PNW - 2015 November

Happy November 2015! From the gardenate site, here's what to do this November in zones 7a and 7b:

Asparagus and onion: plant in garden

That's it!

I guess for the rest of us, it's whatever clean-up chores have been neglected. Some folks may have a greenhouse going, in which case we hope you'll share your green tales of wonder to keep us warm through the winter.

As for me, my heretofore mostly bug-free run of growing lettuce came to a brutal end yesterday with some large holes in the leaves and gnawed-off end or two.

I want to put sluggo out, but it's been raining for the last few days and will continue to do so for another few, and sluggo is expensive. Plus I've seen imported green caterpillars on a leaf a couple of weeks back, and it is most likely to be them rather than slugs. I suppose I should go around with a BT spray today.

I hate those guys. They can devastate a crop so fast.

Oh, and grey aphids are back on the kale, twisting the leaves all up again. *sigh* My kale has had a brutal time of it this fall. This is the second time the very young plants have been severely impacted by aphids. The first time I didn't think they'd come back, but they have. And so have the aphids! Just in time to rescue them from being healthy again.

Are you getting ants with the aphids, Marc?

Not usually, no. I grew lettuce and mustard in the same part of the yard last year and the leaves got covered with aphids every day.

I did see ants all over my cowpea buds and beans this year, though. Very odd. No aphids on those.

I guess 2015 is not to be The Year of Kale for you, Marc!

Yeah I don't think it will. I actually bought some one-gallon redbor kales from my favorite local nursery, just so I would have a little something.

Lettuce still doing great, but the holes are increasing at a frightening rate. I took a kale out of the garden today because it was so thickly infested by grey aphids that I figured all it was going to do was die while spreading more aphids. The aphids were on it like a thick paste, all up and down the destroyed central baby stems and in the completely curled and twisted larger juvenile leaves. *le sigh*

The mums are doing great. I took one out of a pot last spring or summer and it's now giving us a crop of blooms. Funny thing was, the first bloom earlier in the year were pure white. These are pinkish, with a magenta/reddish center. I suppose the different soil they're now in did that? I know soil affects the color of hydrangeas ...

Anyway, it's nice to have a bit of color still in the winter. And it's definitely winter now, by Southern Oregon standards anyway. It was still 38 degrees at 10:00 a.m. Hasn't dropped to freezing yet. And usually it rarely gets there or stays for long.

Marigolds still going strong, too. Jeez they are troopers. The pansies I planted were supposed to be so winter hardy, but they're mostly just sitting and looking forlorn. i think they may not be getting enough sun.