Autumn Chores

 There are a lot of chores to work on even after the vegetable plants are pulled and all of the perennial foliage is cut back.  We are having beautiful weather so there is plenty of time to work on it.  The stone areas are weeded and that is all I have to do for them other than keep the leaves blown out.  The mulch beds needs a little maintenance to be ready for spring.  For one thing, there are weeds.  The area where we removed the old Lilac bush has not been mulched yet as we wait to relocate the apple tree.  So that has grown a few crops of weeds.  Each time I weed it, I come across more roots and debris that needs to be raked out.  I did add mulch around the peony that I relocated.  The rest of the bed got roughed up with a rake to remove the mulch crust so that the water will filter down well.

I placed wire cloches over most of the Primroses which are evergreen and therefore, like the Huechera, very attractive mid-winter salads for the wildlife.  I have been dividing them this year so I have more Primrose than cloche.  Bun-Bun the rabbit will snack on those for sure so the cheap solution to that will be wire wastebaskets from the Dollar Store.  I have plenty of those because they are a very affordable alternative to the more attractive wire cloches.  But they block more sunlight, so I will wait to place those.  Incidentally, Gardeners has a pretty good price on those this weekend so if you use them, now would be a great time to snap up a few.  I haven't seen them under $18 in like... ever.   

Of course, there are some things that cloches and wire baskets won't work on because they are too big, or right up against a wall.  I cut a square of wire to go over these evergreen Heuchera.  I won't install this right away either.  And I will have to pin a piece of bird netting over it to cover the ends.  But it is ready to go.

The evergreen shrubs in front of the house get wire rings too.  Obviously the deer could reach over and munch on the spruces, but they probably won't.  And if we get a really hard winter and they change their mind, the wire provides a framework on which to pin burlap.  The spruce on the east end will need Wilt Stop and burlap, but not right away.

The pear tree and small apple tree get tree tubes around their trunks.  A hungry bunny can girdle those.  Up here near the house, the chance of a buck scraping them with his antlers isn't very likely, but better safe than sorry.

Both of the compost tubes have now been emptied and mixed into the last of the shredded leaves from last fall.  Each week I will shovel the left side over the right side and then vice versa until it freezes and can no longer be moved.  It will all be ready in the spring to dress up the raised beds.

I make notes to remind myself of changes that need to be made next year.  In the case below the note is "put T-posts and cable along west side of dahlia bed."  I did that last year and didn't realize how much it helped keep those from spilling over.  It isn't as easy to walk in there with the apple tree in the way so I ended up neglecting them a bit.

This is also a good time to do some maintenance on your tools.  Every time I use them I leave them to dry (if necessary) then brush them off well.  By the end of the year they need a good scouring, sharpening and oil.

Even my favorite transplant spade gets a good polishing.

All of the  plant supports are being rounded up, cleaned and stored away.   I keep a detailed inventory of what I have so I know if I have suitable supports for the crops I've planned.

The garden shed cabinets are being organized and any freezable products are removed and brought into the basement for the winter.  I have made a list of products that need to be replaced when the time comes.

And now for some flowers....

Bare Bones

All of the landscaping is cut down, cleaned and weeded.  This leaves me to dump annual containers as I like, weed, divide plants, turn my compost pile and clean tools to put away for winter.  Its very relaxing.

Lemony Lace Elderberry

Having the grasses gone highlights the shrubs.  Below is a nicely shaped Summer Wine Ninebark.  This came in a 3.5" pot in the spring of 2022 and has put on a lot of growth.  It flowers in the spring.

I was just thinking that I hadn't seen a single Wooly Bear caterpillar yet.

Wooly Bear Predictions

Mr. Wooly Bear had more black near his head and only a little shadow at the tail which translates to winter beginning harsh and ending mild.

The vegetable garden gets emptier every day as I remove the annual flowers.

Winter Lettuce

The Last Three Tomatoes

On one of the tomato plants, when I cut it down I left a sucker growing.  Too bad the nights are getting cool now, because it is ready to bloom.

The Northern Spy apple trees produced pretty well (about 80 large apples) and I am freezing pie filling to use in the winter. I am waiting for the Gala tree to lose its leaves and go dormant so I can relocate it to the empty spot left by the removal of the lilac bush.

Despite our late frost, it managed to put out one perfect little apple.

Uprooted

 Remember when I said this tall Overdam grass was grating on my nerves?  Well, I pulled it out.

So much better!

I had some other ideas for more drapey grasses, but after looking at this with no grass for a few days I decided I needed a really, really low grass.  And I have some of that.  So I dug up some Carex Ice Dance and planted it in the blank spots.

This is a very vigorous grass.  I bought three of them a couple of years ago and now I have them in eight different spots.  They divided really easily and are impossible to kill.

This is what it will look like next summer.

Problem solved.

I replanted the upright Overdams along our split rail fence in another dry creek bed where their pillar-like uprightness doesn't look quite so jarring.

