It’s that last push before winter. This morning I tidied up the greenhouse and gave everything a water.

I also planted shallots and garlic. I planted them in the pots the chili peppers are in. When the chili peppers run their course I will cut them back and then the shallots and garlic will grow, or that’s the plan.

I also took the Amaryllis out of the greenhouse and chopped off their leaves and now they just sit outside to get cold and then they will go hide in the garage or the basement for a while until they dry out and start sprouting again.

Three pots of rosemary from around the garden went into the greenhouse as well.

I do not have a heated greenhouse. A friend suggested black trash cans filled with hot water every now and again. And that’s what I did last year and it worked pretty well. I don’t have a way of properly heating the greenhouse so hopefully most everything will do OK. I don’t have that much in there over the winter.

Today I will have to plant some more shrubs and some more bulbs. And this is sort of like the step, twirl, and repeat of fall gardening, I turned over and covered the concrete birdbath tops that I don’t have room to store, but I also have to bring the terra-cotta birdbaths in because they are almost at cracking season.

Then I get to start on emptying the pots that can’t stay outside. I actually cut down the number of pots this year because it gets a bit much schlepping them around. And I will also have to finish the bed extension I started and it will be edged with some small logs that were cut from tree limbs. The natural edging breaks down and every few years I just replace the logs. And it looks really cool in shade and woodland beds.

My arborists also cut what looks like these big discs from the trunk of mama oak when she came down but mostly the limbs because she was so big. I was going to make a cutting board out of one of them but most of them have cracked so instead they are going to become steppingstones through the garden beds in the shade and woodland areas. I thought that would look pretty cool.

The tree carving sculpture from mama oak that my husband refers to as my totem pole of wild woodland creatures continues to evolve. Yesterday a rather nice raccoon appeared and a couple of squirrels. Marty Long is a genius and I so enjoy this process. It’s like getting a present every time he carves a little bit more!

OK that’s it for me for today it’s back to the chores. Happy gardening!