November Garden, prefrost

 

Late as it is, I'm just finishing up the summer vegetable garden clean-up. This was the year of "you're out of here" for under performing plants. The blackberries moved to that list. They've alternated between producing heavily (33 pounds two summer ago!) to producing almost nothing. In addition, they are a Japanese beetle magnet. So, when I put the shovel in the ground to dig them out, it felt good. A happy looking collard patch is living in part of the former berry site. Of course, that soil hasn't been amended as intensely as the rest of the garden. It's on the list. With that in mind, I've located the current compost-in-place pile in the former berry site.

I'm a lazy composter. If it's compostable, it goes in the pile, somewhere in the vegetable garden, the place that is currently most needy. This time of year, when I'm dead-heading the summer flower and cleaning up the vegetable garden, the pile is the size of a small car. It reduces pretty quickly, particularly if we get some rain. Add to that all the compostable stuff from my kitchen, and it's an efficiently lazy way to make good dirt. I mightmaybe put a pitchfork in the pile, if the sunshine is right, and the birds are singing my favorite tunes, but I don't get too concerned about turning it. Or watering it...ok, if I'm passing by with the garden hose in hand, it will get a drink. It will compost in a year, or so, without any work from me.

The carrots were a surprise. I threw out some seed in the spring, and promptly forgot them. It was a crunchy vegetable garden season, almost no rain fell in four month. The rain in early September jump started a few plants that hung on, giving them a second chance. A few more carrots are still in the ground, I doubt I will harvest more. Next time, however, I WILL photograph them outside, where the light is much nicer than in my kitchen!

The rosemary by the front steps moved to the "you're out of here" list in the spring. They weren't getting enough sun, and the huge rosemarys (rosemaries?) in the white garden are looking gorgeous. I've installed a couple of dwarf loropetalums in their place by the front door. I think the purplish foliage will look pretty with my rusty-orange front door and turquoise porch chairs. All the day lilies in the cottage garden came out, too. Too much shade and too many deer. As much I love day lilies, that was a painful decision. Most of the purple conflowers came out, too. Under performing. The rest of the list includes moving a couple of hydrangeas and some heucheras, and maybe a few of the volunteer hellebores.

The lettuce is looking happy. Some is in the ground in the vegetable garden, some in pots on the east deck. Either way, we'll have fresh greens this winter.