Fall gardening

It is almost time to work on all the things I've been putting off in the yard this summer. Although it's still quite warm midday, the nights are cooling down and the days are still reasonably long. It's a great time to plant perennials, trees, shrubs, and bulbs for next year!

 Since we're in a new house we're eager to get started working on the yard, and I will need to begin preparing a bed now for next year's vegetable patch, where I will grow my beloved heirloom tomatoes. I missed the whole summer gardening season this year. I knew back in March that we would probably be moving so I didn't even start any seeds. It made me kind of sad! I missed having my tomato, pepper, herb, and flower seedlings to play with. I did buy lots of veggies from the farmers market this summer, which is the next best thing to growing your own. And we got lucky and moved into a house that has nine huge mature blueberry bushes. We had more berries than we knew what to do with, and we were able to share a lot with friends.I also froze about 20 cups for winter use. I have some strawberry plants in containers that I plan to plant alongside perennial herbs for next year. I already have lots of lavender, sage, and rosemary that I brought with us to get started on a nice herb garden!

 I'm a bit daunted by the amount of work that will need to be done here, though. Between amending beds for a small vegetable garden next spring, reclaiming areas of the yard swamped with purple iris (we'll divide and share with friends. They're beautiful but out of control!) weeding and clipping and mulching long-neglected landscaping in the big front yard.....I will have my hands full! I would also like to buy some tulip, lily and daffodil bulbs to plant for next spring, although I think October might be better for planting bulbs.

I will probably get started on my next day off (Friday). Today was spent reclaiming our house back from dust bunnies, Marco messes, and general mild chaos.Tomorrow will be a long long day, as I have to be in Charleston by 9am for work related meetings and workshops. It's a 2 hour drive, and we probably won't be finished until 6pm, and then I'll have the drive home. I always leave these meetings exhausted, so I plan to take it easy this afternoon and go to bed early tonight. The moon was gorgeous last night, and I enjoyed sitting outside watching it set behind the treeline, so I will probably spend some time out on the patio before going to sleep. I hope the good weather holds so I can do some gardening on Friday!