Putting the gardens to bed

 Always a bittersweet moment. 

As I pull up the remnants of what was another decent effort in the vegetable garden and cut back dead foliage in the flower gardens, I can't help but chastise myself for not being one of those gardeners who obsesses over each and every plant.  I don't have an amazing yield, I don't grow monster fruits, and I generally fail far more than I succeed.  I wish I had that drive, but I really don't.  Gardening to me is something I think I'm passionate about, but in truth it's more of a passing enthusiasm.  I might remember to water, if and when we have water.  I might remember to feed my plants.  I don't always prepare my soil before planting.  I don't always think about the angle of the sun or the days to germination.  And yet...somehow it always works.  Maybe not impressively, but we get a meal or two, there's always something I can share with friends and neighbors, and there's always a pretty flower to be admired, no matter how black my thumb may be.  Next year, I need to plant earlier.  I missed more than a few harvests because I hesitated.  This winter, I need to start a few more perennial plants from seed.  The money saved by growing my own yarrow, baptisia, and blue fescue grass has me hooked.  These are my lessons for this growing season.

Today I pulled up my corn and squirreled away the stalks for my mother to use as decoration.  After two days of absolutely driving, gusting winds, I was actually amazed they weren't all flattened.

 Once they were pulled, the garden looked so naked.

 But how about that cottage garden?  Both sides are still eeking out a bit of color.  I'm excited to see them next year.

Most of the vegetable beds have been cleared out and augmented with some amazing composted mule manure - it's 2 or 3 years old at this point and rivals anything you'd get out of a bag.  Garlic for next year is planted; Music and Premium Northern White.  I may try a softneck variety next year, but I haven't settled on one yet.  I also cleaned out the masonry tub bed that was nothing but moss and weeds, and gave that a refresh.  I've been ignoring certain beds and it's time I put them to use.

The edges of the garden really needs a good weeding and new layer of bark mulch, which will probably wait until spring.

I managed to tackle the hot borders, which took a day and a half.  I really need to practice better technique; prepare a bed before planting, not as an afterthought!

I don't know why I do this to myself. 

At any rate, I spent an entire day ripping hunks of grass and weeds from around what few plants were in these beds.

Planted some spring bulbs, perennial mums, and kniphofia into the bare spots, and gave each bed a generous layer of wood chip mulch.

I still have some finishing touches to work on, but they're well prepared for winter at least.

On the backside of the house, my homemade hand rails are beginning to show signs of rot, so out they come.  I'll use them as supports for the rambunctious asters on the pond side of the firepit area.  The raspberry trellis was a shot in the dark that didn't work out so well, so I will try something different next year.  The raspberry bushes didn't really get to a point where they needed much support anyway.  I really hope they put some growth on next year.

The gravel paths were about as successful as my gravel patios.  Crab grass is just a nightmare!  I had originally wanted to put in tiered steps using pressure treated 4x4s; I may do that next spring.  It seems like where I want grass, it won't grow, and where I don't want it, it thrives.  But how about the color on that Tiger Eye Sumac?  Just beautiful!

I never think to get a photo of it when it's lush and gorgeous, which is a shame.  I have to say, I'm really happy with this little shrub as it's not the invasive pest that our native Staghorn Sumac is.  Don't get me wrong, I do love the Staghorn; it's a great provider of winter food for many birds, and it gives the landscape an almost tropical feel.  The autumn color is fantastic, as well, but once you've got these thugs they can be difficult to get rid of.  This Tiger Eye, on the other hand, isn't showing any signs of suckering two years on.  Of course, my mother's favorite saying about certain plants is "the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap".  Maybe next year will see this little shrub explode, who knows?

And as it so often happens, over the course of days it's taken me to prepare this post, changes have occurred.  Four days later and we've had our first killing frost.  And so begins the next season.