Putting the gardens to bed for the season

We are experiencing some strange weather, not our usual fall weather for sure. We still have the occasional mid 20s C temps then frost warnings at nite...
Will you please make up your mind Mother nature already....

You can just make up the dead brown tomatoes plants 

outside the protective dome on the left handside behind Rudy.

In case you ever wondered, it sure works, 

look at the greenery still inside the dome.

There are three big green tomatoes inside turning yellow

The furnace is back on, the remaining vegetables still producing are covered at nite and sometimes until noon or so. The remainders have all been harvested and cleaned up.

Only celery left in the brown two tier raised garden.

Was harvested soon after.

We are done with the cucumbers, but still are harvesting tomatoes, bell green peppers, celery and some spices.
Will see how long we can extend our growing season using covers.

With everyting gone, cover has been relocated

It now protect a remaining producing 

tomatoes plant and some herbs

Rudy sporting his new fall jacket.

With the fast changing temperatures, he is wearing layering clothes

It is also time to removed the various plant bulbs from the ground and protect them over the winter.

She had Canna plants here and there, 

they sure did not like the cold...

Yes, I got my shovels out and the snow blower is back inside the garage :-)

So out they come...

Would be trimmed out and the bulbs wrapped in paper and put inside.

 All in all it was a good growing season, now we will experiment over the winter to sart some plants from seeds inside, using lighted plant stands and heating mats.  The idea being to get a jump start in the next season.

Straw will be put over the strawberries plants 

Yes, its getting cold Dad, but not to worry, 

I rearranged the chairs covers...

So far, I am very happy with these brown raised gardens. They used the same sort of "plastic" used for decking plank. Strong and maintenance free. Also can be assembled in various configurations and expanded as required. Personnally I prefer keeping them at 4 feet square, since there is a lot of available covers and accessories in that size. I also found it easier to tend to the garden all around. Reccomended. About Cdn $70 each kit (one tier). Will be buying more next year.

The white raised garden on the other hand is a bit of a dissapointment.
It is a bit flimsy to assemble and does not stay locked together very well under all the pressure of the dirt and the 10 foot high swaging Canna plants in the strong winds. One side blow out... :-(

Removed for storage and will be fixed next year.

At Cdn $99 it was not a good deal. Mind you got mine on sale for $79 but still... The white plastic is thinner and not as resistant as the thick brown stuff of the others. There are no locking screws, everything just snap together.  Not reccomended. Will probably end up as a flower bed somewhere else on my land next year. Will use metal brackets to screw it together.

October being Fire prevention week, they have Fire Drills at the schools.
Meadow, our grand daughter, was the honorary Fire Chief for the drill at her school.

The Fire Chief arriving to supervise the operation...

The Fire Chief in full kit

And her designated fire crew.

The school and the kids made it through safely :-)

She really enjoyed it, but thought that the kit she wore was pretty warm... She was the only one thinking so, everyone else was frozen.... it was a cold morning :-)

Meanwhile, made more progress on my boring till... Coming up soon

Bob, proud grampa