OH:

Funny how, now that it suddenly feels like real Fall weather, I suddenly want to garden. I have a lot of decluts to do out there, but I should take note that Fall gardening really should be where I focus most of my future efforts, and research/plan accordingly.

One declut is the several daffodil bulbs I salvaged. Master Gardener Judy affirms my plan to chill them, and then force them in January (when Greg takes up residence here).

I took a closer look at the potted peony they so carefully deconstructed, which i mentioned had started life here as an end-of-season rescue from the garden center's discard pile. Its in a 6" pot with no bottom, inside an 18" diameter shrub pot with drainage and intact bottom, which was filled with well-amended soil. With another gardening friend's brainstorming, I found another disability-friendly solution for wintering that until its bed is ready-- in the garage, but inside an old plastic bin I was about to recycle, full of mulch, and set in the warm corner of the garage after the nights get a little colder. (Judy concurs, and reminds me to water that monthly.)

Coming next week to audition for Head Gardener (the skilled member of the young crew) is Brandon, who is Judy's best helper. We'll develop rapport while he helps unload a few heavy items from the trailer, neatens up yard waste, and loads the year's deadwood into the trailer for me to take to the city's free-mulch dump. The following week he'll move a small bush to the spot now collecting the deadwood, start reshaping beds, and relocate some iris bulbs that didn't do well. (Half the bulb bed was excavated and needs to settle before planting, but half remains as it was.)

I'll cover the wheelbarrow-load of soil, which is now in a low concrete-mixing trough. I'll amend that in the spring for fall bulb planting in the reshaped bulb bed. In the fall, Brandon can plant the baby peony into its much larger bed.

Judy is interested in a little patch to mini-garden. I want white hydrangeas. Perhaps she'd like to plant around those.

~S~