Big week, in general, & in the garden.
First of all, I had a really bad fall week before last. Came close to losing an eye and breaking an arm – black eye & lots of bruises & reinjured a leg that was healing up from a groin injury (grrrrrr!). Because of this, I now have garbage pickup service (there is a connection – I'll spare you the details). No more trips to the dump with cans of maggoty bags. I cannot tell you what a relief this is and a load off of me. Wrangling the heavy trash cans into the pickup (which was killing my back/sciatica) & dealing with the nasty mess is not something I will miss. Every time I see the new trash can, it gives me a huge lift.
This was the week I pulled the hummingbird feeders. They have been cleaned out & disinfected, ready to store for next year. The local birding folks suggest still leaving them out for “vagrant” birds migrating through. We still have lots of tithonia blooms and I have a garden full of zinnias – any birds coming through will have plenty of natural flower sources on which to feed. It was sad to bring in the feeders – first year I've fed hummingbirds and they were a real joy and a aerobatic show to watch. I have a couple of Monarch butterflies visiting the zinnias …. beautiful!
Last but not least, yesterday I finished building a compost bin. I spend about $50/year buying LeafGro compost. The price has gone up significantly from when I first started buying LeafGro – it has made a huge difference in my raised bed soil quality. Our maple leaves are dropping leaves right now and I haul trailers full to dump in the woods (stupid, right?). Anyway, I took my “herb square”, originally a sandbox decades ago for my nieces/nephews, and turned it into a bin. A little poultry fencing, wire, boards repurposed from old fence we took down …. voila, a compost bin! I was so tired yesterday, I only got the first two layers in (leaves, grass clippings), along with a little fertilizer & soil. I am hoping to get it “cooking” so I will have compost by spring. My 4 new raised beds (galvanized) came in yesterday & I picked them up – still need to put them together. I've got great dirt to put in the beds, but it does need compost added to “soften” the dirt up.
Happy Fall everyone …. counting my blessings and enjoying the gorgeous weather!
We were starting to get some good fall colors and then had two days of high wind which dried them out and turned them brown. Also blew a lot down.
Coronavirus: Supermarkets in Wales have cordoned off ‘non-essential items’ - shoppers are furious
A sign in the store reads: “Following latest government public health restrictions, we are unable to sell certain items, including plants & flowers, general merchandise, homeware or clothing.”
Plants and flowers. No mention of seeds. Gretchen wHitler outlawed seeds in Michigan this past Spring. Walmart here has none at the moment. We’ll see if they have them in Spring. I think I have plenty and hardly any are hybrids. I’ll buy more heirlooms online soon and get into seed saving this coming year.
Covid has shown us that some in government would love to control every aspect of our lives and that they don’t think we need certain things.
To Rake?
Or NOT to rake.
That is the question.
Whether tis nobler to leave the leaves to mulch and nurture the soil,
Or to wear out arms against them, raking the garden?
To sleep...the bulbs all winter, perchance to dream of color in Spring,
Or to wait,
Until that dam Oak is finally through dropping its leaves to rake rake rake.