As I gaze across the lake this morning, it appears the leaves have fallen from the trees with the branches taking on the ephemeral grey tones of winter. With enough wind to produce small white caps on the water and temperatures in the mid 30’s, I think we have entered late fall. Just in case of frost, I have moved my beautifully blooming mums onto the porch and even though there are still a few lonely petunias blooming it is still time to put the gardening to rest for the season. Unfortunately, there are still a few tasks to complete to prepare the beds and the yard for winter.
I have learned to spread the tasks out over a one month period so emptied the annual flower pots and got them stored in the garage several weeks ago. Last weekend, we tackled the raised beds and, thank goodness, Paul was willing to help. The gangly tomato plants tied up in their cages were bad enough but I would never have been able to wrestle the large sunflowers with their deep roots out of the beds. I was spared the bagging up and hauling off as well.
Next it was time to harvest our 20 foot row of carrots which required watering to loosen the ground for digging. Once they were wrestled out of the ground, it took forever to scrub them well enough for storage in the refrigerator. There were so many I think we will be hauling them back to Arizona again this year. In front of the carrots were a row of marigolds that ended up with thick stems and deep roots difficult to pry out as well. Next to this is a healthy row of asparagus plants that, from the looks of their fern growth, should produce well next spring. Moving on to the prolific row of rhubarb, I replaced a few plants with a handful of bare root peonies which will take several years to flower. This year, the only plants I will bring in and gift to a neighbor for safekeeping over the winter are several geraniums.
What remains is a good clearing out of the perennial bed which ran wild this year. I am learning which perennial plants need to be trimmed back and mulched and which ones can be left alone and trimmed up in the spring. There are a handful of gladiola bulbs that need to be pulled out and I have a bag of allium bulbs I will plant this fall as well. I should probably enrich the soil but haven’t found the right source of organic material yet. This is also my last opportunity to collect plant to plant in the spring. I also try to take some garden notes on this year’s successes and failures to continue improving my gardening skills.
By mid to late October we have packed up the canned goods for holiday gift giving and the garage has been tidied up for boat storage. In early November the remaining porch plants will be frozen and our last task will be to move all the pots, planters, garden tools, decorative items and lawn furniture into the garage. By mid-November the lake will start to freeze so we will turn our attention to packing up, loading the car and heading off to Flagstaff for the winter. This may or may not be a better place to winter where hundreds of inches of snow fall on the ponderosa pine trees in the forests of northern Arizona. Burrr!