Putting the Gardens to Bed : Part 1

I used to think when the first frost hit gardening was pretty much done for the year. As I have become a more seasoned gardener I have learned different. The work has just begun. The planning and "putting the gardens to bed" in the fall is as important as the work that is done in the spring when the ground thaws. It can be harder because the weather changes, the ground begins to freeze, and garden fatigue sets in. I just brew a strong cup of coffee, put on my earbuds with favorite music, grab garden tools , and do it!

Here is the Part 1 of my Fall Chore List for putting the gardens to bed:

Review the thousand photos taken during the growing season and and take notes on what worked and didn't work.

Figure out what plants need to be moved. Fall is the best time to move plants and shrubs. and it is often easier to find someone to help you do it!

Throw away any pots that are cracked or broken. They won't mend over the winter. Trust me on this!

Plant spring and summer bulbs and take notes or use markers to remember where you put them. It is a long time until spring!

Save the soil from all garden containers in garbage cans. Add compost to the soil, cover them, They will be ready in the spring to mix with new potting soil and fertilizer.

Compost all the annual flowers. 

Dig up the dahlias and check with Keri at Sunshine Flower Farm about storage if you can't find her directions. 

Move any bird feeders you won't be able to get to after it gets icy and snowy. Who wants to shovel a path to get to a bird feeder in Janurary? 

Rest, put up your feet, and pour yourself a favorite beverage. You deserve it. 

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Small Celebrations of Gardening, Revisiting a Post from 2007

 

In 2007, this was how I started a blog post in April about gardening. "I return to gardening year after year because of the small celebrations each and every day. It doesn't matter the size of the garden or what is planted, there are always changes, surprises, and celebrations on a daily basis."

Twenty six years later this is still true. I love garden beds that look pretty, but I also find pleasure in the day to day things that happen in the gardens. Today I spotted another daffodil bloom. I see it is already time to weed ( even if it was 23 degrees very early this morning). There are plants that need deadheading.  I am waiting for it to warm up a bit before I head outside, but I try to take my camera and capture small celebrations each day in the garden beds. 

In this same blog post in 2007 I went of say, "I am not a life-long gardener. I pulled weeds growing up sometimes. I appreciated the beauty of the flowers in my grandmothers' gardens. Fresh vegetables were a special treat when we visited relatives' houses that had large gardens. I dabbled with containers and annuals early in my adult life. When I turned forty and moved to KF I took on gardening in a  more serious way.

Now I live in a different house. I took a different approach to flower gardening at 514. I design more containers again, more perennials, and lots of bulbs. I have been fortunate to be able to move plants from Mom's garden beds next door and watch them continue to flourish at my house. 

The last thing I said in that original post was "gardening teaches you to pay attention." Each day I do a garden tour and look for new growth, grieve over a dead rose, or celebrate the blooming of a spring bulb. I pay attention to what is working and what shouldn't have been planted in a certain location.

It has warmed up a bit. It is time for the garden tour for today.  I will celebrate those small observations in the garden beds and pull of few weeds.

A Sign of Hope

When I retired I moved back to my hometown and moved in the house next door to my mother. As I began building and designing gardens, she continued to tend her established gardens encircling her backyard.

My mom died in 2017 and my brother also moved back home into her house, our childhood home. I wanted to honor Mom in some way in my backyard. My husband came up with the idea of a memory garden. In the spring of 2018 my sister and I both chose plants from Mom's gardens and planted them in our respective gardens.

One favorite flower I moved was one of her peony plants. I have waited four years for it to bloom. In a time when the world has turned completely upside down, it bloomed. My heart was filled with hope as I cut that bloom yesterday and put it in a vase.

Weeds Are Flowers Too!

 

I love this quote by A.A. Milne. It is late spring, we have had many rainy days, and the weeds are flourishing. It is certainly their season to shine.

Today I felt like I needed to get to know a whole bunch of weeds. I wish each and every one of those weeds was a flower. Weeding is just a part of the process of gardening. I try to break up weeding into smaller tasks as not to get overwhelmed. Today it worked.

When I weed I bring my favorite tools. I also have my water, iced coffee, and music. Today I had two dogs assisting. Riley is always with me, but today we were joined by his cousin Cleo. 

The weather was perfect. The weeds were plentiful. I discovered a bunch of new muscles. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I finished my first little section. Who could ask for more?

