October
2023
2023
in the garden
October 28
Brought the Hoses in
It is supposed to go down to 21 degrees overnight tomorrow, so I drained the hoses and brought them in the garage. I'm sure it will zap the perennials and I'll have to do some cutting back and clean up soon.
October 26
Last Watering
A freeze is coming next week. I watered everything really well, including the stuff in the field, and it's probably the last time for a while. I want all the plants and new trees and small things to be well watered going into winter, but I don't want them to be soggy now that temps are low and the air is cool.
But the sun is still strong, and the soil has been drying out. I think, though, that this is the last time I'll water everything.
October 25
Some Color
No reds - the Japanese maple is only turning a little rusty and the serviceberry next to it is only showing some mottled color on its leaves.
The plumbagos are bright red, though, but covered in dried cottonwood fallen leaves. I do need to add more plumbagos next year as this garden transitions to fewer plants, mostly a carpet of groundcovers backed by columbines, an anemone and shaded by the maple.
In back the redbud is the star this year, in bright lemon yellow.
The sumacs are coppery orange and the Radon's Favorite aster is a cool blue purple. And there are lots of red crabapples.
The one sumac down below the railroad ties at the far end is not red at all. It had been deep red in prior years but is copper and orange this year.
I'd love to see some red but next week temperatures will get down to the mid 20s overnight.
October 24
New Storage System
I'm not going to get a waterproof large wooden custom built shed to replace the leaky plastic tool closet. It has been two years and multiple follow ups with our handyman and he has always said he'd get to it but never does. So it won't get built in any form.
Instead, I'll keep the closet, but store only things that don't mind the wet.
So . . . all the miscellaneous larger plastic pots down below, smaller pots on the shelves.
(The biggest and the terra cotta containers will just be stored overturned outside),
String and ties and landscape staples and bungee cords hanging on the door. Smaller kneepads on hooks below the shelves, and the big black kneeler to the side below.
The small seedpots are on the upper shelf, with the metal trays stored flat, and the small tarps on them. Bottles on the next shelf, cups of clips and pot feet, and a few smaller plastic containers.
On the door I hung the two blue handled claws -- they'll be okay in the damp I think, and due to the wide curve, there is nowhere else more protected to put them.
The things that do need protection - gloves, pruners, scissors and trowels are now in watertight mailboxes on the lower level of the potting bench. The gray box has my gloves, the big black box has trowels, hori knife, and short handled pruners. The curved claws wouldn't fit in there.
The smaller black box has pruners, clippers, scissors. I have to keep the front of the boxes out over the edge of the lower shelf of the bench in order to open the hinged doors.
Will this work? Everything is kind of crammed in and may be hard to reach. I hope it's workable to reach in and get what I need. I'll need to keep things in their places and organized, not strewn all over as before.
And now everything is in odd places.
In the garage on the wall with the shovels, rakes and crowbars, I hung the transplant shovel, folding rake and the big loppers. A roll of netting to cover the blueberries (which I probably will never use) is also hung on a nail there.
The pruning saw and extra blade are on the shelving in front of the car. I had nowhere else to store these dangerously sharp items, they don't hang and must lie flat.
All the bags of mulch and compost have to be stored in the garage to keep them from getting soaked, although the nursery always stores them in piles outside.
How will I find what I need when I need it? Will I keep things jig-saw puzzled into their little places? Let's see.
October 22
Metal Peacock
Tom is 43 today! How can that even be? Father of two, successful law partner, middle aged . . . . wow.
I am loving the metal peacock folk art piece on the deck corner.
I caught it this morning in early sunshine, lighting up the colors of the metal feathers. But it fades to coppery subtlety later.
And it's hard to get the camera to see it against the fence with the now fading creeper vine.
The camera sees it, but doesn't capture how eye catching it is.
It will be interesting to see how it looks in winter when everything else is gone and that fence is just a brown mess behind it and the deck a brown expanse in front of it.
I think it will shine in the snow, and it will even against the fence in winter. It really is more noticeable and has much more visual presence than the camera can see.
October 20
Reading on the Back Deck
I've been sitting out on the back deck in late afternoon, reading. The weather has been lovely. I'm immersed in my book, then I look up and I am stunned by how nice the back yard looks.
