October in the Garden

A tomatillo husk.

Bill’s been closing down parts of our gardens in preparation for the colder weather.  He’s harvested the last tomatillos, the last peppers, the last eggplants…

And – a zucchini.  You can see it in the lower middle of the image.  It’s pretty small, and it’s not going to get any bigger.  So Bill pulled it.

Some things are still blooming, though.

Like Nasturtiums.

These are sprawling all over one end of the back garden.

We’ve also got a lot of salad stuff – lettuces, spinach, and arugula.  And one remaining kale plant, which looks like a palm tree with hormone issues.

Bill planted the garlic yesterday.  Two rows in the back of the hard and another smaller row in one of the side gardens.

There’s still more prepping to do, but it’ll get done, bit by bit.

In the mean time, autumn marches on, turning the yard browns and oranges, reds and golds…clearing the path for winter whites and the eventual bright greens of spring.

What’s going on in your garden?

Comments

[Gradual Dazzle]

It was a vicious year here in north TX... seventy-something days of 100+ temps, and almost no rain whatsoever. Watering restrictions... burn bans... we went from tomato harvests to just being grateful this morning to see our St. Augustine lawn sending up little green shoots (I honestly thought it had completely burnt to a crisp beyond rescue). Depressing, it was. I have had to get my gardening fix vicariously through your delightful posts and photos. :)

[RoseAnn]

We always hit this point in the season where lazy Sundays win out over yard work. Last weekend we pulled the squashes. This weekend two tomato plants went (and I have ripe and green tomatoes scattered all over the kitchen). Past years we've done the clean-up in one huge weekend but this year has been nice in that it's gradually thinning. Our garlic is planted and next weekend I'll get the wall of water out to protect the herbs that need help making it through the winter.

[Leigh]

I'm in North Texas, too, and the drought has killed numerous bushes-- hollies and photinias-- and a number of trees are leafless and look like winter. The amazing thing is that the Bradford pear trees have decided to spring into bloom-- completely out of season. It is rather bizarre looking.

[judith]

My yard wasn't looking any better than the other two ladies from North Texas. But with the last two weeks pretty good rains it's starting to come back a little. The flowerbeds are still toast. Would you believe it was so hot and dry here that echinacea couldn't even survive? How about that sand storm last night? Wasn't that a doozie?

[GradualDazzle]

With the recent rains and the sudden milder temperatures, I noticed yesterday afternoon that my crocuses are blooming now. Poor things must've thought they'd been through winter already and felt like it was time to emerge from dormancy. It really HAS been a strange weather year in North TX.