Thursday, October 17, 2013

Deconstructing the Garden

A lot of work goes into gardening in the spring as soil is prepared and planted.  Yard art is placed, furniture is set out and after months of work, summer is the time to enjoy it all.  

Then in the fall it's time to undo it all and put the garden to bed.  That involves just as much work.

With dry days, and a sense of urgency because of pending work elsewhere when Jill's house closes, we have begun the work of deconstructing the garden.

Today I picked flowers.
No, not these flowers, although we are enjoying a late blush of pink roses.

These flowers.
I collected all of the yard art, including the glass flowers, to be stored away for the winter.

 The flowers need to be washed of their accumulated dust and pollen and leaves and needles so I set up outside in the SUN ! to do the job this afternoon.

With the washing done, I set them in the sun to dry.


Tom had much harder work to do.  He got an early start (well, 10:00, that's about as early as it gets around here) while I went out for my 3.5 mile walk followed by my exercise routine.

Tom was putting the raised garden beds to bed.
 Yesterday he dug the dahlias and took down all of the vines and trellises that held sweet peas and beans and cucumbers.  I transplanted out some fox glove seedlings that self sow and thrive in the rich soil here.  Today Tom began the spading of the beds, turning under left over plant material.  Then he covers the beds with landscape cloth to keep the weeds from growing and the rain from hardening the soil.  It will be ready for planting in the spring.

It was after 4:00 when he tucked the last bed in for the winter.  
We still have beets and carrots in that final bed, so we will leave it for a while.

And so it has begun.  I got a start yesterday in cleaning out one of the perennial beds.  There will be lots more of that, crawling around on the wet ground.  The final step will be putting down leaf mulch, but that will be at least a month from now.  Hopefully it will be done by Thanksgiving.

13 comments:

  1. Wow! What you reap is what you sow. That type of work is much too strenuous for David and me.

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  2. Thanks for the instruction. I need to get myself some landscape cloth for my little plot, which I've pretty much weeded out and want to keep it from growing nothing but weeds for the winter. :-)

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  3. Yes, a great deal of work for you both, but you do get a splendid result. I am always glad when you share garden pictures.

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  4. My Dahlias come back from being left in the ground all winter. I'm too lazy to dig them up. Washing and storing all those glass flowers is a chore and a half too. I have the makings stored for two, which I plan to put together this winter. But I think two will be my limit.

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  5. Goodness, you sure have a lot to do putting everything up and tucking in. All I do is I plant kale as my winter crop and put in garlic in the other bed for spring. Dug up my sweet potatoes today and pulled up the butternut squash vines. Thas all folks.
    But then my yard never looks any where near yours. All your work is rewarded.

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  6. Gardening is a lot of work but for some of us who really like it we wouldn't miss it for anything.

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  7. I am always in awe of how hard you both work, how much you accomplish and how beautiful and bountiful are the fruits of your labor. Wow!

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  8. Gardening is something that soothes my soul... Since it is just me doing the work. Always enjoy seeing how others do things!

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  9. it's amazing how much hard work there is to gardening and yard work. My hubby would love to do that but we live in the desert and have yardcare as part of our retirement community! Oh well, he's building a BOAT!

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  10. You are both such dedicated gardeners and hard workers. Would planting a cover crop in the raised beds accomplish the same result with less work? I'm all about less work!

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  11. This is a lot of work. I admire how much you both work and how you have your plans down so pat. Beauty such as you have in your garden doesn't just happen. It takes planning and lots of hard work.

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  12. The ivy at the end of the beds must come back yaer after year. I love the way you work so had to put them to bed for the winter. I love your glass flowers, I have been collecting plates and dishes and vases to make some, I even got the right glue! I hope to have time to make some soon. Your roses are still beautiful:)

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