Ten Things To Do When You Can't Garden

Where I live we have had a cold, wet spring. Don't get me wrong. I know we need the rain, but when the temperatures are cooler, it is hard to plant a garden. I realize I could bundle up, wear a rain poncho, and go out and pull weeds, plant containers, and put out my garden décor. I don't want to. I only last a short time outside when I get wet and cold. I have found some other ways to use my time.

Ten Things To Do When You Can't Garden:

1. Go shopping for plants. Eventually it will warm up, right?

2. Start trays of plants from seed. They will get to be planted someday.

3. Fill up the bird feeders.

4. Go to another store shopping for plants. You hate to have them sell out the first day it is warm again.

5. Arrange bouquets with my spring flowers.

6. Cuddle with Riley, drink coffee, and read a good book.

7. Reorganize the She Shed and deadhead the plants that wintered over

8. Plant flowers in the containers in the garage and hope there is enough sun to keep the leaves green.

9, Go to one more store and buy plants. Do you see a pattern here?

10. Take Riley outside and have him do a Sunshine Dance.

Woman Who Loves Gardening

 

I wrote this poem in June of 2007. Reading it again today brought back memories of gardening with Everett at Martin Creek. Enjoy!

Woman Who Loves Gardening

I have dirty nails

and rarely paint them, living out

my long growing season in the flower garden, trellises

giving view to clematis, climbing Peace

where aromatic flowers

grow in profusion.

I pull the weeds

in the early morning

gritting my teeth

wiping sweat from my brow

and listening

to footsteps of my husband

coming in range to help.

Sun makes my face red;

each sniff with my nose

leaves lily pollen behind.

When I rest it’s the beauty

that causes anxiety to shake loose

from a woman in need

of a quiet place to retreat.

Christy Woolum

June 20,2007

Putting the Gardens to Bed for Winter

 

Everett's Memory Garden is cleaned up and ready for winter.

Tonight I have a sore muscles and my hands are chapped. I came in covered with dirt and was cold. Then I discovered the power was off. No hot shower yet.  That didn't diminish my feeling of accomplishment. I finally got all my fall garden chores done and am ready to spread compost on all my beds and put them to bed for winter.

I filled the troughs with the already used potting soil from my hanging baskets. This trough is now planted with lilies and tulips for next spring and summer.

Perennials to winter over. 

I began to plan a new perennial garden in the back corner of the yard. I purchased plants when they were all fifty percent off. They are planted in the raised bed for the winter.

The chives will stay over the winter.

Lots of weeds were pulled !

It was a difficult growing year. I missed Everett's encouragement, jokes, and companionship. I learned how to do many chores by myself. I did have help with heavy lifting, mowing,and clean up. Then the hot weather came. I had to rearrange all my containers to keep them alive. Then came to smoke from the wildfires. It was frustrating when the smoke was so bad I couldn't go outside. 

Until the wind came up today it was such a pleasant day to work outside.

Riley was there to support me each and every day I worked on my fall chores. He reached his limit today. This is Riley giving me the ,"It's time to go for a run" look! Since the power was out we went for a run and I charged my phone and got warmed up in the car. Then I got a text from my brother informing me the power was back on. Whew! Hot shower and heating pad were waiting at home.

What Will I Miss About Summer?

 Those of you that know me well know I love autumn, but I am also sad to see summer slipping away.  This is what I will miss about summer:

I will miss the early morning light. There is nothing like grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting outside when the morning light is coming over the hill.

I will miss tending to my flowers, deadheading them, taking pictures of them, and making bouquets.

You can get fruit all year, but I will miss the fresh, ripe fruits of summer.

,,

The gloaming

I will miss the smell and taste of grilled food. I know some people grill all year round, but to me it tastes best in summer.

Everyone will miss the taste of tomatoes off the vine and just picked cucumbers.

Another thing I will miss about summer is sitting on the deck with iced coffee reading a new book for hours on end.

I will miss all the birds at the feeders.

I will miss the long, long days that end with everyone gathering in the backyard.

What will you miss about summer?

Happy National Read a Book Day

 

I love that there is a day set aside to celebrate reading a book.When I read about this special day it is simply a day designated to relax and read a book. I carved out some time today. This is what I read:

I borrowed this cookbook from my brother today. When we had a Mediterranean family dinner a few weeks ago I loved all the healthy recipes. This cookbook is full of those healthy recipes.

