A beautiful garden shed

All the siding is on and our garden shed is ready for its first bit of paint. It will be painted to coordinate with the studio building next to it. We need to get the paint on to protect the wood now that we are heading into winter soon. I really do like the natural wood, but we are trying to protect it as well as have it blend into its space with the potting bench, greenhouse and studio next to it.

This is the front side our new garden shed.  Nice!

So, it is almost time to clean out the greenhouse so I can set up for intensive propagation of winter veggies and then spring crops.

The vegetables still think it is summer and are producing just fine. The peppers are ripening the way I like them best - red!!  We are growing hot, medium and mild (bell types) and they are all finally maturing.

The zucchini plants are sending out lots of babies and some giants that hide from me. The three different types of zucchini are all small here in this picture. That is a very small berry basket. I am not sure how much longer the plants will last though because the heavy dew in the mornings is helping to weaken them.
 
This is a nice time of the year for growing plants in general though. The ones that don't "love" the heat of summer are just reviving themselves with a good rain and nice temperatures. Asters are blooming and roses are blooming again as well and native iris's are popping their heads out of the ground. It is a new season as we see these changes occurring in the nature around us. To garden is a wonderful occupation.

Planting Onions, Leeks and Garlic

A week or so ago I planted a few of my onion starts along with a bunch of carrots I started from seed. So yesterday I bought 6 packs of onion and leek starts,  as well as seed garlic.

I keep records of when I start seeds for "starts" but don't seem to record when I plant all the time. Especially with something like alliums which get planted several times a year. But it is the time of the year for onions, leeks, shallots and garlic. Or rather, it is a good time to plant them.

The onions starts are bunching onions.  I like bunching onions because they last forever.  They divide at ground level and remain scallions (green onions) forever. They're also perennial. Yeah! I like bunching onions!

Of course I got leeks. I bought American Flag and King Richard leeks. They really are my favorite allium! I love leeks for so many things - part of steamed veg. dishes, soups, sauteed in olive oil, and especially a thick layer of leeks on my homemade pizzas.  They are the best!!!

Here is a little video about planting onions, leeks and garlic from Peaceful Valley Farms in Grass Valley CA.