While the winds and rain swirl around us, I am hunkered down inside trying to get all of my plants that I had outdoors all summer ready for hibernation. I am also drying the lone sunflower head that made it this year through some pretty massive summer storms. I love the the uniform pattern of seeds still in the flower! Enjoy.
Happy November! I know that Buffalo has been loving the first week of the month so far– we hit 73 degrees (23 degrees celsius) on Wednesday this past week! Lots of lunch time walks this week just because you never know what the weather will be like in a couple of weeks (November 17 last year it started snowing and 7 feet of snow and 3 days later, it looked like a scene out of the apocalypse).
That being said, I needed to “wrap-up” (pun intended) my gardening to-do list this weekend. Even though the 7 day outlook looks decent, you just can’t trust it this far into fall. So, away I went to get some work done. I detailed my winter preparation in a post last year, but I thought I would go through it a little more this year.
The cover-up begins!
This year, I was a little more savvy than last, so I purchased more appropriate tools to get the job done right (hopefully).
The three things you will need are:
Bamboo sticks are a cheap way to help with your garden winterizing.
2. Burlap – another cheap garden cover that works really well. I remember watching TV last year when a garden expert was pretty much dissing burlap and saying how ugly it was, and to use a more expensive and appealing covering. Who really cares? If it does the job and protects your plants, then go for it. It’s very affordable and I really like using burlap for decorating too.
The smell of burlap takes me back to my childhood– it smells exactly like baling twine!
3. Chicken wire — this will always come in handy, and you can use it when burlap really isn’t an option, especially around trees.
And again, another affordable, more durable covering for your bigger trees and plants.
I then went to work. I covered my pencil holly with burlap. I used one of my bamboo sticks as support.
I then took some burlap and wrapped it around the pencil holly, but first I punched a hole in the burlap to give it a more snug hold around the holly.
I poked a hole in the burlap the first time as I wrapped the holly and then I did it again at the end.
For added security and to keep the burlap wrapped tight? I pulled a MacGuyver and I snipped off small pieces of the chicken wire and “pinned” them in several places on the burlap. Now, you can buy several different fasteners and stakes in the store, but I have found that you can use the metal hooks for Christmas ornaments (I buy several packs of these each season– they are so versatile around the house), or if you can find anything or don’t have anything, you can snip off small pieces of chicken wire that work just as good!
MacGuyver would be so proud. When in a pinch, just snip some chicken wire!
Oila! It’s complete! I have three very securely covered pencil hollies!
A special thanks goes out to my knee pad — it’s my savior!
Now, it’s time to wrap my badly eaten Japanese Maple. Because it is small, I am using bamboo sticks with chicken wire. It might be also a good idea to use stronger support stakes. I might pick one or two up for added support.
Chicken wire can be difficult to work with, but it’s not impossible. It bends very easily.
And that is how it’s done! I take the bamboo sticks and “string” it through the chicken wire for support. This should be good for my little japanese maple. I am so upset the deer have shredded it.
After the covering is done, it’s time to rake up some leaves, pick up old sunflower heads and cut down my hostas.
Garden rubbish at its best!
I don’t pick up all the leaves–particularly in my flower beds. They are a great winter mulch for them.
So, that was my weekend– lots of work done and now it’s time to start thinking about decorating my urns for the holidays.
**I want to apologize that I never did a post on Fall Decor in my urns. The thing is, the weather has been so warm that the Creeping Jenny and Spikes I have in them are still flourishing, and I didn’t have the heart to rip them out. But, some Christmas decor will be coming for sure!
So, please have a great week, and best of luck on your winter garden preparation!
It’s been a busy week, but a post will be coming this weekend! In the mean time, enjoy this photo I took during our wonderful week of weather.
I hope everyone is having a great week– we are getting hammered with rain and wind, all remnants from Hurricane Patricia. Good thing we put everything away for the winter the other night — our persnickety little fishing boat is tucked away in the garage, along with the hose box and other odds and ends that needed to be ready for hibernation!
One thing about Western New York this time of year is that you know snow is not too far off when you hear snowblowers being fired up in people’s driveways– all in preparation for the first snow! We did just that over the weekend– everything is good to go!
Small Spaces, Big Results!
I am thinking ahead to next season, and my husband is on board with me trying to plant a small veggie patch out behind our garage next to our raspberry bush! This is my first foray into veggie gardening. This was never on my radar for my own small space, but we are going to make it happen! My husband is going to help me build some raised beds next spring so we can plant our own tomatoes for sure, and we’ll have to pick out a few other veggies for me to try. I can see us even planting pumpkins, which would be really neat!
