It's raining.

It started just a few minutes ago. I had gone outside to get the last pictures of fall color in the backyard. We've got three days of rain, sometimes heavy, in the forecast. At one time they were calling for 3-4 inches just today. There won't be a single leaf left if that forecast holds true. My plans to shovel horse poo have been dashed. It's 57 degrees and obviously cloudy.



What ever will I do today? I haven't decided.

11:07am - I'm on my fourth cup of coffee. I took some pictures outside.

From the back, back yard. The meadow garden is in the foreground.



A dogwood, a maple, and the China fir near the neighbor's corner.



One of my 10 cent asters is blooming again.



Mr. Lincoln is not having a good day. He's almost done.



The "Orange Rose" is blooming again. Pink buds are at the top of the bush, but have not opened yet. This one needs some serious attention to pruning in the spring.



I'm still in my pajamas.

Problem Child

Under the dining room window, on the front of the house, there's a bed that gets little sun. Any rain that falls runs off the soil and into the "lawn" area in the front yard. This bed is a very dry, shady spot where little grows well. Not even the privet seedlings can take hold here.

Last winter, I amended the soil with leaf mulch and wood bark from the landfill. This morning, I mulched around my two rooted gardenias, the single rooted Aucuba, and the tea olive I planted. Nandinas have always (and will forever) be here. The camellia was one I chopped down in the spring of 2008, as I didn't know what it was then. It's been recovering since then, but it's being slow. It's a sasanqua, I believe.



I still need to do something with the front steps.



The coleus and impatiens were getting ragged. The cold mornings have taken their toll. They came out. I need two more bags of mulch for this bed. The tiny hostas I wintersowed and planted out in July are still very small. I don't expect them to come back next year, but I have been wrong before, once.





With rain in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, I raked and collected another sack of leaves for the upper potager. I'll spread horse manure over this bed on Thursday if the rain stops by then. If not, it will be another week or more before I have a chance to get out there.



I've already started spreading wood ashes on the lower potager. There'll be lots more over the winter for all the beds. I noticed last year that I had fewer slugs where I had spread ashes too.



I resprayed the periwinkle on the front slope.



Much of it seems to be dying.



Not a foot away, other plants are rebounding happily.



In the basement, the confederate rose cuttings are doing well. The brugs are doing better. I'll pot the brugs sometime this week. The CR will remain in water a bit longer.



Lots of leaves still to fall in the backyard. I think I want the fence to be purple, like the shutters and doors.



It's 63 degrees and overcast. The high today should be in the mid 70s again. Wednesday, we'll be lucky to break the 50s. Three more wheelbarrows of wood have been moved into the basement. I need to spend some time very soon splitting more of the cut pieces for the rest of the winter. The low last night was 39 according to AccuWeather.com.

Leaves and wood

I started shredding leaves at 9am this morning. I filled the bed sheet sack twice just from the leaves in my front yard, driveway, and along my side of the street. I've noticed when they are dry, they shred better than when damp or wet. They also blow around more when dry. It's hard to collect leaves moving around the yard in tiny whirlwinds. Both sacks were deposited on the crape myrtle bed. I'm done, I think, with this one for the fall. Still plenty of leaves to fall in the back yard.



I also moved everything inside from the rack in front of the garage door.



No longer a pot ghetto. Okay, there's a couple left, but those go to people at work. Hilda gets a little more than a dozen red spider lilies. I potted them because she's slow about getting things in the ground.



On the light rack, the pineapple sage cuttings I rooted a month ago are putting out new growth.



The white brugs are rooting nicely too. They're really wet from the inch of rain we got yesterday, so I've put the fan on to dry them out a bit. Can't have them rot on me in the basement.



Last year, I set up the hoophouse in late December. I'm trying to wait until then this year too. I'm still not sure which raised bed(s) I will use. I could do two hoophouses using the tomato beds. Or one really long one using the upper bed. Knowing me, I'll use all three.



Mr Lincoln has decided to bloom again. The fragrance is very nice and strong.



It's 52 degrees and overcast. Still no promised sunlight. The clouds aren't as thick as they were when I started this morning. Hopefully, we'll clear up by the time I get to work.



I also chopped up a few more pieces from the dead oak tree. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get rid of the whole thing over the winter, but I've got great plans. I used the wood splitter until it finally stopped pushing. I think the log I was trying to split is just too knotty for the old machine to handle. I've got to pick up a grease gun from the store. Two nights closing then two days off. On Wednesday, I've volunteered for the Lowe's Hero project. We'll be painting the ball room of the Albemarle Senior Citizens' Center.

1:17pm - I've showered and am ready for work. I also cleaned the cloner again and have it normalizing for cuttings I will take tomorrow. One of the pink brug tips actually rooted even though it hasn't produced any new leaves yet. I stuck it in a container of soil and will hope for the best. Tomorrow, I'll be taking cuttings of my white, purple, and Miss Huff lantana. I'm not sure about the hardiness, so I want to make sure I have it for next year. I've scattered Miss Huff seeds all summer as they ripened. I'd like to have a large mound of it next year on the butterfly slope. I'll take other cuttings too as the mood hits. I've got 57 spaces in the cloner. That's a lot of new plants if they all take. I'm running about a 50% success rate. I need a way to turn the air pump on and off every 30 minutes so the cuttings have time to dry out a bit between sprays. There's a timer at the store in the Christmas section that has 48 on/off positions. I may pick one up this evening.

They Might Be Giants

It's fall.



