Weekly Update: October wks 1 & 2

As the days get shorter and the garden winds down, I'm finding that having interesting things to share on the blog is slowing down as well. One of the things that I enjoy so much about gardening watching the whole process come full circle. Last years plants were composted to feed this year's crop which grew from tiny seeds and fed us for month. Now they too have come to and end and are tossed in the compost bin to begin the cycle all over again. There are so few things in life that lend that sort of completeness and satisfaction. There's the sense that even though one thing has come to an end, it is only a matter of time before something new begins.

Fall is actually my favorite seasons of the year as everywhere you look there seem to be new and constantly changing displays of color. I'm thrilled this year to have finally managed to see the fruits of my efforts from last year come into their own and help celebrate the season.

Photos will have to follow later because something seems to be wrong with Blogger's upload tool at the moment. Stay tuned!!

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Weekly Update: September Week 4

This weekend was nearly a wash-out, but I did manage to get in a bit of work in the garden in between rain showers. If everything looks wet in these pictures... its probably because it was wet!

New this week are two lovely additions thanks to our recent trip to the NY Botanical Gardens, a lovely fall blooming anemone (two pics on the left) and a painted fern. I originally intended to plant both of these out in the front beds, but I changed my mind at the last minute and put them in the back. I hadn't intended to buy another anemone since I just bought a few others last week, but I happened upon this lovely fall-blooming variety that was just about to blossom and I couldn't resist. I just had to have it out back where I can see it and enjoy it every day.

Also blooming away are a billion or so mums, including my favorite ones which have just started blooming this week. They're a great reddish-purple hue. They're actually a bit deeper in color than they turned out int the photo on the left. Also now in bloom is a fall blooming Asiatic lily. This one is a beautiful deep rust red color. So perfect for the fall.

Lastly a snapshot of my next round of plants going in (hopefully) shortly. I started to flats of ornamental cabbage and a flat each of spinach and lettuce. So far so good, but if you can see in the photos my poor cabbages are absolutely being slaughtered by cabbage worms. I've been trying to stay after the darn things, but its a non-stop endeavor. If they'd just let the cabbage get big enough to plant out, I wouldn't mind them eating it so much. I'm hoping that we can come to some sort of agreement before they just destroy the whole lot!

I may be pushing my luck with this one, but I also just sewed another square of turnips and radishes. Technically they should have time to get up before a hard frost... but we'll see. Things held on up to the last second of summer, so I didn't have any space before to get them started. We'll see how it goes!

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