The big project I embarked upon yesterday was to “pave” the area that I latticed in this spring. I need a fairly clean surface (no weeds, which I had this summer & dirt) for storing my fencing, tools, and anything extra, including my compost tumbler. The surface was mostly covered with loose bricks & I was pleasantly surprised when I moved them that I already had down two rows of pavers … 1 that was 8 x 16 & another that was 12 x 12. That gave me a good start. Without getting too deep in the weeds by way of explanation, I found enough of both sizes to finish the area off – didn't have to buy anything. I had to used a piece of scrap slate for one edge & even it off with some bricks, but overall, I'm very pleased. The surface looks terribly uneven in the picture & while I didn't use a level, I've done enough rock work (dry laying walls/cribbing) that I could eyeball it and get it pretty darn close - it's actually not uneven at all! What is in that space is what I need out of the way right now – it will change as I move tools under cover for the winter, put buckets in a different spot, etc. I also reinforced the top of the lattice with boards to stiffen it up - really glad I did it.
As for the rest of the veggie/flower beds (8 total), all are now cleaned, compost added, and covered with fencing to keep the skunks from digging them up. The only thing left to do is haul away old plants – marigolds & peppers. The old pine mulch has been put in-between the beds. I've never had such clean, weed-free beds as I did this year, using either just pine mulch, or (around the tomatoes) a layer of cardboard boxes cut flat with pine needles on top. I'll definitely use that method again – the only weeds were the ones that grew up right next to the plants & they were few & easy to pull.
Compost bin is full as of last Sunday & the leaves are chopped up better this year – I expect a “finer” compost that is even more broken down by next year. Considering all the beds where I could add compost this year, doing my own saved about $200 if I'd had to buy the same amount.
Last things to do – clean out the hummingbird garden. The sunflower bed is done already, but the tithonia & cosmos beds are a mess. I left the tithonia up until all the seeds had been picked out by the birds & the very last flowers were dead. Tithonias are fabulous flowers for bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and they provide a ton of seeds for finches & other birds. I'm sorry to pull them up, but they are well and truly “spent”. One more thing is to clean/straighten out the lean-to where I keep my gorilla cart & tools. It's gotten pretty junky! Last but not least – rake pine needles for mulch for next year – the needles are really falling right now so I can use the mower to round them up & then bag & put them in the pole barn …. ready for Spring - I'm ready for Spring now, but it's a long ways away. :-)