Instead of family dinner this week we did "bring your own family lunch" today. After catching up on the news of the week, events, and travel plans Paul and Carol stayed and did some garden planning with me. I have an area in the back corner of the yard that needs a makeover, there is a corner by  the table that needs a bit more TLC and we moved the ladder shelves Everett had built to a more efficient place. I dusted off my favorite gardening book and starting reading about landscaping.

I am continuing to read this book I wrote about last week on this blog. As I begin planning for seed purchases and flower beds for next year, this book is an inspiration. 

Most of us don't need a special day to relax and read a book, but in case you haven't carved out time lately to do it, stop, grab a book, and read.

Confessions of an Obsessive Plant Shopper

 I love to buy plants, particularly flower plants. In the spring I recall posting on Facebook that I was going to cut back on the flowers I purchased this year. Ummmmm..... I started out pretty well. I don't know what happened. Perhaps stress shopping, sad shopping, happy shopping, no will power, a need to support people and businesses, or just the need to bring plants to my happy yard. 

I have to purchase geraniums every year from the P.E.O. chapter because the profits provide scholarships for high school girls at our school. That is a good cause!

I also had to purchase flower plants from the KHS greenhouse because the students worked so hard to grow them. They were healthy, and I am sure the profits are for some good cause.

I like to support local nurseries, so it was necessary for me to purchase beautiful, healthy plants from Susi at the Pine Creek Nursery. Knowing that plants are started in healthy soil and raised organically made a big difference.

I really like the woman at Ace Hardware that takes such good care of the plants out in the heat, wind, and rain. The same goes for Jennifer at Yoke's. How could I not show my gratitude by purchasing plants?

When I discovered a nursery I had never heard of I just couldn't drive by and not support their business.

This is the face Riley gives me when I have spent too much time planting in a day. His face is saying, "It is time for us to go for a run. Stop the madness Christy."

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul." – Alfred Austin

 

Ten Ways to Cope With Summer Heat

 I remembered today why I have had difficulty enjoying summer the last few years. It has been too hot. I can live with a few days of weather above ninety degree, but day after day after day? Then add the smoke and hot wind. Ugh. Here are some ways that might help you cope with the heat this summer:

1. Take the Ice Bucket Challenge from 2014 again in your recliner with a fan blowing on your face.

2. Lay in front of the air conditioner and watch Frozen for the twentieth time.

3. Hide in the basement until summer is over.

4. Build an igloo in your yard and sit in it until it melts. I am hoping for at least 24 hours.

5.  Buy one of those big ice machines like they have in restaurants and sleep in it all day.

6.  Do your gardening, deadheading, and weeding when the weather cools down after midnight. Use a head lamp. When I tried it in the dark, I pulled up all my sunflowers, cosmos, and zinnias by mistake.

7. Cool off Zooming in the kiddie pool instead of the makeshift home office with no A.C.

8. Take a cold shower for three days.

9. Eat only snow cones, ice cream, and Mr. Freezes. Oh... and maybe an icy adult beverage.

10. Move to  Antarctica.

Summer Flower Winner: Portulaca

 

They thrive in containers in the hot sun.

During this hot, smoky month the portulacas have been a winner in my gardens. Mom and I never could say the name right so we used the common name moss roses. 

I love the colors.

"A truly beautiful, low-growing groundcover type plant is called the portulaca (Portulaca grandiflora), sometimes known as the sun rose or moss rose. Portulaca plants are native to Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Portulaca flowers are easy to grow and enjoy. "

This one is growing in a window box. It is the only plant that has thrived there.

Last year I discovered if you didn't buy them early, they were hard to find. I bought them early this year and I am glad I did. They are hardy, tolerate hot sun, bloom nonstop, don't require watering twice a day, and they spread quickly. You can plant them in containers or in the ground. My favorite thing about them is the variety of colors. One plant can have multiple colors. They photograph well also.

I got a tip from SP recently that they were available at WalMart. I was pleased to find some to fill in some places other plants had dried up. The only disadvantage with the plant is it's an annual, but a very hardy one at that. Add these to your list for next year if you have never purchased them. You will love them.

What plants have you been successful with in this hot,smoky weather we are having? 

Read more at Gardening Know How: Portulaca Flower: Tips For Portulaca Care https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/portulaca/portulaca-plants.htm