Work to be Done

Back in July I did a post on how well the dry river bed garden had filled in this year.  Last year, some of the grasses were slow to respond.  I divided a few hoping to rejuvenate them.  I relocated some that were in too much shade.  Just about the time they began to look lush and put out their beautiful seed heads it was time to cut them down.  That is a process that I have resisted each autumn.  But it really is a necessary step.  The first winter I left the grasses standing.  In the spring it was a horrible mess.  The damp, dead grass did not pull loose like day lily foliage and it was also nearly impossible to cut with shears or any other battery powered tool I have.  Lesson learned.  Now the grasses get cut down the first of October before the tree leaves fall and before the frost knocks down the grass.

The River Bed in July

This is the first year that I have begun to look forward to cutting this down.  It beginning to look pretty wild and wooly.  There is a lot of work to be done.

...and today

There are a few things that remain uncut.  Namely the Butterfly Bushes, the Button Bush, four Elderberry bushes and a Ninebark.

All of the tall grasses need to be cut close to the ground to discourage rodents from nesting in them and destroying their roots.

The Coleus have almost completely outgrown their container, but the Heuchera in the whiskey barrels are actually evergreen and will only require some cleanup in the spring.  I will need to keep them protected with some wire and perhaps a frost cover because while the deer leave them alone during the summer, "green" foliage in the middle of winter will be a rare treat.  This spring they found one I left unprotected and ate it down to the roots.  It took three or four months for it to recover, but it survived.

The Hostas are still small and can easily be trimmed with scissors or pruners, but the grasses have to be contained in a twine or bungy cord as best we can and cut with the Stihl Kombi power scythe

So the days are numbered.  We will start with the rest of the landscape, removing the many daylilies and other tired perennials.  At this point any remaining daylilies are just piles of dried grasses and I have continued tearing them out by hand as I start with the worst looking areas nearest the house first.

The giant Black Eyed Susan has continued to look nice despite flopping over.  I don't remember an year where the BES flowers have looked fresh more than two or three weeks, and this plant has been putting on a beautiful show since the first week of August.  Otherwise I would have cut it back weeks ago.

Winding Down

At this point in the raised bed garden I have six beds empty and mulched.  I keep up with the weeds, and admire the beautiful soil.  All ready for next season.

But there is still food in here.  The pole beans rallied.  You can see that the yellow Monte Gusto beans on the left look a little haggard.  But the Seychelles are deep green and producing well again.  I just kept them watered during the hot spell and they began to flower again.  Even the yellows are beginning to flower a little.

And we have as many peppers as we can eat.

The Clarimore zucchini continues to flower.  There are fewer male flowers so I am losing about half of the squash to poor pollination.  Still plenty.

The herb bed had a blank spot in it so I put a packet of nasturtium seeds in.  Last year I go no nasturtiums at all.  So I am enjoying these.

This is the first year I tried Dara (wild carrot) from seed.  I only got two plants.

But I love these so next year I will try again and be more careful with them.

The Zinnias are gorgeous.

More of these next year too.

I did not adjust the saturation on the above photo.  These Sayonara dahlias are even more vibrant in person.  It sort of overwhelms the cell phone camera.

The Dahlia patch is looking stellar.

Sometimes the cool nights can tweak the colors a bit.  Below is a Lady Darlene which is usually red and yellow.  This one is fuchsia and powder pink.

Cutting Out the Ugly

 That's what I've been doing.  We are on the brink of tearing out a lot of the garden for autumn, but for now I just start each day with a muck bucket and a pair of snips and I trim out anything that doesn't look nice.  That could mean anything from just deadheading Dahlias to lopping off a wheelbarrow load of Sunflower tops and overgrown Cosmos.  We have just reached the end of a two week dry stretch which culminated in several hot, oppressively humid days.  We are now entering a break of cool weather with some rain and I won't have to worry so much about watering annuals to keep them looking nice.

The grasses in the dry river bed are heading out.  Above is a Pennisetum Foxtrot.  This is the second season for this plant and it has finally filled out and reached its full height of four feet and is putting out these fun little fox tails.

One of my stand out Dahlias this year is the new to me "Ice Tea" which always has a dozen or more blooms on it.

It began flowering as a rather monochrome, ball style dahlia, but later in the season it is showing some good, dark eyed color and looser, decorative form.

Another favorite is the Mai Tai (above)  This is a big, impressive plant with close to ten blooms at a time.  Not bad for a first year single tuber.

Summer's End

I am deep into planning for next year's garden.  I have my layout finalized and am already placing seed orders for things that are available now and going through my inventory to make sure I have everything set for next year.   I use a spreadsheet and create icons for each of my containers, plant supports and required row covers so I know I have the proper equipment to carry out and support the plan I've made.

 I have a list of fertilizers and such that I need to restock so I can budget for that in the spring. I have placed orders for spring bulbs and those will be arriving the end of this month so I will be able to enjoy planting again.  At the same time that I am cleaning up the detritus from this year I will be putting new life into the soil for a fresh, new spring.