If you garden in the Midwest, there is something going on nine months of the year. During those three months when things are not growing outside, you’re likely to be planning the gardens for the coming year, making seed and plant orders, starting seeds, or wintering plants over in several different ways.
I was outside this morning, emptying out the last of the containers. Those that still have plants will most likely be wintered over in the garage. I have several mints in huge pots, five or six large chrysanthemums, a pot of lilies, and one poor lavender that didn’t get planted. Those plants will be brought into the garage once the mower has been used for the final time this year. I’ll be able to get to them to water them periodically, and they will be shielded from the worst of the cold weather.
I sieved the soil from the pots, breaking it up and removing the superstructures of the plants. I caught all the potatoes from the ornamental sweet potato vines to show Elegante Mother. The pots are ready to be stored. The dirt from the pots will be put around the ferns in the back yard, and then I’ll cover the fern bed with straw for the winter.
I want to cut back the chives, and the basil this afternoon, and remove the cherry tomatoes and the cages we used to support the vines. I may also cut back the clematis.
The garden magazines are touting the practice of leaving perennials as they are for the winter, removing just the annuals. There are pros and cons to that idea. If you cut things back in the fall, you have a better idea of the health of the plant, and may be able to removed diseased parts. On the other hand, the experts feel that the superstructure of the plant may protect the root system from winter weather. Personally, I like to prune back and mulch anything that might need a little protection. I’m going to try the expert’s version this year, with the exception of the peonies and roses. Those will be cut back, mulched, and the roses will have a ring a leaves over them.
It’s VERY satisfying to see the garden ready for winter. I have a sense of completion for this year, and preparation for the coming growing year. I like going into winter having things tidied and neat, and I spend the winter thinking of the blooms to come.
Monthly Archives: November 2007
Moving In
Yesterday, Dear Husband began clearing the boat of anything that might freeze or mildew. He carried in bags of food and began emptying them out onto the island in the kitchen. The food is still sitting there, minus a couple of Rice Krispies bars.
What is it about a cleared off counter that draws JUNK to it like a magnet?? We will be hosting a brunch on Friday morning. Knowing that I work more slowly now than I used to, I started cleaning off counters and tables and end tables. Every time I get something cleared away, someone comes along to fill it up again! It almost isn’t worth trying to do this particular chore ahead of time, since it seems to make more work for me.
Salt and pepper, tea bags and other staples can be saved for next year. Some of the food can go into my pantry, but some of it just won’t fit! In the past, we’ve stored some of the items in the basement, but we found that mice will eat through the metal packets to get to condiments like ketchup and mustard. Can you imagine what that must have done to their digestive systems??
So, one of my chores today will be figuring out how and where to store the Arr!!’s leftovers. Maybe I’ll let them sit there for a while longer while I go out and play in the gardens. It’s a beautiful day, MUCH too nice to waste on inside chores!
Hmmmmmmm…maybe I could store it all in a sail bag, wrapped in plastic, in the basement. Or maybe a plastic storage box! I think I’ve just had an “A HAAAAA!” moment!
Bookshelves
Bogie is my almost sister. We could be twins! Our bookshelves have the same problems. She knows about double layers of books, and paperbacks stacked up in front of the hardbacks! She knows about textbooks from years ago taking up valuable space. I feel we’ve bonded, sis! *G*
When we built this house, we realized that the architect (who had designed the house for himself), had omitted bookshelves of any kind. Who can live without bookshelves?? Actually, I wish someone would invent magazine shelves, too. I’ve got some of my magazines in binders, but I need more space for them.
At any rate, we sat down and talked with him about putting in some built-in shelves. He nixed the idea of the long wall in the living room. He apparently didn’t think I could fill 35 feet of book shelves, but he suggested that a wall of shelves would distract from the focal points of the room, and would make it difficult to organize seating in the room. I had a better reason, after we moved into the house. I wouldn’t have had a long wall for the display of quilts.if we’d made that wall into bookcase. I’d be better organized, but unhappy about the lack of display room.
