Top 10 Fall gardening tasks

Well, kids have gone back to school and the air is decidedly cooler. Hints of color are appearing in the tops of trees and our garden's production is slowing down once more. About the only plants still producing in our garden are our zucchini plant and tomato plants. The garden was, like summer, fun while it lasted. Now the fall cleanup and maintenance must begin to ensure another great gardening season for next year.

With that in mind, I have compiled a Top 10 list of things you should do for your garden this fall.

1. Now is a good time to start planting perennials and spring bulbs.
2. If you do not have a compost pile, get one started with the leaves you rake out of your yard. I do this every fall and then add coffee grounds and other vegetable waste throughout the year for a wonderful loamy soil that can then be added to our raised beds.
3. Till up your soil and mulch it for the winter (again, another good use of leaves).
4. Now is the time of year to divide your perennials and move them if you so desire.
5. Have your soil tested and perform whatever recommendations are made.
6. Add compost (if you have already been composting all summer) to your various beds.
7. Encourage your existing pumpkins, melons, and gourds to ripen up before frost by pinching off existing blossoms and the ends of vines.
8. When the daily temperature no longer makes it up to 65 it is time to pick your green tomatoes, wrap them in newspaper, and let them ripen indoors.
9. Pull up your no longer producing vegetable plants. This helps prevent disease and insects.
10. Put your strawberries to bed for the winter in November by mulching them with straw. The best time for this is after a few hard frosts have caused the leaves of the berry plants to lie flat.

There you have it. With all of the maintenance you need to do in your garden this fall, you will be gardening well into November.

Roast Beef

My husband absolutely loves roast beef. This is our favorite way of cooking it and it is so easy!What you need:

• Roast Beef
• 1/2 bottle Italian Salad Dressing
• Potatoes
• Baby Carrots

Directions:

• Cut the potatoes into chunks. Put the potatoes and carrots in the bottom of a slow cooker. Put the roast on top. Pour about half a bottle of Italian dressing over the top.
• Cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 8 to 9 hours or until the meat is tender enough to fall apart.

Michigan gas prices down again

This marks about three weeks in a row now that Michigan gas prices have gone down. The average price of gas in Michigan as of today, September 11, 2006, is $2.457. I have noticed that gas around here in southwest Michigan is around $2.39 to $2.44 per gallon. One year ago, the price of gas in Michigan was on its way down from the all-time high of $3.205 due to Hurricane Katrina and was sitting at $2.93. One month ago we were paying almost $.61 more per gallon at $3.063 on average across the state.

How long will the decline continue? How low will it go? My answer to both of those questions is, "I don't know." I say, enjoy it while you can.

Gas price data courtesy of AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.

Cougars in Michigan? Check out this video evidence

WWMT has an interesting video on the question of whether or not there is a breeding population of cougars here in Michigan. The video shows some clips from amateurs of cougars in fields and other locales. A group is looking for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to recognize that there is a breeding population of cougars. The group, Michigan Citizens for Cougar Recognition, is trying to get the cougar population recognized in order to put the liability for property damage (death of farm animals, etc.) on either the county (if it is a pack of dogs for instance) or the DNR (if it is indeed cougars or coyotes).

Until the cougar is recognized by the DNR the various counties in Michigan are stuck with the bill for property damage. So, like most things in life, this is pretty much about MONEY. Go figure.

There was a blurb at the end about how the main thing that everyone wants is public safety and protection of the cougars. While I am sure that is true it seems the thing that is really driving this is money. The counties don't want to foot the bill and the DNR doesn't want to foot the bill in addition to having another animal population to manage.

Watch the video at the WWMT website. It is about 2.5 minutes long. Seeing images of cougars out in the wild here in Michigan is quite interesting.

Cool picture at Michigan.gov

I know not everyone will be impressed with this, but as someone who appreciates how difficult graphic design can be I just wanted to point this out. The picture below is part of the current image at the top (the header) of the Michigan.gov website. The header pictures at Michigan.gov are always very well done and this one is no exception.

I like how the fall colors turn into colors created by colored pencils on the right side of the image. I just thought it was a bright and cheery picture and for some reason it stood out today.

Very creative. I wonder who does the work on those images.