Starting a Thanksgiving Tradition

The way I see it, global warming is becoming a boon to those of us who don’t want to say goodbye to the growing season just yet. And I have never been one to turndown a gift. What with Winter being pushed back a little more each year it seems Mother Nature is giving us a bit of a treat: time to grow more cold-weather crops.

So, I planted some Sugar Snap Peas a few days ago. It was such a beautiful Fall day that I just had to do something in the garden. And besides, those seeds were left over from Spring planting and just lying there doing nothing. A bit of left over netting came in handy to help keep neighborhood cats from using the patch for something other than my pleasure. With the number of birds that come around I can’t keep the cats away but I can at least keep them out of this patch.

After planting all of the Fall bulbs, I planted some garlic under my rose bushes. Last Fall I did this and when Spring arrived the roses had a few aphids on them early in the year and then there were none after that, for the rest of the year! So, I am now a big believer in the power of garlic as an aphid deterrent.

One of the dangers of this gift of an extended season is that it has been warm enough to coax the Lilac buds to swell and to draw out the Iris shoots. Hopefully the cold snap that is sure to come won’t be too harsh on these confused plants.

As you can see, the Parsley doesn’t want to give up either.








Too bad all the Zinnias and Cosmos couldn’t hang around a bit longer to enjoy these warm days.

We have been eating fresh carrots for awhile now and they can stay in the ground over winter. As long as the ground doesn’t freeze too hard for me to pull them out when needed we should be alright. The Thyme and Basil are giving up though.
Photo: Carrot Danvers Half Long 08-11-21 BB7M

Also, as part of the Fall clean-up ritual, I rubbed Linseed oil on all wood handles of tools and the wheel barrow. So, I guess we are pretty well set for the snows to arrive.

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Autumn already?

It seems like just yesterday….

I don’t know why summers seem to go by so quickly these days. They say that as you grow older time does seem to fly by faster. I am beginning to see the truth to that statement.

Since the night time temperatures here at nearly one mile above sea level in the Utah valley are dipping into the 40’s the call to dig out my Fall work list is getting stronger. It seems I cannot put it off any longer.

I finally relented and planted a Geranium, at my wife’s insistence, this year. Don’t get me wrong, I like their foliage and flowers but they seem to get leggy, although this one didn’t, and they need to be dug up every year (this is the true reason I resisted planting one). So, now the time has come to add this chore to my list. Oh, I complain but it isn’t really that big of a deal. The first step is to cut back the plant so it will be easier to dig up. Wait a few weeks for it to recover from the trimming before putting into a container. I am going to also take some cuttings for new geranium starts. Over the winter they will be grown in bright light with cool temperatures. We have a food storage space in the basement that would be just about right for this as the garage would tend to get too cold. There is an excellent post at Ventnor Permaculture that addresses how to take cuttings.

Now is a great time for bargain shopping at nurseries. Which is great because early fall is also an excellent time to set out new perennials to fill in those empty spots that are a constant reminder of past failed plants. Also, dividing and re-planting spring-blooming perennials should be done now so they can get rooted before the ground freezes. Use a spading fork to lift plants and divide them.

I have several Chrysanthemum Alaska that will be divided next year. They have grown in size since planting last year but have not yet begun to die out in the center, which is how you can tell they need to be divided.





The next three plants will all keep their heads this year to both feed the birds and hopefully drop some seed onto the ground in order to start new plants.
Bee Balm Monarda Blue Stocking








Echinacea Magnus








Echinacea Bravado













The Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia Goldstrum) has already started some new plants and I will leave them untouched, also for the birds. The Goldfinch especially loves picking seeds right off of the heads.


Earlier this year, I dug some daffodils up to divide them and to move them to a different location. September is perfect doing this so they can establish roots while the soil is still warm. They need to be planted deep, with at least 7-8” of soil above the nose of the bulbs. Deep planting assures they will last and multiply for many years to come. Hopefully, the spot I put them in will be their final location, but who knows, plans are always open for change.

September is also a great time for planting "hardy" pansies for both their late-season color and to get an early start next spring. This is one annual that will actually survive winter to return early in spring. They will grow and bloom well into December. This photo, Delta Violet Face, is from spring 2008 which was planted in winter 2007.

Herbaceous and tree peonies can be planted now in full sun where the soil has been enriched with compost and sphagnum peat moss. Don't plant too deeply because that can cause failure to bloom. I haven’t grown Peonies yet but the neighborhood I live in have had success with them.

