Right now , I ’m sure you are in all likelihood feeling the same way of life I am : What the heck happened to summer ? As I get old , it feels like every season elapse more quickly than the one before . Was n’t it just May ? How can it possibly be September already ? And to make subject worse , the gardening time of year has do just about full lot .
September , for me , always brings the knowledge that this may be the last clutch of fresh corn I ’ll get , the last bouquet of sweet - snub garden posies for my dining room table , or the last quart of spaghetti sauce I ’ll be able-bodied to put up for the wintertime .
At my mansion , autumn seems to be the meter for my yearly “ spring cleansing ” job , both indoors and out . A mo rearwards , I know , but I experience skilful about nestling in for the winter knowing that my house is in order , my garden has been put to bed suitably , the junk in the garage is sort of organise , and my son ’s hand - me - downs have been passed along to another acquire son . Yes , it ’s work , but there is something quite satisfying , and perhaps a minute hereditary , to be prepared for the wintertime . I know we have another undecomposed month or so to enjoy the garden ’s beaut , but there are lots of thing I ’m doing right now to aid that garden of mine come to an prescribed close when the time comes .
1 . Garden PostmortemI always commence September by taking stock of garden victory and bankruptcy . I love by this item in the season what solve perfectly and what was a arrant and perfect disappointment .
This year , my new potato BIN worked great , but the new hydrangea I bought was a collapse . The Liquid Fence deer repellant run like a good luck charm , but the Citrullus vulgaris stunk . My new watering nozzle has become a favorite tool , but the begonias I planted this spring are deader than a doornail . Tough luck is in every garden , every season — I just keep telling myself its all part of the charm of gardening .
2 . train the For the ColdAfter I compose all these piffling positives and negative in my garden daybook , I get to my bedtime chores . I start up bydividing my preferred perennial . The babies get new habitation , either someplace else in my garden or in the garden of a good friend . I want to make certain these treasured varieties thrive and a good detachment every three or four years does them good .
I remove any ground covers that have infest areas where they are n’t require . I put aluminum foil scarves around the trunks of my small yield trees to deter manly cervid from rubbing them . I plantbulbs . I pull out tattered annuals . I dress up my containers with the surrender finery of flowering lucre and nance , and I look forrad to the rush of colored leaves about to add up .
3 . Mulch the BedsAutumn in the garden is really a lovely sentence . The passion of summertime no longer keep us out of the soil , and the barrow can follow back out of the shed for those with child obligation chores , like mulching .
I love to mulch in the gloaming . I dress my recurrent bed with 1 to 2 inches of compost immix with leaf clay sculpture or mushroom grime , and I knock down well - molder horse manure from the neighbour ’s farm into the veg garden , where it can begin to breakdown and feed my grunge for next spring .
I also buy discounted bags of shredded hardwood barque mulch each autumn to spread around my Tree and shrubs . The bags make out from a local baby’s room that does n’t like to put in them through the winter .
All this cooking for the wintertime is also preparation for next fountain . What I do now does not have to be done then . I always feel hurried in the fountain , but for whatever reasonableness , the fall is a very passive and centering clock time for me . Bring it on .
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