of vegetable shortages and the concurrent rise in prices due to Covid. So, nothing else I do will really matter until the soil is right to produce at the levels I need. The steps I have taken so far are primary building blocks which I will build upon the only way I know how - steadily.
That's all I have for now. As I said, lots of activity going on so it's been challenging to say the least. Until next time, Happy Gardening everyone.

Time to get back into gear

After having spent the last week on a glorious cruise in the Western Carribean, it sure is hard to get oneself back into the swing of things.  But, we must trudge on as the saying goes putting one foot in front of the other.  As you may or may not know, I am not actively gardening this year due to the confluence of various factors.  And that is where I am today - a gardener without a garden.
While I do not have an active garden in my backyard, I am assisting a friend with his.  It's a different feeling working on someone else's yard.  But, at least I get snippets of time working in his garden so I am not totally cut off from the activity - my passion.
His is a traditional garden in that it is layed out in a semi-rectangular space.  He has many tomatoes, asparagus and cucmber plants in the space which do not show up well on this photo. 

We dug a trench system aroungd the bed due to the heavy rains we had in late June.  The water runs from his neighbors fenced yard to the right and runs accross the plot.  It resulted in many plants dying from root rot.  Hopefully the trench will direct some of the heavier rains away from the plants.  I haven't been to the plot in about two weeks due to all the work and vacation activities involved.
I will get some up to date pics this weekend hopefully.
My beds are another story though.  They are what you would call laying dormant or resting this year.  It may turn out to be the best thing though as resting fields is a practice of many gardeners in order to allow the soil to recharge.  I will need to begin to work the plots and I still have a my greenhouse to construct later as fall begins.  Here are the beds in the current state of being.

As I said, they need some tender loving care over the next few months.  My goal is to add store bought amendments (OMNI rated) to the beds along with some home made compost and leaves I gathered last fall.  That should do the trick for right now.  But, before I add the amendments, I will need to till the beds to loosen the tension of the soil surface.  I do this so the the nutrients that are being added are absorbed deeper into the soil.
That's all I have at this time.  When I get up and running in the next few days, I will add more entries into my blog.  So, happy gardening everyone!  Until next time - garden away!