Cooler temperatures mean a sort of mini re-birth of the perennial garden. Plants that were stifled during the heat of summer are beginning to respond and grow with cooler conditions. Aster’s are known for their fall bloom and are usually tall 24” up to 48”. This Aster, Snowdrift, was supposed to grow to a height of only 6” and 24” wide and makes a great groundcover.
The first photo shows one which gets all day full sun, and is now 8” tall and has spread to 40” across, has been developing small white buds for several days now and some are beginning to open. This plant will soon be covered with bright white star-like flowers.

The second photo shows another one, in a different location, that is overshadowed by dozen or so Zinnia California Giant opened its blooms about a week ago.





As a side note, if you are experiencing problems with powdery mildew, now is a good time to get a handle on this fungus. You can control the spread and kill off a bunch of spores to lessen the problem next year by spraying a baking soda wash on the plants. Prepare a the wash by mixing 1 tablespoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (canola oil or dish washing soap works too, it helps the mixture stick to the plants) into 1 gallon of water. Pour the mixture into a tank sprayer and apply to upper and lower surfaces of leaves. Doing so will inhibit the germination of the fungus spores.

This is just the beginning of Fall clean up, and if you take it one step at a time so you don’t overwhelm yourself at the last minute, it shouldn’t be viewed so much as a job as a preparation for next year. Remember, the garden is for your enjoyment so have fun.

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Dreams and aspirations for my garden

I am looking forward to the rebirth of my garden with the anticipation of a father expecting his first child. Even though I know I mulched it, I worry “Did I mulch it well enough?” I weeded it in hopes of preventing some small amount of weeds from getting a foothold over the winter under that carefully laid out mulch. But was it enough?

For now, all I can do is wait. Waiting is difficult for someone who likes doing things. Waiting is even more difficult for someone who has experienced the loss of plants for whatever unknown reason and has begun to doubt himself for not knowing, and since winter is the harsh mistress it is, I realize that some plants just won’t make it.

My garden is expanding, and with it, my experience. But this is no guarantee that this season’s garden will live up to my expectations.

My dreams are to see healthier fuller plants, tastier fruits, more birds, more butterflies, more beneficial insects (which means more non-beneficial insects so this is a double edged sword).

I want to delight in the sounds and fragrances wafting from the garden on every breeze, to be delighted with the constantly changing colors and textures that only a healthy, thriving, well-laid out garden can provide.

I want people to stop and enjoy the activity as well as the static loveliness a well-cared for garden promises.

Is this asking for too much? Perhaps, but dreams are what they are and without them nothing is much worth the effort.

One aspect of having this ‘down-time’ from gardening is it offers the opportunity to examine gardening habits. So, just as I have done in winters past, I reflect over the year to see what I need to change in order to make things, in general, work ‘better’ or ‘more smoothly’.

A garden is one of those things we bring into our lives for the enjoyment of it, to make our lives richer and more rewarding, and so the maintenance of it becomes a labor of love.

Even though it is a labor of love, the mechanics of gardening can become routine and tedious so we take short cuts to get things done quicker in order to give our attention to more ‘pressing’ and ‘demanding’ parts of our lives. Sometimes we may skip or put off a chore until later. This can become a bad habit to get into.

Some bad habits I find myself getting into that I hope to correct this year are:

Throwing compost material in the trash. I simply do not have a good compost system going yet. Even though, intellectually, I jnow it is worth it.
Buying too many seeds that never get started due to lack of space for them or not enough time or space to start them all.
Putting fall cleanup chores off until spring. This past fall I did press myself to get a lot more of it done than in years past. So this part s getting better, if I can make it a habit.
Not pruning my shrubs/trees so they can bloom to their fullest potential. It’s more the overcoming the fear of screwing it up so badly that I do more harm than good that keeps me from doing it.
Starting container plants and not feeding them regularly enough for their fullest potential. They need much more attention than plants in the garden.
Not tagging and organizing garden photos so I can find them when needed. This has got to change.
Waiting a little too long to put bulbs in the ground or applying winter mulch.

I’m sure there are other bad habits I have gotten myself into but this list is painful enough so I’m going to leave it here. I can see I have my work cut out for me if I hope to correct these habits and keep up with all the other things a garden requires.

In an attempt to ease the pain from listing these bad habits, I am going to have to list some good habits.

I feed the birds everyday and make sure they have fresh water.

Wow, that’s pretty pathetic if this is the best I can do for listing good habits. So, I will have to delve into the art of rationalization.

