Fall Garden Clean Up

Hey friends! 

Anyone else getting your gardens cleaned up and ready for Winter? 

We still have a fairly long grow season left here but I was in the mood to 

begin cleanup so rolled up my sleeves and got after it.  

With so many morning glories and zinnias still blooming it was hard to uproot

them but ... the whole area of our backyard garden is now cleared.  

It feels great.  

I still have some sections of old fencing I need to haul off to my gardening  bone yard

in the pasture.  Old cattle panels, and wooden posts, antique headboards and footboards...- you know; 

all the good garden junk you gotta have. haha  

There is one giant, evil poke berry root I can't get out... but I'm thinkin I'll  have another go at it

later today.  If you live in the South, I bet you have your own waged war with them.  

During the hottest part of Summer; I don't spend much time in my greenhouse.

It was wall to wall plants though and so many were rootbound and needed some love.

I carried everything out ... and thankfully only three pots had ants.  I made sure to have 

the shop vac in there to gobble up any clumps of ant nests.  Its such sweet satisfaction to suck

em all up ghost buster style.  

It was so fun repotting plants.  My beloved Creeping Charlie was lookin pretty sad...

-when I dumped him out it looked like I'd about drown him.  Charlies must be like tomatoes

and not like wet feet at all.  Anyway... he needed some  major resuscitation and hopefully now he'll survive.  

I gave haircuts, and changed to bigger pots and 

now look forward to seeing how everyone 

takes off enjoying cooler days ahead.  

-Even went through all the old seedpackets and tossed alot of old ones

and found some root crop plants to add to the raised bed this coming week.  

The bunnies, ponies n donks appreciate carrots through winter.  

The coral bells get so big and take up so much room, so the big ones got planted 

directly in the garden yesterday.  The small one on the bottom right is the only one 

I have left inside.  I hope planting them,  doesn't become a regret.  I've never grown them

right in the garden with much success.  

All the succulents have went crazy.  

A friend told me that when any break off to just drop them ontop of the soil in another pot 

and they'll root.  So I've been doing that and man they really do start growing!  

You don't have to do one thing.  Just ignore them.  

This was something  I noticed while working out there.

This big bee landed on the washtub and it doesn't have any fuzz.  

All the big bees I normally see are fuzzy.  Like the carpenter bees that 

drill into your wood... they're fuzzy.  Where's your wool coat little buddy?

Back inside the greenhouse I rinsed bottles, and cut wisteria and ivy that had grown through the walls..

cleaned up a mess of indian corncrumbs  that mice had helped themselves to... 

and listened to Christmas music because ... ahhh why not?  

Now to muster the courage to bail water from a washtub at the fountain.  

It's very... green, thick and questionable. 

Doesn't it feel good though to make headway on Fall chores? -- No matter what they are.

There are still places dotted here and there with a few flowers.  

The zinnias growing here around the goldfish pond are giving their final curtain call but 

maybe if I keep snipping  a few and whisper an encore they'll 

return for yet another number before first frost. 

They're so cheerful and always full of butterflies.  

Myguy just left to go build a canopy for our bed.  

So this is what I'm about to tackle next.  

I want to say it looks worse than it is... but that'd be a lie.  

Inside the raised bed are my Mama's peonies.  Throw in a few wayward 

mints, wild violets and that wretched trumpet vine and well...

you've got yourself a recipe for 

D-e-e-e-e--s-a-s-t-e-r.  

Why oh why did I plant seed from Gardenerwoman's trumpet vine? 

You'd think someone would learn her lesson after  planting running bamboo once 

without questioning if it was invasive or not?  

You'd think.  

?

We now have trumpet vine running crazy wild. 

It's in the ornamental grasses, climbing up the greenhouse, jumping paths,

and ducking under mulch and back up into raspberry rows... 

And just try and give it a yank.  

Yeah... Good luck with that.  

Perhaps it's like a gray hair.  You know what people say.. pull one out and 

and three more grow in it's place.  I swear it's like that.  

And watch yourself coz this vine is  full of ants too.  

Oh well live n learn.  

I still smile... remembering Gardenerwoman's grin when she handed me seeds and warned

me that some people think it's a little too invasive but she thought it was pretty.  

It is pretty... I'll give her that.  Just not all up in your raspberries business.  

Wish me well as I don my leather gloves and go  ...sharpen my hatchet.  

One bit of beauty to sign with... 

this apricot rose bloom.  

If only you could smell it's heady sweetness.  

Have a great weekend!

Until we meet again... 

<*)))><