It seems like just yesterday when I decided to start some seeds after all, yet now the rush of summer garden-tending is already over. Our first light frosts were on Sept. 27 and 28, and then we saw 29 degrees on Oct. 13. We didn't need to bring much in from the garden before the first light frosts, just a few cherry tomatoes, basically. We covered the winter squashes with a tarp those two nights, and then harvested the squashes a day or two later. The weather cooperated, so we were able to leave them in the sun in the garden for several days before storing them in our "above-ground root cellar" in the garage.
Following is a pair of before and after pictures, taken on Sept. 26 and then on Oct. 2.
I hired my current teen helper to pull up all the remaining plants and to take up the landscape cloth and spread it out to dry, which you can see in the photo on the right.
The next three shots are also from Sept. 26, showing the last of the flowers. The scarlet runner beans actually developed beans; I suppose I should have expected that. (Duh.) Apparently I could have cooked them and eaten them, but I wasn't on the lookout for them when they of a usable size. So they went out to a brush pile along with all the plants, and I suppose the deer ate the beans.
I pruned, thinned,and topped the raspberry canes. It was a two-day job. I got this much done the first day; you can see the difference between the section on the left and the remainder of the row.
Since then I have also planted a modest amount of garlic, and moved the hyacinth bulbs to a different location. Not much is left to do in the yard and garden, except for pruning back some perennials and shrubs. I am always a little sad when the yard and garden are prepped for winter, yet I am also looking forward to more time to catch up on indoors projects, including more frequent Hive posts.
All photos taken on my Android phone.