We finally resolved the issue in two ways. First, in designing the cabinetry in the kitchen, we added the column of shelves just for books that goes floor to ceiling. Yes, that needs to be culled, too. Elegante Mother has filled the shelves with the little monthly cookbooks you get at the grocery store. She’s not the only one at fault. I have a lot of trouble passing up a cookbook, especially if it’s about soup or bread. We have TWO garlic cookbooks! *G* No werewolves here!
The second solution was to give up one foot of the length of our bedroom. The loss to the bedroom is minimal, but the gain for books was immense. I’m guessing that we added shelves roughly 10 to 12 feet wide and floor to ceiling in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. And those shelves are full to the brim.
Bogie, the books I’m planning to move are textbooks, and clock repair references, and odds and ends of books that we just haven’t been ready to give away. I think it’s going to be my chore for first thing tomorrow. We’ll have about 25 guests here on Friday, and I better get things squared away now.
It’s reassuring to know that someone else has the same bookshelf situation. *G*
Timberrrrrrrrrrrrr
My bookshelves are overwhelmed! My mother buys books and then puts them on my bookshelves. Periodically , I have to cull books to be given to the library, or shared with friends. We give the ladies of our exercise group first choice, and what remains goes to the library.
I realized that I need to cull some of the books we have had since we were in our twenties. I’m sure they have not been opened while we have lived in this house, but they provide ties to another part of our lives, and we’re loathe to let them go. I need to get several packing boxes and line them with garbage bags, and then empty the top shelf.
We have hardbacks pushed all the way to the back of the shelves, with paperbacks stacked on their sides taking up the edge of the shelf. In places we have paperbacks stacked two deep. I have three shelves filled with quilting and gardening books, and I need one more to be able to put all those books away!
In the kitchen, I have a floor to ceiling shelf that is filled with just cookbooks. I almost ordered one more….the Ultimate Soup Cookbook. But, I restrained myself!
I plan to pack up the books from two shelves, and then rearrange the books that are left. I have to decide what to put on the highest shelf because I’ll be the only one who can reach those books without a step stool.
When I have the books reorganized, I need to work on the problem of magazines and Christmas catalogs. We are drowning under a sea of paper. I send any catalog I know I’m not going to use right to the recycling bin. Unfortunately, that chore needs to be done daily, and I’m a twice-a-week kind of gal.
Thank goodness people come to visit us through out the Holidays, or this might never get done! I find impending visits great motivation for putting my house in order. Can’t you imagine the books and catalogs falling in slow motion, filling up the hallway and the kitchen, if I don’t get this chore done?? Timberrrrrrr!!
If we haven’t used it this year…..it’s OUTTA HERE!
TWO!!
We had just TWO trick-or-treaters! I’m actually excited about it, because that brings our total to nine over the past seventeen years!
We live a little off the beaten path. We have a very long, unpaved driveway that is not lighted. On a dark night, it’s a spooky place for younger kids. The older kids are more pragmatic about their candy collection. Why go up this long dark driveway, when you could hit four or five nearby houses in the same amount of time?
We did some decorating for Halloween, but I didn’t go all out this year. I had spiderwebs, and a black cat (or two….Edward Scissorhands wouldn’t want me to forget him!), garlands, and a ghost with noisy tin cans at the door. One of the things I like the best about this season is the return to candle light. I collect hurricanes and candle holders, and I tend to use them during the fall and winter. I bought scented pillar candles that smell like cinnamon or pumpkin pie or sandalwood, and I’ve been lighting them in the evening
I’m going to have to do one more scarecrow before we leave this house. I’ll set him on a bale of hay, and put a bunch of cornstalks behind him, and pumpkins at his feet. The squirrels and chipmunks will be thrilled! *G*
Today, I need to collect some of the Halloween stuff to be boxed up, and distribute Fall and Thanksgiving things. I need to change the outfit on Elegante Mother’s cement goose. Right now, she looks like a witch. She gets a dress with fall colored leaves for the next two weeks, followed by a Pilgrim outfit for Thanksgiving. We must be appropriately dressed for the holiday!
And with that, I must be on my way. It’s time for Exercise!