greenputterer's Blog

Autumn color
Oct 11, 2010 | 5:17 AM PST

This is our driveway flower bed.  I like to keep a bit of color out by the road that passes between us and a church.   It seemed like the bronze mum would never open, buds on it all summer.  Then one night we had a light freeze and voila.  The flowers opened with pizzaz.  The yellow marigolds and burgandy sweet william have bloomed their hearts out all summer.   The posts in the flower bed once held a Support Our Troops sign, when my sons were in Iraq.  The sign withered in the sun, but the posts remain.  The guys are now in Afghanistan, so the flower bed is a reminder of their service there too.   From my corner of the world to yours.  Have a great day in the garden of your lives.

Living on the edge.
Oct 1, 2010 | 1:08 PM PST

Ah,  the look and feel of autumn.  Yesterday the sun was bright and warm, a balmly 72 degrees. So comfortable to work in the yard.  I dug another 5 gallon bucket of potato's,  washed them, set them out to dry before replacing them today.  It was just pleasant, sweeping a few leaves off the sidewalk, listening to the birds chirping and singing.  I like the look of the corn just past the yard.  Pretty soon it too will be gone, but for now, it appears as part of the woods. 

Today we are barely 60, the wind is out of the north about 15 mph and I needed a jacked just to be outside.  It's supposed to frost tonight,  never mind that it did last night, despite the weather forcast.  We could see white frost this a.m. on different parts of the yard.  So today,  I gathered up the last of the tomato's to enjoy over the next few days.  We will definately miss them when they are gone. Tonight, I will used quite a few of them in a batch of spaghetti,  the taste of summer, shall soon simmer on the stove, using up the bounty of garden.  A bit of onion and green pepper will go into the sauce pot too.  The taste of the end of summer tonight, as the leaves keep falling outside the window,  saying goodbye summer, hello autumn. 

Today, I potted up 6 different begonia's to overwinter.   They don't tolerate much frost, I tried that this spring, and they barely survived,  up against the house.  So before it frosts, be sure to bring in some plants to enjoy this winter. They will get a shot of bug spray,  we don't need any critters moving in for the winter. From the edge of corn country,  have a great day.