No pictures yet, but our new garden is coming along nicely. Most of the weeds are out, and I hope the garlic and some other things will go in this weekend.
One of the difficult things in a new garden is amending the soil. I have lots of compost from the old garden to use for this, but it means lots of carrying back and forth.
We had our first frost on Monday night. It was light, but enough to kill most things. Fine with me, as I don’t have a lot of plants in the ground right now, but it means winter is coming! It’s not horribly early, but I think this frost was a little earlier than usual this year. It’s also hard to know what’s normal anymore.
Several others have said similar things, but I want to say that my thoughts go out to all the people in southern California affected by the fires. It’s not just all the people who have lost their lives or homes, or what the news here reports as the roughly 1,000,000 people who have been evacuated, but everyone who has to breath the dirty air and all the friends and relatives of all these people. Something like this impacts nearly the whole world. It’s probably too much to expect politicians will be able to make the association between this and global climate change, but we can always hope.
Is it just me, or does it seem like there have been a lot of changes in the garden blog world in the last few months? I think I blinked and missed it. Suddenly the number of people reading this blog has gone way up, and there are new blogs popping up all over the place. This is a little normal this time of year, because those of us the the northern hemisphere are just finishing their gardens, and those in the south are just beginning, so lots more people are paying attention to blogging, but it all seems a lot more intense this year.
First of all welcome to blogging all of you that have started in the last few months. I am way behind on researching new blogs to add to my news reader and blogroll, not to mention way behind on reading my usual blogs, so hopefully in the coming weeks I will spend some time and find some of you. I will also try to write some posts of an introductory nature, so some of you can get to know me better. In the meantime, I hope some of you will make some comments here or send me an email. Please let me know you exist!
Here are a few new blogs I’ve been in touch with recently:
A Thinking Stomach: Making wise choices for eating and gardening. Pasadena California.
A Spot with Pots: Learning to be more self sufficient. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Organic Guide: Living organically. Online magazine, including a blog, with a worldwide focus. Printed magazine began in 1987, but is now being moved online. Based in Sydney, Australia.
If I’ve missed anyone on this very short list, it’s not on purpose. Please let me know, and I’ll update this post or mention you in a future one.
My heart goes out to the people in California affected by the bushfires…and to the firies who are fighting it.
Weird weather alright. We had a spot of rain here today and I think my tomato plants just shot up a foot.
Thanks for the mention : ) .
Thanks for the promo’ing of Aussie talent of late, Pat.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us in Southern California. It is an ugly, dirty, smoky time. It will take a long time to heal, but hopefully we’ll get the rain we need to begin that process promptly.
Also, thank you for mentioning me on your site. It’s an honor.
Hi Patrick. Good to meet you. As everyone else here, our hearts go out to those in California as well. I can’t believe that someone would be so insane as to start those terrible fires. Don’t they think at all about how it’s going to affect so many other people?!
I am impressed with your blog pages. I am brand new to blogging and my husband and I just began a new blog yesterday. It’s very new and has very little on it at this point due to some time constraints, but in time, it should grow.
We have a vegetable farm and greenhouse business in New York and wanted to start something for our customers and anyone else who is looking for some reading material or has questions. Any advice on getting the word out in the internet community would be greatly appreciated. So far, I have just sent out emails to those in my address book.
Great chatting here. All the Best! Nancy & Chuck…
The weather patterns and the gardening are definitely changing. I used to expect out first frost in Early October (20 years ago). Now its a little later every year. Interesting that yours is getting earlier. I prefer the warmth and dislike the end of gardening season, so the week later frost every year is nice. I plan for it. If you think about it though its a very fast and very noticeable (and unsettling) climate change here in New England.
I also had a lull in my blog traffic in August and its heading back up a bit now. But you have a great and very informative blog. I enjoy reading your posts and comments at my site. Thanks for all of your advice and good luck with your new plot.
Hi Kathy — Thanks for the kind words!