Applejack Order

Last weekend, I spent a few hours finishing up the rest of my fall garden chores.  The day was sunny but cool;  it was lovely to be outside and at work among the plants.  I've decided not to till my garden under this fall and will instead experiment with composting in place.  Come spring, I will till up the garden patch, add more organic compost and then till it again.   I use most of my leaves as mulch and many of them have been raked into the garden; I'll add some more later this month.  Rain is forecast for today, soon we'll have some snow and it won't take long before those leaves are a nice layer of rich compost enriching the soil in my garden. 

My canna bulbs have been dug up and set to dry.  This weekend, I'll wrap them up for the winter and store them in the basement.  The box pictured below was half full of bulbs when I planted in the spring.  Their doubled size tells me that the growing season was obviously good to them.

Like the rest of the trees in my neighborhood, the apple trees have lost the last of their leaves and are now ready for the coming cold season.  I find this point in the garden year a little bittersweet.  The growing season is over and the cold has yet to fully descend.  I'm months away from the green shoots of spring. 

And so I remind myself that this season must have its allotted time.  My garden catalogs have already arrived.  As usual, there are abundant zinnia seeds for me to dream about.  I hear tale that Santa will bring me some new gardening gloves.  Next fall I can expect a real apple and pear harvest.  All of these things are well worth the wait.

Today is the last of the apple tree photos on the first of the month.  Though they will certainly make occasional appearances, next year I plan to feature a new plant to start the first day of the month.