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Cleanup

November 7th, 2013

This past week I’ve been doing my fall cleanup in earnest. No doubt many of you are doing the same. Pots are being collected from throughout the garden and are being stowed in the garage. Tender potted plants are being brought indoors for the long winter. Compost piles grow taller and taller as the weeks go by. Of course there’s always an animal by my side helping out.
fall cleanup
I really want to seed a few containers of herbs for the winter, but I’m finding it difficult to find the energy after a long day of work and chores. It’s really not a huge deal, I will find the time to do it after the snow starts to fly.

Are you doing fall cleanup around the garden?

8 Comments to “Cleanup”
  1. Myra S. on November 7, 2013 at 8:40 am

    We cleaned out the garden last month but a whole new crop of grass and weeds has sprouted; it looks almost like the garden is now part of the yard again. We’ve had just enough rain on the days we could have been in the garden that the ground is too soft for feet or the tiller. The kale we planted (a new try for us) has been eaten by some bug, the leaves look like lace–I’ve not researched what’s going on there–so that will be on the list to go to the chickens. Have plans to put mulched leaves on the garden (as soon as last night’s soaking rain dries out and they’re mulchable) and then the garden will be truly resting until spring!

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  2. Henry on November 7, 2013 at 8:52 am

    The past several weekends have found Adriana and I scrambling around harvesting the last of the crops that cannot handle a hard freeze, rolling up pea fence, cleaning up tomato clips, folding up remay and black plastic, pulling up the remains of plants and throwing them to the chickens or composting them, and mulching areas that need mulch. It has been busy getting ready for snow, but we are getting there slowly. Hopefully one more weekend will give us the time to finish up many of the open projects and tie up loose ends. It is a busy time of year but the more we do now the easier it is in the Spring. We are already looking foward to seed catalogs and choosing new varieties to experiement with.

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  3. Nebraska Dave on November 7, 2013 at 9:38 am

    Susy, starting herbs for the Winter? These are grown under a grow light? What kind do you grow? I have yet to test my idea of growing greens in tubs under the grow lights in my seed starting area for the Winter months. Maybe it will happen this year. It would be desirable to much on some fresh lettuce or be able to throw a radish or two in my salad as I gaze at the Winter wonder land outside the window.

    Have a great fall cleanup day.

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    • Susy on November 16, 2013 at 9:05 am

      I usually grow parsley, some cilantro, chives, etc. I love having as many fresh herbs as possible.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  4. Susan on November 7, 2013 at 9:52 am

    Found this piece yesterday – thought you might like it:

    Midwestern Seasonal Grieving: Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti – her blog – “Like many Midwesterners, I go through a process of grieving about this time every year, as the days grow shorter and the garden dies off and I’m left with outside clean-up chores done on nippy day”

    Stage One: Denial
    “No, it isn’t going to get cold yet. Look, it’s the end of September and I’m still wearing flip-flops! I still have tomatoes on the vine,” we protest

    Stage Two: Anger
    “OMG! It is actually snowing out there! WTF?” we all post on Facebook

    Stage Three: Depression
    Depression, indeed, and it might actually be seasonal depression, which is a real condition that your doctor will give you happy pills to combat.

    Stage Four: Bargaining
    “I’m fine with the cold just as long as it doesn’t snow,” we say. .. Periodically, we celebrate a rare 51 degree day by going outside wearing a fleece shirt but no jacket and declaring that the chores we got done through chattering teeth and numbing fingers count as “gardening.”

    Stage Five: Acceptance
    The first seeds that we’ve planted inside under the grow lights sprout, and we content ourselves with the idea that we are starting the summer garden.

    Reply to Susan's comment

  5. Marcia on November 7, 2013 at 4:37 pm

    It`s done! Snow falls a bit earlier here.

    Reply to Marcia's comment

  6. Caroline on November 8, 2013 at 12:03 am

    Just days before the snow flew we finally finished up!!!!

    Over the weekend I planted my Egyptian Walking Onions (yay!!!) and a couple days later I made my husband come out after work and we put away the patio table, stored the tomato cages in the shed with the children’s bikes and toys.

    The pots are all in the garage, easy access for when spring finally returns, and I have a nice collection of containers (margarine, butter, etc) that are perfect for seed starting. I will even be using empty milk jugs this winter to start some seeds in the cold, like I did last year. (Unfortunately many of my plants that I started in the winter didn’t survive – darn bunnies ate my lettuce seedlings once they were transplanted!)

    I really wish we could have Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Years and then BAM! Garden season starts right away!

    Reply to Caroline's comment

  7. amy svob on November 8, 2013 at 1:29 am

    My garden was put to rest with me finishing two weeks ago. It’s a nice feeling. I finally got my garlic planted just Monday. It’s all composted and covered in crushed leaves.

    Reply to amy svob's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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