Wow, October is over! It went by at lightning speed. I have a feeling November is on the same trajectory. It was a good month in the garden. Watermelons came out. The fall garden is in. Things are growing… for the most part. I still need some tweeking to my soil block process, but it is yielding some good plants. Egg production was back up a little, although our sick chicken issues have slowed things down a bit again. The bell peppers got pulled out this weekend, along with a whole host of peppers. I’ve been a bit disappointed with the quality of the peppers we’ve gotten, they’ve mostly been smaller with thinner walls. I’m curious as to whether that may indicate some type of micro nutrient deficiency. I think I’ll contact one of my local master gardeners and see what they say. I’ve already planned out their location in the beds for next spring and they will be completely olla watered. I have high hopes for them. I’ve purchased three of the twelve ollas that I need for spring. That should be enough for one bed. It’s a gradual process because of the cost, but I’ll keep moving forward. In any case, here is the run down.
Eggs – 99 (good job, ladies, keep up the good work!)
NM Peppers – 4 pounds (wahoo!)
bell peppers – 12 peppers
watermelons – 7 melons for a total of 46.25 lbs.
Obviously not a huge haul for the garden, but with all of the veggies growing along there is great promise for the future!
The Jones Garden Blog 
I love the monthly totals! I am amazed! I could never keep track of the garden. I eat half the things before they get into the house. I do count eggs and keep track of which color we are getting each day. I count them weekly but never added them up monthly.
I’m an engineer so… I’m kind of all about the data. 🙂
Keith, I’m glad to hear that your garden is moving along. I’ve heard the best thing for a garden is the gardener’s shadow. Your garden should be doing great with all that shadow time.
My green peppers really didn’t do well here in Nebraska this year either. They were much small than last year and didn’t ripen until about a month later in the season. I was beginning to wonder if they would produce at all. It seems that every year has it’s quirks with plants. I treat them the same every year but nature has a way to growing them different from year to year.
The frost came and went leaving a trail of death behind it. Nothing left to do but the final cleanup and wait until spring here. Next year should be the first year of a harvest for me instead of the critters. I hope. :0)
Have a great day in the garden.
I love that saying! It’s funny though, when you are out there all of the time you can get discouraged because you don’t see the growth as obviously. When you have some gaps you can really see the changes. Planning for next season is always fun. Of course you have a couple hundred bags of leaves to collect to tuck your garden in for the winter. I’m watching some of the trees close by to see if I can go get some leaves of my own to mulch off part of my garden. It sounds like it works great.
How many plants will the olla water? Our chicken are molting. We haven’t seen a fresh egg in weeks. 😦
That’s a great question. This will be the first olla experience for me. It makes a lot of sense and there is a lot of good data out there, so I feel comfortable moving forward with the investment. The ones I’m purchasing are BIG and the size of the olla has a lot to do with the diameter that it will water. I believe mine should have a radius of 18-24 inches. So I guess it depends on what you plant and how many of them you can reasonably fit in that space. I’m planning on 3 for each 4 x 8 bed and realize that the plants on the edges may need to be watched closely.
Is it sad that I am jealous of a “fall garden?” More than one growing season? I mean. Wow. ;oP I know you’ll put it to good use!