Well, its sept 14th and they are telling me to expect 1.. that means that frost is very highly likely.. that is really early, we are not to get our frost date till mid oct.. .. very very short grow season this year.. I can not speak highly enough on early starting, and using very short season seeds.. or planting heavily on crops for the fall that can take frosts

Frost is here in eastern Ontario, so covered tomatoes this afternoon and will be harvesting all the carrots over the next couple of days. Have over three hundred feet to pull up. Green peppers came in today and are a beautiful rich green and the nicest I have ever seen for color. Very happy with my first real effort and believe besides the effort, I was plain lucky.

And We have HARD frost this morning.. and the heat loving tenders are done! but the frost will sweeten the carrots, the parsnips, the beets will keep on trucking, the high bush cranberries need a few more freeze's yet and of the brussel sprouts will just get better and better as they keep on truckin..

Got to love the fall veggies that get better with a frost.. and WHOOOTTTTT the heat loving part of the garden is DONE.. it is what it is.. and now I can focus on other things..

When you have a small garden, its like Noooo, when you have a BIG garden, its like.. o thank heavens.. that is done.. done for the year.. NEXT.. lol

Planted winter rye cover crop in the gardens.

First compost bin is cooking at 135 degrees. Was not able to get as many coffee grounds this year, so lots of pumpkins are going in instead. Small urban yard that is slowly being converted from grass to gardens.

brought in some plants to keep going over the winter, seeds from producing tomato plants

tilled more soil for next year, hoses, timers, bean poles... are all put away

next years seeds are all in

just need to pickup some fertilizer

oh and dream about what i will do next year. need to improve on potato crop, screwed up my first batch by covering it when i didnt need to.

So for those looking at the garden in regards to 2021
Helpful hints..
Order your seeds early
google winter sowing and use it this winter to get some of your cold hardy starts going early so you can get them into fresh spring eating early!
Compost everything you can this winter for spring use.. if you can not do enough to run a hot compost due to the cold
Run a indoor red wiggler worm bin (don't over pay for your worms, just get them at the bait shop, its the same red wigglers)
Save all your worm compost/tea for spring topping and use
Get a seed sprouting kit, I know, I know jars and screens are cheap but its worth it to buy the proper kits, they will all be on sale for black friday/christmas.. at least one or two kits is ideal.
Do not buy those small packages of sprout seeds you are crazy overpaying.. mung beans from the dollar store will sprout for you beautifully for much lower costs, go to OSC or any of the bigger seed company's and order in the larger amounts of raddish, greens and so on and make your own seed blends at a faction of the costs per oz
prep your first need seeding pots and as soon as its available, get your seed sprouting soil
If you do not have one, consider getting a seedling sprouting mat or watch for the heated outdoor cat or dog beds, I use them as my very large sprouting underheating mats for a fraction of the cost per square foot compared to the ones they sell for veggies.
That's it for now.. but I will come back with more I am sure!

Just piggybacking on Farmgals post. There are tons of leaves available in the fall to make compost or leaf mold out of. Two things I look for when picking up leaves are 1) owner does not spray pesticides and 2) I prefer they rake with a lawnmower. This shreds them up nicely. Also add a bit of grass for nitrogen to get it working.

So we are looking at adding in a 26 foot geodome to the farm ideally in 2021.. Its a local ontario, canadian company and its spendy and then some but it will give me

Year round growing
1100 water storage
Reduced heating, cooling and lighting costs
Increased structural strength Which is a big issue with standard greenhouses
Limited but important control over growing impute in regards to climate change.

Hubby now has type 2 diabetics and the need for producing more fresh year round without needing to count on the trucks just took on a new push for us.. plus we are also going to have a small table/bench area built into it so that we can use it as part (very small part living space)

It will not change needing to use the regular garden season for large scale production.. but I hope we will prove to use it effective and it will be worth the investment.

Joined a seed sharing Facebook group. Made a few good trades so far, getting nice heirloom vegetable seeds in exchange of some of mine. So for the cost of a stamp, I’m getting the equivalent of tens of dollars worth of seeds.

I’ve also already pre-ordered some of the seeds I don’t save myself so I should be good with garden next spring.

So we are looking at adding in a 26 foot geodome to the farm ideally in 2021.. Its a local ontario, canadian company and its spendy and then some but it will give me

Year round growing
1100 water storage
Reduced heating, cooling and lighting costs
Increased structural strength Which is a big issue with standard greenhouses
Limited but important control over growing impute in regards to climate change.

Hubby now has type 2 diabetics and the need for producing more fresh year round without needing to count on the trucks just took on a new push for us.. plus we are also going to have a small table/bench area built into it so that we can use it as part (very small part living space)

It will not change needing to use the regular garden season for large scale production.. but I hope we will prove to use it effective and it will be worth the investment.

The Geodomes were big in the late 60-early 70s if I remember right, for alternative living structures. Theory was good, practice was not at the time. Seams everywhere, everywhere where the triangle panels met was a seam, and everywhere a seam, a potential for water leaks. I dont think such structures would be a problem now days, with all the better sealing materials we have.
Pictures are most definitely required once you get it set up and growing!

If any one here follows Lloyd Kahn and if you don't, google him. Lloyd was a huge booster for the geodesic homes early on. Later after working with them for a number of years, he backtracked on them. I don't know if the negatives he speaks of would apply to the green house version. Either way can't wait to see the pics!

https://www.shelterpub.com/domes

Also check out his Half acre Homestead. I realize people differ on what constitutes true homesteading. But I think this is one urban set up that qualifies.

I am going with this company..

https://arcticacres.ca/domes

Getting a full kit with some upgrades and professionally installed.. I am on the group and there are alot of folks in ontario/quebec in my zone or harder that have had them, I have tracked down some that are 10 to 15 year on theirs and they are pretty open about the good, and the this can be a issue.. like it quickly became clear that while it can do year round growing it is not giving you tomato's in jan without extra heat and light.. and that for non-heated winter growing, you should make the middle lower by about 6 inches to increase the sun movement and so on.. I will certainly take photos and post updates.. I am expecting a learning curve.

We had domes up in Iqaluit.. they can really handle the winds, snow loads (they just blow off) and it was coming on 40 years old.. I will look into the link.. given what the sea high winds, the cold and the snow drifts/loads and how well it does.. I have hopes? that it will hold up to climate change weather far better then typical greenhoues locally, so many of them are getting so much damage over the past 5 years..

Time will tell me if I (we) are making a mistake..