After researching the subject of edible gardens, I couldn’t help but share a wonderful graphic from my friends over at fix.com who explain easy-to-grow Indoor Edible Plants. What a great idea to be able to have fresh veggies and herbs all year-long!
Last week, I took some time off and I spent my days taking my daughter to preschool and accompanying her on her little class field trip to a local farm–I wish I could do this more often, trust me! Well, last Friday, her class made applesauce and each of the kids received an apple seed from their teacher.
It’s amazing to think this tiny thing will be a big tree someday.
My daughter was so excited that she wanted to plant it right away, but I stopped her. I wanted to research planting apple seeds and what you had to do.
I want to take my best shot at getting a seedling from this little guy, so this is what I have done so far to make the chances a little better.
So, I will wait and take the seed out of the refrigerator in six weeks and then plant it in a little pot and see how it does over the winter in the house. I would really love this to grow into a seedling so I can plant it in our tiny back yard, and say that was my daughter’s little tree!
Stay tuned for the rest of the story…..
We got our first snowflakes today! Overall, this weekend has been very cold, but after snowflakes flew this morning, it ended up being nice and sunny, so I went out and took a hike in an area park to get some nice autumn pictures.
Ellicott Creek in the fall.
Because it was so cold, I am thankful I got most of my yard work done when I did, even though now I am questioning myself as to whether or not I planted my spring bulbs too early this year. My parents came up to visit us (the first time since my daughter’s birthday in April– their social calendar is busier than mine), and I wanted to show my mom all my work that I had done in my back yard, and I came across this:
My bulbs are confused by the warm fall weather we are having.
I noticed that in the new extended spring bulb bed that I made, that some of them are popping up. I hope this doesn’t mean that I have lost them until the following spring. Western New York has had an unseasonably warm October, with temps in the 60s and 70s, I have even notice that my clematis and a few of my coneflower varieties have new blooms!
I just hope they still manage to come up in the spring. Good thing it was only a few bulbs and not a lot. After seeing this yesterday, I went out this morning with my daughter and noticed that the deer ate a good part of my ryusen weeping japanese maple. That depressed me a little, but I know it’s too early to start wrapping things up, so I will do the “wait and see” for the next couple of days. If it becomes more frequent, I will have to start covering things earlier than I would like.
The deer are now taking a liking to my little Japanese Maple.
Looking at this carnage somehow got me thinking about the past growing season– what I did right, what I did wrong, and I what I would do better next year.
Most Improved Duty: Watering
Yes, I must say, I worked really hard this year, especially after purchasing three trees, to make sure everything was watered. I learned my lesson last year when I didn’t water my arborvitae enough and they died over the winter because they lost more water than they had. I want to make sure everything has an adequate water supply as we go into the winter. I am even watering in the fall here, when we go without rain for extended periods of time.
What I Need to Work On: Plant Placement
Ok, so this one is kind of a misleading title. I mean, gardening itself is a process where you are constantly moving things to another place to see if does better, or transplanting because they are outgrowing their place, etc., etc. I think sometimes I get so plant crazy that I end up planting things too close together and then there isn’t any room for them to grow when they actually mature. Maybe I am just worrying too much, but I just want everything, and with such little space to plant things, I wonder if I am crowding some out!
What I Need Work On: Taking Better Care of my Containers
I will tell you I need to water these better than I do. Containers always dry out faster, and I somehow seem to neglect them. I must be better with this next year!
What I Did Well On: Creating Balance
I can honestly say that I feel I have finally created zen with everything that I have planted. It feels good, nothing is lopsided like it used to be, and it genuinely makes me happy. Even after tearing out everything behind my garage for a third time in two years, I can now say I am satisfied. I actually feel like I know what I am doing.
So, how did your garden do this past growing season? What would you like to do differently next time?
Have I told you how much I love fall?? Haha, yes, I have mentioned it before, and for good reason. The transitional season that will be ushering us into winter is so spectacular in its own right, with the leaves on the trees turning vibrant colors, you can’t help but be in awe of such beauty.
All spring and summer we takes hundreds of pictures of our gardens, posting them on every social media outlet we can, and blogging about them. But, do we ever think about taking pictures of our gardens as they wind down? I was doing some last-minute yard work this weekend — putting away my garden decor for the season, and I couldn’t help but notice the beauty that surrounded me, despite the imminent ending to another growing season.
So, here is a collage of pictures from the garden as it nears its end. I hope you take a look at yours and feel the same way too!
