Good Times in the Garden

It's Fall.  Enough said.  Days are getting shorter, Nights longer, Air cooler - winter is approaching.   I love fall and now with a garden it has new meaning.  Leaves will need to be rakes - and bagged and saved.  Yep, I said saved.   Leaves are great for the compost - so if you have one, save those leaves so you can layer them in there in the spring.   I plan on keeping a bag or two of dried leaves and I'm going to run over piles of them with the mower and dig them into the veggie garden, too. 

Laying the garden to rest is surprisingly rewarding.  I thought I'd be sad about it, but as I'm tidying up I'm able to move things around a bit and begin to make plans for spring.  I'm saving seeds from the things I liked and pulling those I didn't.  This will give me a chance to share with others if I have plants I no longer like. 

I've filled a few bags for the garden waste pickup - this fabulous thing allows me to send off my weeds where they are composted, rather than tossed in the garbage.  Apparently the high heat attained there kills the seeds, something that doesn't happen in my small compost. 

Speaking of which, I do need to add more brown stuff to it and turn it.  That's something I've been slow in doing.  Already I'm planning on how to make it better next year so I can harvest some of that rich stuff for my garden.

Fall is a good time to map out where your plants are, what you want to move in the spring (and where it is, as it will probably die back over the winter and you'll have no clue where to look) and what you want to add.  You might even find a friend that has what you want and vice - versa.  Hmmm.  I think this would be 'green' gardening at it's best.  You can recycle old pots to move things to each other and you are using something that already exists.  Gotta love it!    If you have items you don't need anymore (extra rakes, garden ornaments, pots for plants and so on) be sure to share them on freecycle, fullcircles or craiglist - or a reuse website run by your community.  Even broken stuff can be artistic in the garden so keep an open mind on what you can re-use or pass on to another.