October Slideshow

In many ways, this October was generally unpleasant. We experienced one of the coldest, wettest Octobers on record, a killing freeze arrived on October 6 and it snowed – no lasting accumulation, but there was no doubt that we were in a snowstorm.Winter is coming, better get ready.

There were a lot of good things this month too. This area of the country isn’t particularly known for colorful autumn tree color, but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy a lot of spectacular color (it’s just not as orchestrated as in Vermont and Colorado) October sees the end of the harvest and the beginning of the clean-up. Four-season gardeners can begin to look forward to taking a couple months off, dreaming of spring. But first, we need to settle the garden in for the winter.

Being without a computer for a couple weeks during the month really cut down on my blogging, and I didn’t pick up the camera as much as usual either. This month’s slideshow is short and sweet; to view just click the button below.

 

Rain Delay

Garden clean-up has begun in earnest – cold weather is rapidly approaching and it’s time to tuck in the flower beds for a long winter nap. It’s a necessary and important part of the garden cycle, and it has it’s own rewards – but it’s also a lot of work. I try to spread it out over several weeks, but sometimes the weather and my work schedule make it impossible to do anything other than leap at any small window of opportunity and get as much done as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, this is what has happened this year. We’re experiencing a wet, chilly autumn which is making it especially difficult to get bulbs planted (local farmers are in dire straights) Inevitably, dry weather has seen me at work. I managed to get most of the cutting garden tulips planted but only by covering the bed with a tarp in an attempt to keep most of the 1 inch-plus rainfall that we had last week out of the bed. I still have some daffodils and more tulips to plant; I’m trying to stay calm about this – you can plant bulbs until the ground freezes (although daffodils prefer to get in the ground earlier if possible), but it has been frustrating. I guess if they don’t get planted in the garden, I’ll pot them up and force them for late winter bloom.

I’ve also managed to cut back about 2/3rds of the garden – I sent out 11 yard waste bags last week alone. Of course, the ornamental grasses and sedums stay as well as the honeysuckle vines (a favorite shelter for the birds) and the clematis. One nice thing about cleaning up in the fall is watching the garden transform back into it’s geometric forms – lines of the beds that were blurred by the lush plants of summer return and the plants that are putting on a late show have a chance to shine. Fall is also, somewhat strangely, time to think about spring  – all the sweat and sore muscles from planting bulbs will be well worth the effort in a few months, all the chopping down and clearing away is part of setting the stage for the next glorious burst of color and fragrance, coming soon, right after the garden pauses for intermission.

 

September Slideshow

September seems like a far and distant memory; we enjoyed warm temperatures (that is, we enjoyed average temps rather than the below normal temps we’ve had all summer!) and dry weather. The tomatoes finally began producing and, while it was a small crop compared to most years, what we did get was very welcome. In addition to tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers and potatoes from my own garden, I picked raspberries at a local farm. Winter looks a little less daunting with these summer souvenirs in the freezer!

For a quick look back at the last hurrah of summer, click on “View Slideshow”.

 

Season of Change

Fall has arrived here and not just as a date on the calendar; we had a heavy frost early Saturday morning and hard freezes Saturday and Sunday evenings bringing the growing season to a screeching halt. To really add an exclamation point to this statement, Mother Nature also delivered snow on Saturday, one of the earliest recordings of snow in our area ever. There was no accumulation, but there was also no doubt that it was snowing and snowing hard! Although it’s been averaging 10 degrees below normal temps every day this month, the long-range forecast for winter is milder than normal temps and lower snowfall amounts. Hmmm. Of course, the weathermen are always so accurate….

I dug my onion crop a couple days before the frost. Admittedly not a record-making harvest (I have been occasionally pulling a few as needed) but I’m very pleased with them. These are “Candy” that I planted as sets in the spring. Talk about super simple yet satisfying – plant them and forget them until harvest.

I also picked the last of the bell peppers, eggplants and tomatoes and pulled out the plants. The time for garden clean-up has begun.

And finally, the reason for the long silence on the blog – my Dell PC, which I’d been nursing along for several months, cried “uncle” and crashed, taking most of my files with it. Meet the new kid – an Apple MacBook Pro. The learning curve has been quite sharp – going from PC to Apple, desktop to laptop, wired to wireless – well, the old brain has been getting a workout. It took me an hour and a half to figure out how to get my pictures from the computer to Flickr! I think I’ve got it now, but it was touch and go there for awhile. Still, doesn’t it look all shiny and pretty with the last of the dahlias?

 

Happy is a Flower

Have I mentioned how much I love nasturtiums? Their bright, cheerful colors, their easy-going personality, their absolute reliability? They are the quiet champions of the late summer/early fall garden and while they’ve been blooming steadily since late July, they really shine now as the rest of the garden tires and fades, with unflagging blooms.