The giants around the house are tossing off their clothes. In the wild live the tallest trees.



While my trees may not be the most colorful, just beyond the wild, the neighbor's maples are in full swing.



My maple, by the street, is half naked.



Her clothes lay strewn upon the new path along the backside of the perennial bed.



Beside the driveway, another giant lurks at the head of the perennial bed. Around her base, I planted azaleas.



All along the gully and into the wild, the nandina berries are turning bright red.



It's 55 degrees, cool and crisp. There's another heavy dew soaking everything. Water drips from the roof into the downspout outside my bedroom window. Acorns are attacking cars in neighboring yards. The squirrels are almost giddy with anticipation. Another warm day expected with a high of 74. I'll spend the next couple of hours collecting and shredding leaves for mulch.

12:24pm - It's 63 and still sunny. A wonderful day. I spent the morning bagging and shredding leaves from the street and the driveway. I moved some more rocks that were uncovered by the rain to the crape myrtle bed. I need one more wheelbarrow full to finish the edging, then on to the shrub island. I'm running out of rocks. Looks like I need to start digging again.

I also tagged some of the large leaf maples in the wild area. I'll move them this winter to the gully. I'd like to try to create a bit more enclosure and add some fall color to that area. It's filled with privet and trash trees. I may need to kill off the ivy before I can plant anything. We'll tackle that this winter. Me, and my trusty weed whacker.

I also sowed seeds collected from some type of Cornus shrub just over the gully's ditch. It's possibly a Cornus mas. It's got red, translucent berries. The leaves are shaped like a flowering dogwood, but smaller. It reminds me of Mock Orange. I tagged the tree to see what it will do in the spring. I hope I can remember. I've considered moving it, but I want to see if the berries will germinate first.

Got New Shoes.

And I gotta break them in. So this morning, as soon as the sun topped the trees out back, I was in the yard. First on my list, two raised beds in the current tomato patch. I pulled the cabbage for a stir fry tonight. The smallest ones went into the compost bin. I planted them too late.



These beds are merely stacked landscape timbers. I haven't drilled or hammered the rebar yet. I'm afraid I'll change my mind before spring.



From the kitchen side of the house, the potager looks nice. I may keep it. I picked up several buckets of small rocks, tossed lots more into the woods, and finally did something about that black garbage bag of soil that was laying at the end of the tomato patch most of the summer. I raked everything smooth and filled in the holes where I had dug the stumps. Next spring, I'm going to be rooting a few figs for the area behind the largest bed. I'll also move my fig out of the shrub island here. The butterfly bushes in that bed need more sun, so they'll go on the slope where I planted grasses and asters. The blueberries need to be moved too. I didn't give them enough room and really just wanted to get them in the ground for the winter. The thundercloud plum tree in the perennial bed will be moved in a few weeks as soon as the leaves start to drop. I'll put it in the bed where I had corn and beans this year. There's not enough sun to really grow much there in terms of veggies, so hopefully it will be happy enough. Lots of plans, huh?



While working on the tree yesterday, my mom got a good look at my old workboots. It wasn't long before she suggested we go to Wal-Mart and buy another pair. I give them 3 months before they're in the same shape as my others.



It's currently 51 and cloudy. This morning's sun went away quickly as I got busy working. If the clouds and wind remain through the night, we might be able to stave off an early frost. They're forecasting 36 degrees by 7am tomorrow. Next week, we'll be back in the 70s during the day. Oh please, oh please, oh please don't let it frost yet. My yellow brug is trying really hard to open. Fortunately, it's under the canopy of a large oak tree that still has most of its leaves. I'll cover it tonight with a sheet and hope for the best. I want to see this one bloom at least once this year.

For this afternoon, I plan to rake and shred the leaves collecting in the front yard and driveway. I'll use them to mulch the areas I raked clean this morning.



It's only noon, but it feels like I've done an entire day's work already. Tomorrow, I have to go back to the store. I wish I had another week off.

3:04pm - Rounded up all the leaves and used the blower/vac to shred them. Also picked up enough stone the tractor turned over in the gully to finish the daylily border.



That's a full size bed sheet sewn together to create a sack of sorts. It works great. Thanks again Kris!



I used the last two bags of Cypress mulch on the rose garden. Broken bags, half price, etc.



I spread the chopped leaves on the butterfly slope between the raised beds.



Possible location for the patio. The soil here is like concrete. Nothing but periwinkle and poke weeds grow here. I can't really mow it because of all the small rocks all over the ground. Pick one up, another two take its place. The hammock used to hang between those trees. It's in the basement for winter storage.



All the frost tender plants are in the basement too. I'll wheel them back out in a couple days once the chance of near freezing temperatures has passed. I've decided this year not to have so many indoor things to take care of. The brugs will take up most of my space under lights.



That's it. I'm done for the day.

Chilly.

No wonder the dogwoods on Pee Dee Ave are turning red. The berries are ripe on a few. I see a maple in the backyard is beginning to turn yellow too. It's early.

9:55am - In the basement, 10 items were ready for potting up.





I have three rooted white hibiscus.



Five Turn of the Century Hibiscus, a snowball viburnum, and one giant white pussywillow completed the tray.



Jim's alstroemeria is growing in one pot.



And on the chimney, a new morning glory has bloomed. Don't know where it came from. Don't care. I like it.



Five shasta daisies were transplanted from the no longer white bed to the crape myrtle bed. I also scattered more seeds of verbena bonariensis and Echinacea tennesseensis.

It's 61 degrees. I didn't get bitten by a single mosquito.