Hi there! Welcome to my blog. The garden is showing signs that the season is indeed changing to winter. The beech hedge is turning from green to yellow and brown. The burning bush is a fabulous fiery red. And the sunflowers are finally finished blooming. It truly was a magnificent year in the garden. Another sure sign that the end of fall is near: bulbs have been planted! Planting bulbs is one way to sow the seed of hope for what will come in the future – and I am full of hope! 🙂
We’ve had quite a lot of rain the past couple of weeks. Everything is water logged, to the point where the grass goes ‘squish’ when you walk on it. This makes weeding (my most pressing task) nearly impossible. So, not a lot has been done in the garden, although we did get some tulip and daffodil bulbs planted. I also harvested all of our squash: two Red Kuri squash, four Marina di Chioggia squash, and nine Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins – not a bad season in the end! I’ve never eaten the Marina di Chioggia before, so I am looking forward to that.
As my husband is a huge fan of our strawberries, he very kindly thinned out the plants this past week. It’s a task that ideally is done in the fall, and is not my favorite thing to do. I’m so thankful he did it!
I thought I was going to dig up the dahlia plants this week, but I decided to wait a bit longer. From what I’ve read, it is best to dig them up after the first frost. The good news is that I’m still getting dahlia blooms, and the bees are enjoying the ones that I don’t bring inside.
It is nearly time for us, like our gardens, to start to slow down for the winter months. What do you think, are you ready for a little ‘slow-down’ break? 🙂
In Peace,
Dana
Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins, Marina di Chioggia and Red Kuri squash surround the burning bush (Euonymus alatus ‘Compactus’ – dwarf burning bush).
Sure what’s not to smile about? 🙂
Dahlias! Maxi, Cafe au Lait, Tam-Tam and Coffee at Midnight. This year I’ve learned the importance of staking dahlias properly. These have mostly been blown over in the wind, yet continue to flower!
Doing what I love to do: create a bouquet of flowers from the garden! The alstroemeria has flecks of burgundy inside the flower, which I think goes really well with the burgundy colored dahlias, as does the pink of the alstroemeria, too. I was able to gather a lovely bunch of flowers that now sit on my kitchen table.
The coloring of our beech hedge is a mottled brown-yellow-green at this stage. It will eventually turn completely brown, and the leaves will stay on for the entire winter.
Thank you for stopping by! I do appreciate you visiting. What’s a sure sign that fall is over in your garden?
Mom in the Garden 
The underfoot squelch, more than most other conditions, brings gardening to a halt. It is the same here, squelch and even lying water in places so we haven’t doen a lot in recent days. The dahlias need to be lifted but it will be a dreadfully messy job and who would wish to face into it! All things in due course! We’ll get round to it all in time. I love the squashes!!!! Really love them!
And more rain today! I’ve never wanted to weed so much, as when it simply is not a good idea to do so! So do you typically dig your dahlias before the first frost, Paddy? I’ve been debating just how long to wait for the frost, especially with these mild conditions. I’ll want to at least wait for things to dry out a bit. I’m glad you like the squashes 🙂 (me, too!)
Re the dahlias and first frost: it isn’t a consideration. We lift them when we feel they are dying back, have reached the end of their season and prefer to do it while conditions are comfortable for work and not trying to do it in the quagmire we have at present. The garden is really very wet and soft – I can’t imagine I will be able to run the lawnmower again as it would do too much damage.
We lifted most of the dahlias this morning, a messy job. We have about a dozen left to lift but that will have to wait until we get a dry day.