My garden gets watered and fed fairly frequently.

Oh well, here’s another attempt at rationalization, I prefer to look at these ‘bad-habits’ as the nuances that mark each of us an individual. So what if the photo system is in disarray? Who cares if your patio plants are not going to be some botanical society’s poster subject? The enjoyment of getting out there and doing something creative is a reward in itself and we don’t “need no stinkin’ pressure” on us to detract from that enjoyment.

We all have lives outside of the garden and priorities have to be set and adhered to.

Nature is very forgiving. So what if the 2008 edition of my garden doesn’t live up to my dreams? And so what if my aspirations don’t necessary jibe with what nature will allow me to do? I do love doing it. And that means eventually everything will come together.

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Final fall cleanup?

I decided to try something different this year with my leaves. I have three fruit trees along the west side of the backyard and they drop a prodigious amount of leaves. The pile looks so nice and yellow and thick.

The rest of the yard doesn’t get any leaves on it unless there is a good wind. The last few years I have been raking the leaves onto the perennials beds, beds that I had not yet planted anything in waiting for the compost and mulch to breakdown in preparation for planting.

This year, I decided that since those beds have been planted and will get lots of mulch dumped on them after the ground freezes, I will share the wealth of those fruit tree leaves with the entire yard.

I raked all of the leaves over the entire yard and let them sit for a few days. No special reason for leaving them sit, I just didn’t feel like dragging the mower out until today. The weather gave Utah another beautiful, clear, 55F day and I, in my usual capricious manner, decided that today was the day for mowing. I find that as I get older I do things whenever I feel like it more so than when they have to be done. I am more or less within acceptable bounds as far as the proper timetable, but don’t count on me to do anything by a strict schedule, is all I am saying.

Now that the leaves had rested there a few days and it looked like they weren’t going to be blown away by the wind, I thought today would be a perfect day to follow through with my brilliant plan and put those leaves to work. The grass wasn’t really in need of mowing but that wasn’t why my intention. Besides this way I could run the gas out of the mower to get it ready for winter storage. I love it when I can do two or more things at once, thereby saving time. Ah, if only it would work out that way. If I timed it right the gas would run out at the exact moment when the last leaf was mulched. And if the mower just happened to be at the storage shed door when it happened, all the better. That kind of luck doesn’t usually come about easily so I wasn’t really counting on it.

The lawn looks nice now, all cleaned of leaf clutter. Of course, the next frost or gust of wind that comes along will sever the remaining leaves tenuous hold and another pile will be created. That pile I think will go to my pseudo-compost pile. There is still the apple tree, which hasn’t dropped any leaves yet. I guess it’s because it still has quite a few apples on it. But, I am sure that after all of the leaves have fallen and they are all sitting in their final resting place, only then will all of my fall chores finally be done.

Let’s see, I better double check my to do list...

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End of one year, beginning of next

I can't believe it is time to start thinking of cleaning up the yard and garden for Winter in preparation for next Spring. Time flies when you are having fun? As I get older, time flies even if you aren't having fun.

I have to admit that overall, I did enjoy this year. I started four new perennial beds, which means 490 sq ft less yard to mow, yeah!. Two of them were started from scratch, i.e., grass into planted bed, and two from amended bare earth to planted bed. I added 20 new plants to four existing beds that were started last year. This brings the total new plants started this year to 124 and 67 bulbs. Wow! I did not realize I had started that many. I’m shocked and amazed.

Next Spring better look really good!

To satisfy my anal trait, I keep maps of each bed so I know where everything is planted. I also enter all pertinent information into a spreadsheet calendar linking each plant to a word document telling me everything I ever want to know about any given plant I have in my garden. I know, everything is online somewhere, but if I am ever without a connection to the internet, for whatever reason, at least I have what I need on my hard drive. Now I need to print it all out in case the computer breaks down.

The lawn mower needs to be maintained, i.e., gas treatment, wheels oiled, oil changed, air filter cleaned, blade sharpened. Tools need to be cleaned, sharpened and wood handles treated with linseed oil. Containers need to be emptied and cleaned with bleach solution. Weeds to be pulled, always! Perennials need to be divided, since this my first year I can put this chore off. Mulch needs to be added after ground freezes to prevent freeze/thaw cycle. Amendments need to be added and worked into soil. Annuals need to be pulled.

Still a lot left to do.

Well, the leaves are falling and just begging me to rake them onto the compost pile, so, as they say “Nature calls” and “Time waits for no man”.

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