Possible Frost Tonight

When I checked the weather this morning I noticed that the temperature was supposed to get down to 31 tonight. Tomorrow night it's supposed to be 33. In fact, the nighttime temperature for the next week doesn't even make it out of the thirties. With this sad news in hand I decided it was time to start winterizing my garden. First I picked all the tomatoes and peppers and filled a half-bushel basket.

Then I started pulling out plants, knocking the dirt off, and hauling them off to my compost heap. In one bed I have a cold frame set up over a basil plant and some lettuce. I set up a grow tunnel (similar to the one here, but mine is smaller) over my scallions and another lettuce plant. I covered the tunnel with the 'fleece' that came with it and a blanket over that.
Most of the tomatoes I picked were still green, so I punched holes in some paper bags, put a layer of tomatoes on the bottom, folded the top over and took them down to the basement. I'll probably freeze most of them after they ripen. I also harvested about half a dozen peppers.


After lunch I helped Mom and Dad move one of the Russian Sage plants. It was very hard to get out of the ground - the roots were really strong. I had to break a couple, but I think most of the roots are strong and healthy. It should survive the transplant pretty well. The picture was taken in August when the Sage was a honey bee magnet.

Still on my To-Do-Before-It-Snows-List:

• Get rose cones or other coverings for Mandevilla and Mom's Heather
• Plant more Lettuce and Scallions in cold frame
• Get heavy plastic to help insulate cold frame
• Rake Grandpa and Grandma's leaves, mow over them, and spread on garden beds
• Wrap transplanted Russian Sage and Japanese Maple with burlap
• Plant bulbs
• Install edging around Perennial garden

Farewell~
Sarah

Garden Makeover Update

Everything appears to have survived so far. It's kind of hard to tell with the Bee Balm and Anise Hyssop since they had already died back. They don't look any deader, so I guess that's a good thing. The Cosmos and Calendula plants I saved revived nicely. I broadcast some cosmos seeds over part of the garden before I replaced the mulch. Hopefully they will germinate next summer.

Today I took some Mandevilla cutttings. I'm trying to root one in water and the other with rooting hormone in a potting soil mix. As for the rest of the plant, since Mom doesn't really want it dug up and brought inside, I'm going to cover it with straw, a rose cone, and possibly some burlap.

We are expecting a frost over the weekend, so I brought some containers into the garage. I discovered that one of the plants in the herb container had grown through the drainage hole and into the ground underneath. I think it's the fennel since it's the largest plant in the pot. I also rummaged around in the shed and unearthed a cold frame. I put it over one of my remaining basil plants and some lettuce. I'm hoping to be able to grow lettuce all winter, or at least get an early start in the spring.

Here are some pictures from Wednesday:
This is from after I finished replacing the mulch.
This is from June, so you can see the changes I made. (The pictures are not taken from the same angle. The picture above is the front of the garden and the one below was taken from the left side of the picture above.)

My Horehound:
And last but not least, my 'supervisor':
Farewell~
Sarah

Indian Summer

According to Wikipedia Indian summer is 'a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before winter. Usually occurring after the first frost, Indian summer can be in late October or early November in the northern hemisphere, and late April or early May in the Southern hemisphere. It can persist for a few days or extend to a week or more.'
We haven't had a frost yet, be the weather this Fall has been unseasonably warm -not that I'm complaining - I'll take as much warm weather as I can get. Anyway since I have no idea when the weather will change I decided to give my tomatoes a trim yesterday. The Mrs. Benson variety have had early blight for quite some time now, so I trimmed all most of the affected branches. (If I'd done all of them there wouldn't be much left on the plants) Most of the affected branches were at the bottom, so they're rather top heavy now, especially since they've had a lot of growth at the top. I don't know if the flowers will set fruit or not, but I figured it'd be worth it to find out. According to my favorite online weather forecast the temperature will drop dramatically in the next week or so. Maybe I'll look for another forecast...
I'm still getting tomatoes and peppers. I've been freezing the tomatoes, hopefully I'll remember they're in the freezer and use them. The recipe I have in mind is a basil tomato sauce from Mom's canning book; I'm going try and adapt it for fewer tomatoes and some different ingredients.

My attempt to root the Clematis failed - the cutting was to far gone. However, the plant managed to revive itself. I think it has enough growth to survive any upcoming cold snap. Now I just need to figure out the best way to overwinter the Mandevilla...

Farewell~
Sarah