Fall is just a few days away, and I am not complaining about the great weather we are having. It’s finally cool enough to do things without sweating like crazy, and honestly, even though summer was hot and steamy, I still prefer milder temperatures. The one good thing about sweaty, oppressive summers is lots of beach going, and that, my friends, I do miss!
Perfect fall weather during a walk along the canal.
I will tell you it’s a lot more pleasant to get yard work done. Now that the summer has slowed down, I have been able to finally finish some projects I started in May!! Yes, remember when I wrote my DIY series — Bottle Trees? Well, this past weekend, I finally finished it! I got a lot of interest from my readers in regards to that post, so I would like to go through it step by step with you so you know exactly what I did. I can definitely tell you my bottle tree would not have been possible without the help of my friend the post hole digger!
And that got me thinking about all the tools and gadgets we may have in our garage or shed that we have no idea how to use, but can be so important when maintaining our gardens. So, I am going to start off a new series of posts all dedicated to our garden sheds, and all the great, practical tools they have in them!
The Post Hole Digger = Garden Decor Central!
This is a post hole digger. I purchased this Kobalt Post Hole Digger at Lowes. They range in price from $25 and up.
I know it looks scary, and to be honest with you, I had no idea how the heck to use this thing, and really still can’t tell you exactly how to use it. But, somehow I made it work and it works SO much better than trying to dig a whole for a post with a shovel. Nightmare- and the post doesn’t even stay up!
So, I first used it by opening it fully and twisting it. By twisting it, I push the handles outward and pinch the dirt. (As demonstrated in above photo). I keep doing this over and over until I have reach the desired depth of the hole I want.
Here I am, making this happen!
After I make a hole, I take the 8ft pine post I purchased and put a coat of polyurethane on it, hoping that this will allow it to prevent any rotting of the wood in the future.
My 8 ft. post is about to get cut down to 5ft. for my bottle tree.
I want to thank my husband for his assistance with my bottle tree. He was very patient and supportive!
Now it’s time to take the gutter spikes I purchased a LONG time ago and start drilling them into the post.
The finished product.
Now, for the bottles. I purchased mine at a dollar store. I also had some left over wine bottles.
And now, the finished product!
There you have it! I am especially proud of this one because I knew a little bit more of what I was doing this time around, and hopefully this one will last longer than the previous one I had.
Now, I know you are thinking I am a little dumb for making one now that the weather is turning cold and will eventually be snowy, but I can tell you that I made this specifically for Winter Interest— something nice and colorful to look at when its cold and snowy!
Oh, and if you are wondering what I did with that last 3ft of my pine post, wonder no more! I had my husband attach a bird house that my mother-in-law purchased for me on it and it’s now out back of my garage.
So, there you have it! Creating diy garden decor with the help of a few friends! Never underestimate the power of those dirty power horses in your garden shed!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend– we made it to the beach for one last time this season, and then wrapped our summer up with a camping trip! With the weather so oppressively hot for the weekend (extremely rare, we usually have rain and cold), I wanted to make sure we got in everything we wanted to do this summer. We did, but I have to admit I can’t wait for the slower pace of the fall. I have to wait another two weeks before I can think about staying home all weekend!
I also wanted to make a note that my blog celebrated its one year anniversary on September 4! I am very proud of myself for publishing something once a week since then! I am grateful to all of my readers who have stuck with me for the year! I had an idea for this blog a year before I even knew where to begin with it. I started this blog out of professional frustration, I guess you could say. I wanted to get back into my writing habit since I mainly do design and layout for my day job. But I figured if I was going to do anything extra, it would have to be something that I love. And, I truly do love writing blog posts every week. I love to pass along any new tips or knowledge to anybody who is just as clueless as I am about gardening. So again, thank you for taking the time to read my blog every week. It really does make me feel that I am helping someone out one way or another!
Looking forward, I have a couple posts in the hopper that I am still working on, but this week, I wanted to take you to a small, beautiful place in the southern tier of Western New York, also known as my home! Two weeks ago, I mentioned that my brother got married. The wedding took place in the beautiful setting of the Nannen Arboretum in Ellicottville, NY, also known as the “Aspen of the East”. A small, rural village that is one of the most beautiful. Here are some pictures I took on my smartphone, since I had didn’t have time to get out the DSLR. Bridal party duties came first!
The wedding venue.
It’s been quite a while since I last posted. I was out-of-town last week— my little brother got married, so that was our “vacation” for the year. So, while I will post about the wedding venue in a later post, I thought I would share some great pictures of my garden nearing the end of summer. Enjoy.
The blooms of the season. Sweet pea. Enjoy!
The Bent Trowel 