One of my blog followers left this comment on my last post:

"I encourage you to see if some of the tree droppings can be kept on some of the beds and perhaps some of the lawn".

This post is in response to that comment an to explain how we recycle in our garden.

Tom was conveniently doing just that this morning so I got him in action. He has been clipping off perennials around the garden.

The clippings that are not woody get dumped into one of the compost bins in the back corner of the garden.

This bin has been sitting for a year. Tom is indicating the level it was when freshly filled. The rough, moldy plant material will be dug into the raised beds in late winter, early spring. 

The raised beds that are not being used as plant holding areas will be raked out and covered with permeable ground cloth to prevent weed growth and  keep the soil from compacting by winter rain. 

More finished compost, pure decomposed plant material, is strained and stored to be used as part of Tom's homemade potting soil mix or used to dress some beds. 

After our wind storms this week the lawn is again littered with fir cones and cedar debris. This will be "vacuum" mowed up again and all of this goes into the compost bin. The small stuff helps to decompose the bigger clippings.

We don't rake the beds, but we do clean up the lawn so the grass isn't smothered. We have stopped fighting the moss and it is taking over some parts of the lawn. The leaves that fall in the beds are left. The leaves raked or mowed off the lawn will be used to mulch this bed.

The cedar debris that was cleaned off the patio went onto this path, along with what the tree already deposited there. 

We have two yard waste bins that are picked up and go to a commercial composter. They hold food waste and woody plant material, since we no longer had a chipper. 

In the front yard, where the Full Moon Maple is still shining, it's leaves will be left where they fall except for the sidewalk. Those leaves will be just blown into the beds as mulch. 

And there you have it, the reason Tom will be working in the garden well into November. I used to help with all of it, but I am pretty much grounded now. I just walk around at take pictures. :-)

Making Hay

 Tom makes hay while the .... well, not hay, but progress, not while the sun shines, but when the rain stops. He did a lot of that on Sunday, while I stayed in the house and watched football. (We won.)

Our giant Western Red Cedars drop all of last years foliage. It covers the patio and much of the lawn. Rather than raking the lawn, which I used to do, we got smart. Now he just uses the rotary mower to vacuum it up.

The edges I clipped last week are looking sharp. 

Most of the beds are cleaned out.

All of the maples are in various stages of turning color. 

The patio is all cleaned off now too, and that cedar debris is now a new clean layer on the garden path to the deck. 

In the front yard the Fern Leaf Full Moon Maple is trying to keep up with the celestial full moon. That happens tomorrow, Nov. 8th. 

The tree will not quite have reached it's orange stage, but it's very bright, and it's getting there. It's OK with me if it slows down and takes it's time. Autumn beauty is just so fleeting. 

November Rain

 Yesterday it got cold, low 40's and it rained. But I got photos in the yard while it was still sprinkling.

Tom's bonsai. The rest are now under cover, but we had to leave these two beauties out. 

The stuffed greenhouse.

Trees turning color, and other lingering lovelies.

Today it warmed up 10 degrees and rained more, with the wind determined to blow the leaves off the trees. 

It's November rain. 

Comings and Goings

 Our tulip bulb order arrived last week. The rain stopped long enough for us to get the bulbs in cans one day and get them planted two days later. 

I helped stuff the bulbs in nursery cans with garden soil. I made a plan for where each color should be planted. Tom did all of the hard work of planting them.

Some are here, some are there, some are over there.

Monday we spent all morning at the KP medical  center, meeting with Dr. Chen, my orthopedic surgeon, confirming the need for an uploader brace for my right knee, so it can wait it's turn to get fixed, getting more x-rays, and getting pre-op lab work for hip replacement surgery sometime in January.

That was Halloween, but we have no little candy seekers come to our door anymore. I lit my Jack-o-lantern and wore my Snoopy shirt.

Tuesday I saw my podiatrist, Dr. Greenan, to have my fungal toenails tortured. 

Wednesday, today, I finally got back on my stationary bike, wearing my knee brace. It is breaking me in in 2 hour increments. Tomorrow I'll be up to 8 hours a day and holding.

Driving around the last few days we have discovered that the beauty of Autumn has finally arrived. This was part of the scene in yesterday's visit.

Tom spends time outside each day when he is not driving me around. I haven't looked today, but the greenhouse must be crammed full by now. All the tender plants from the patio are now in there, and all of the geraniums we had in pots. The bonsai trees are now under shelter in hoop houses on top of the garden boxes. The compost bins are filling up with plants pulled from beds cleaned up. 

I actually spent an hour outside myself this afternoon, cutting lawn edges. Cold weather, perhaps down to freezing, is expected next week. 

Fall color is still coming, but October is gone and winter is coming.

It's November.

One last little bouquet.