It has begun to really come together. The sky is blue, the stonework looks nice, the stretch of grasses and rosemary along the walk leading to the blue door afar is just right, and other plants are coming in. The light sparkles and the air is soft. It's a perfect 77 degrees out.
The crabapple didn't get much fall color, a little gold while still holding on the the newer green leaves, but then it browned and started dropping leaves. There are bright red crabapples this year.
I watered the heck out of this tree and it put on a lot of growth this year -- some of it looking a bit wild and whippy. Maybe I over watered?
The redbud is very eye catching from afar. It has lemon yellow citrus colored leaves this year, very glossy. If only I could get some height on this little tree.
There is some real color going on in the corner by the garage -- the lemon yellow redbud but also the red vine on the fence (it's brightest red only on this end of the fence) and the sumacs are getting orangey copper.
With the irrigation off now, I hand watered yesterday and today and almost everything is well soaked.
October 17
Irrigation Off
Green Garden Landscaping came today to shut off the irrigation. $220. Next spring I'll have the few emitters capped that need it and have a line extended to the new ironwood tree.
The forecast is for sunny cool weather but no freezes until the end of October. A mild fall. I'll need to continue watering by hose for a while. It makes a big difference when plants go into winter well watered, and after our terrible hot dry summer (no monsoon whatsoever), they are now starting to look good again.
I cut back the perennials in the kitchen courtyard and it looks tidier now. I fertilized all the plants I cut back -- they still have healthy green foliage and there are days of cool sunshine left before frost for them to bulk up roots for winter. I used two green watering canfuls.
October 15
Puttering at the Potting Bench
Everything looks so nice now, just the way I want it. The light is sparkling.
Three of the Radio Red salvias came back with some water, and three did not. I cut back the three dried out ones and if the roots are good, they may come back after a winter in the garage.
I left them in the small pots. If they do come back, I will need to give them larger containers next spring.
The other three were re-potted into larger brown plastic containers, from the smaller green ones. These are still probably too small for these branchy sub-shrubs, but I'm not sure where I'll be putting them or where they will fit.
I do want a couple at the base of the birdbath again. I really liked the arrangement of wild hairy goldenaster with the Black Adder purple agasatche and the Radio Red salvias.
Now, what to do with the several Kent's Beauty oreganos in the plastic troughs? They will also winter over in the garage, but I need to re-pot them.
October 14
Cold and Sunny
We turned the heat on when we returned from California. All week while we were gone it was quite cool, but sunny, and the house was cold.
My sprinkler system didn't work great, but most things were okay, except for the Radio Red salvias -- they are too tall in too-small pots and some tipped over and did not get water. All but one of the six were desiccated. I watered them, and will re-pot in larger containers and then cut them back for winter storage in the garage.
I only ran the sprinklers for 15 minutes MWF, and I don't think that was enough even in the cool weather, The sun dried things out. I should have watered for longer. (Last summer in the height of blazing sun and excessive temps, I watered the birdbath garden for 55 minutes every day and everything looked great when we got back.)
But nothing was lost, and most things are going into dormancy now in mid October, and looking a little dried out anyway.
October 3
Sprinkler System
We leave tomorrow for 10 days. I set up the sprinklers for the birdbath garden and lower flagstone patio, to get the newest plants watered. I especially want the new ironwood tree and the tiny plugs of Turkish speedwell in the flagstone area to get sprinkled, and all the new and recently moved stuff around the birdbath.
I connected two hoses and two sprinklers in a line. I took the top of the birdbath off and stuck one of the sprinklers there in a plastic cup of rocks. It gives some elevation for 360 degree coverage. The other is in the ground in the flagstones.
I moved all the containers to spots around the birdbath and near the ironwood tree.
The sprinkler adjustments are very sensitive. I can adjust to spray all around or just pointed in one direction, but it took endless on and off trials to see where the water went and get it minutely adjusted. I think this works.
All the pots are out in the sun now. There is no way to get the sprinklers to cover any shaded area. But it's October, the sun is not so harsh and the temps will be in the 60s and 70s. No rain in sight.
I don't think I need more than that, and the sprinklers deliver quite a lot of water.
Oh, and I put three wine bottles in terra cotta cones at the spots where new Blackeyed Susans were planted but no emitters are close by.
I have to remember I am only keeping things alive til I get back. That's all that is needed.