Friday, October 10, 2014

The October Garden


Mostly, I've been cleaning up, putting beds to rest, and planting fall bulbs. Tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinth, and allium. Hopefully those pesky squirrels will leave some in the ground. Several bags of woodchips went around the raspberry canes, with plans to plant more canes in the Spring since they are thinning out. There have been a few small harvests, which I'm loving. The last of the tomatoes, lots of carrots, the second round of radishes I planted, and broccoli, although they are not the huge heads I had been expecting. Instead, they are teeny broccolini. While cleaning up the raspberries I had a nice surprise. The blackberry bushes I thought had been pushed out were hiding underneath, and there were some ripe berries ready for picking and lots more left to ripen.



There have been the Fall flowers too. Lots of black eyed susans that have already been pulled out. They went to seed last year and overtook our garden because of it, which is funny because just a few years ago we had been talking about planting more because we had one lonely plant. Funny how that works! The marigolds (I think I need to plant half the amount next year) and autumn joy sedum have been keeping colour around, and the Fall crocuses have just finished.







I have learned so much this gardening season as I've tried several new to me plants and made a lot of mistakes along the way. There are so many things I'd like to try next year, and so many dreams I have for the future - one day there will be apple trees, an asparagus patch, I'd like to try growing squash (acorn, butternut, pumpkins), and one day those peppers will work!

I really enjoy this time of year, and the Fall garden is no exception. I am looking forward to next year's growing season, but am glad to let it take its time getting here.