Hey, Chickies!

So, even though we're getting unseasonably warm weather, it's still that time of year...time to harvest the rest of the garden and start getting it ready for winter.

I hope to pick the rest of my herbs this weekend and make a big pot of tomato sauce with the tomato harvest and some of the herbs.

I need to trim back my hydrangea...but I'm afraid I did it wrong last year because I only got three flower heads this year (had seven last year). Anyone have advice?

We also have raspberries for the first time...and I have no idea how to winterize them! Does anyone know? Might be time to start trolling the 'net!

What's doing in your Fall garden?

My "garden" this year consisted of 2 tomato plants in pots on the back patio. It was so hot here this summer that they didn't do very good. Usually have enough to can some for the winter from two plants but only got enough to eat all summer. There won't be anymore this year either as we got a killer frost this last weekend.

I was able to help my friend by taking a lot of the suff from her "little garden" (it's about 2 acres and includes fruit trees). The fresh peaches have been the best.

Laurie The only thing I've ever done with Raspberries is wash them really good then do a quick freeze of them by laying them out flat and not touching on cookie baking sheets. Once they are mostly frozen I take them all and put them in some kind of protective freezer container and through them back in the freezer. The quick freeze, out flat, keeps them from sticking together to badly after you put them in a bigger container.

Thanks, Sheba's Mom!

Peaches sound awesome! Actually, we only got 5, count 'em, 5 raspberries...but I was happy to have any. This was our first year having the plants and they started out as sticks, so I didn't think I'd have real plants, let alone berries! What I need help with is what to do with the bushes to get them ready for winter. Do I trim the canes back? Wrap them in burlap? Mulch around them really high?

Sorry Laurie I don't know anything about taking care of the plants. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the climate you live in. I get mine from the same friend I get everything else from. She inherited the ones she has when she bought the property she has so I have know idea what should be done with baby plants. She has never trimmed hers back and she just leave them as they are at the end of the season. I'm sure her's have been there for a while though because they are huge.

Maybe someone else will chime in and give you good advice or maybe a greenhouse in your area would have some quick good advice? We are lucky and have a family owned greenhouse in the area that has been around forever and everyone in that family loves working in it. You can really tell when someone loves working with plants.

Good luck figuring out what to do with your baby raspberry plants.

almost the only thing i can grow is cacti!!

Laurie, we're the same zone or close to it. Just leave the raspberries alone this year. Are they summer, fall or everbearing?
Hydrangea? What kind is it? Some need to be cut to the ground in fall while others can stay as is. Same for clematis.
I'm glad this started up again. I just have to finish some harvesting and am hoping to find a minute this weekend.

Thanks for the help, chicks!

Ruth, I am unsure what kind of hydrangea it is...I tried so many over the years. It might still have the tag...I'll look tonight. The raspberries though...I'm not sure what kind they are! They made berries from late July to late August, but it was just the one plant that developed enough to make flowers. I'm glad to leave them alone and see how they do next year. We'll have to make some kind of support for the branches next year--this year they were too tiny to need it!

I finally made tomato sauce from our tomatoes from this year and last...three huge buckets of peeled and quartered tomatoes boiled down into two small containers of sauce. Oh well...I hope it tastes okay!

I still haven't harvested my basil, though, and it's pretty cold today! I better do that tomorrow!!!

Laurie, I still have lots of basil and tomatoes and peppers. Very strange as we usually have a killing frost by our Thanksgiving. It sure was cold last night but I'll check it out later today if there's a break in the rain. We need to bring in the pump from the back garden too because one of these nights Jack Frost will pop in.

The fall vegetable garden didn't really make it, but my roses are still blooming away! I've decided to push back cutting them back until the weekend before Thanksgiving. Although, I probably need to get to the garden center soon to get my mulch before they sell out. I'd better go Monday as soon as I get back into town! I really don't want to have to drive 3 1/2 hours to get decent mulch in November.

If the weather stays as warm as it has, which I'm sure it will, we should be harvesting the last of the green beans in two weeks or so. We've discussed it extensively, and over the winter, we'll be expanding the veggie garden by another 100 sq ft and will be building raised beds. I'm also planning on cutting out a 50 sq ft area to put in a more versatile herb garden.

Kim, ya'll cut roses back in November? Is it a lot hotter than it is here? (zone 8) We cut ours back in August and in February. Mine are just kicking in good from the august cutting and are going nuts right now.

Wow...I usually do one cutting of our roses, in the spring. I just love looking at the rose hips over the winter... Amazingly, our roses are still blooming here!

Everything is all confused with our unseasonable warmth, but you're right, Ruth...Jack Frost is sitting right around the corner, waiting to jump out and surprise us, eh? I do have tomatoes still ripening, too!

OK - Raspberries - cut them back to about 6-12 inches from the ground. They will regrow next year, and give you much fuller plants, and better berries. This is what my father always does.

He also takes his lawn clippings each time he cuts the lawn, and dumps this on the canes. He usually ends up with a really stinky raspberry patch, but his grow so much, that by the end of the season, you can't get down the rows. AND he does stake them up as well.

Good luck!

Thanks, iammare! DH's grandfather used to grow his tomatoes in his pile of lawn clippings! He never staked a one, so DH was mystified when I started staking mine.