When my Mom was in the hospital (she’s home again now and doing very well) I’d bring her bouquets from my garden – big, robust, wildly colorful bouquets made up of zinnias and dahlias and black-eyed susans. She reports that she got lots of comments about all her flowers, but the most were about a tiny bouquet of nasturtiums (pictured above in the mosaic) that I brought her.

I think that’s probably because most people don’t know nasturtiums anymore – they’re old-fashioned annuals that grow best from direct seeding (although you can find six-packs at the nursery sometimes) They’re edible so they’re often regulated to the vegetable garden and viewed as food or garnish.

It’s also unusual – to the point of extremely rare – to see a bouquet of these flowers.  I can pretty much guarantee you that you’ll never find nasturtiums in the florist case! Their stems are too short except for tiny bouquets and they’re very short-lived in the vase – maybe three days. On the other hand – they’re extremely easy to pick (a lovely, contemplative task at the end of the day) – no clippers required, they come in astonishing colors ranging from bright to soft and they have a light, gentle fragrance. They are irresistible.

These nasturtiums are all “Whirlygig”, a non-climber, in mixed colors (as you can see, I got some amazing colors this year) I order a large packet of seeds in the spring and plant them in late May after most of the spring chores are finished. I line a couple of the paths of the cutting garden with them, an idea from Monet’s famous Giverney garden in France that I read about. I keep them watered for a week or so, then basically ignore them until they begin blooming (which they’ll do until a hard freeze) when the only maintenance required is to pick them and spread a bit of Happy around.

 

Autumn Arrives

Happy First Day of Fall! Although I am a hard-core Spring girl and always will be, I’ve grown to appreciate the charms of autumn more and more each year – the fall bloomers, the ripening of foliage and seedheads as plants prepare for winter, the evolution of the garden through the seasons. As always, endlessly fun and fascinating.

 

Raspberry Picking

I finally got the chance to go raspberry picking last week. Between the wet weather and a schedule gone crazy, I had nearly given up but then the weather dried up and a morning came free and I headed out to the country.

This is the same operation (Pride of the Wapsi) where my friend Steph and I went strawberry picking in June.  Strawberries are big business here (although still very much family-run and friendly) There’s a large field set aside for parking, concessions and a playground, multiple helpers to assist and direct, and seemingly endless rows of strawberries.

In sharp contrast, the raspberry picking was entirely on-your-honor and, except for a farm worker weeding in the distance, I was the only person around. It was a beautiful day, warm but not hot with the first hints of fall in the air. The land here slopes gently to the Wapsipinicon River (you can see the trees that line it in the distance in the center picture, top row) At one point a flock of Canadian geese near the river were startled into flight, honking to each other, making a lazy V-shaped curve over the low-lying land. Mostly, however, it was just me and the quiet sounds of the country.

There are just a few rows of raspberry bushes and they’ve been cut quite short – I think it may be because of the Japanese beetles (there was a fair amount of  beetle damage visible) but as you can see, I had no trouble getting five pints in about an hour of picking. It was a well-spent morning with beautiful raspberries safely tucked away into the freezer as a balm for winter blues and the mind filled with the calm and peace that the garden and countryside can offer.

 

August Slideshow

Grab the popcorn and call the kids, the August slideshow is here at last! I know you’ve been waiting anxiously!

This year August proved a couple theories I’ve always held about the garden. One is that working in the garden can be a real comfort, help take your mind off your worries and offer some stress relief. The other is that, once established, a perennial garden will take care of itself – very little if any watering is needed, all but the most aggressive weeds are smothered and flowers will open, right on schedule.

August is always a quiet time; usually the weather is dry and even the lawn mowing slows down. However, this year August was very wet – we were 10 inches ahead of the average by the end of the month. I did finish one chore – resetting and adding new mulch to the path by the front gate.

For a look back at the lovely month of August, click on “View Slideshow”.

 

Labor Day Harvest

The rewards of a gardeners’ labor.

(Full disclosure: the green bell peppers and the eggplant – these are “Fairytale” – are from my Mother’s garden. The flowers and the rest of the vegies are from mine.)

I also dug potatoes today (these are Yukon Gold). Now, admittedly, this harvest wouldn’t exactly keep a family of four alive through a long, hard winter (and would probably just feed them for a meal or two) but I was pretty excited to find a nice collection of good-sized potatoes under the soil. It was almost magical, like finding nuggets of gold!

This is a job that probably could have waited a few weeks; the potato bushes were dead and dried but letting the tubers stay in the ground longer allows the skins to thicken and make them better for long-term storage. However, I had some time (always a precious commodity) and the weather was good, so I dug them up. Better to spread out the fall garden chores whenever possible not have to scramble with the last bits in a race against winter.

 

Featured Bouquet

Late summer (zinnias, black-eyed susans, dahlias) meets early autumn (sweet autumn clematis, late salvias) in another special get well bouquet (the patient continues to improve)