Last Sunday, we planned to rake up our leaves into a larger holding pile to use for winter composting. The wind had other ideas as the storm front moved in. We abandoned that task, but the Lazy Berkshire Gardener enjoyed how the ripening milkweed pods spread seed like crazy.
Want milkweed in your garden? If you plant it, you will always have it—you have been warned. Yes? Then gather pods of milkweed from wild roadsides. Once they dry, crack them open on a windy day and enjoy how the silky down carries the seed yards away to find a new match of earth.
Back to the leaves, watch the weather and try to schedule your leaf-gathering on a dry, windless day. Wet leaves are heavy, and wind-blown leaf piles are a nightmare.
When you do get to those leaves, you will likely find a woolly bear caterpillar, the larva of an Isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia isabella). These ubiquitous caterpillars overwinter under leaves on garden edges. Their color bands do not predict the severity of our upcoming winter despite the myths. The width of the reddish brown band gets bigger as the caterpillar ages. Still, they are fun to find and are not venomous or a garden pest. Do be careful when holding as the hairs can cause dermatitis in some.
I enjoyed a beautiful weekend outdoors last weekend, and this upcoming weekend should be the same.
Fall temperatures make for great conditions for vigorous weeding or sod cutting of new flower beds. Do a mix of hard labor but also enjoy peaceful, contemplative design this coming weekend. In my case last weekend, I had to cut away some overgrown pathways between raised beds. The weeds hid access tunnels for voles (photo from last week). I dug out all the bits of grass and ground ivy and then I laid cardboard down as a temporary “kill” measure. I want to dig down and lay pavers between the beds this fall.
Fall is the right time to use herbicides and other cultural methods to halt weed growth.
In my designing mode, I selected part-sun locations for more daffodils (five groups of 10), and I chose spots for my caged tulips. I have not planted tulips lately because of the rodents. I decided to follow my own suggestion and made cages for the tulip planting. My first attempt came out completely wonky. The measurements were off, and I rushed through the project. I used the cage anyway by smashing the edges together a bit. No vole will get in there! I am lazy but not wasteful!
I am pleased that I found a full-sun/part-sun location near my home entrance to bury the cage. I did not want to do all that work only to hide the tulips out of view. Here’s hoping they all flower next spring! I made a second cage to proper dimensions and will wait to plant that next weekend. I was exhausted after the first one.
I had one happy discovery when I dug out a spot for the tulip cage. I pulled out a significant rounded stone, probably 18 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches! That rock is now a featured element in my front border.
This upcoming weekend, garlic will go into the raised bed for next summer’s harvest where I had cucumber and zucchini growing this summer. I have about 50 cloves to plant (from 10 bulbs), and that will be plenty for our cooking needs for a year.
A few veggies remain in other parts of the raised beds, and I watered those even though I knew rain was coming. Cooler temperatures slow vegetable growth, but the soil is also very dry. With regular watering, the late-season seeds have yielded lettuce and cilantro to freshen up our recent meals. It is a fine time to plant winter rye in empty garden spaces. However, I saved that for a colder day when I don’t want to do other things.
I have more perennials to cut back, but I typically spread that task out over a few weekends while the color holds. Removing everything can seem so final, and then the landscape looks bare. My goldenrod still stands loaded with seeds. I will wait another month before I knock it back halfway to the ground. Stems will remain for overwintering insects, and the seeds will not go far. Keeping the seed heads aloft now makes them more accessible to migrating birds.
I love what staff at Ward’s Nursery have done to keep their ornamental grasses interesting and tidy. Eva and Garrett collaborated to gather and braid sections of the grass clumps. The braids work as a binding element. Garrett formed the braids from grass blades gathered at the base. Once he braided the blades, he wrapped the clumps with the braids and tied them off to a stake at the back. You could also gather the braids into an elaborate tuft. Beautiful and practical!
Finally, I had a surprise last week. My white rose bush rebloomed! This huge rose has been here for decades before me, but the beetles devoured it this past summer. Well, it persevered and the latest frost did not affect it a bit. Fresh buds have opened for a fall bloom. That is a happy reminder that roses do not need to be pruned back until spring. Prune them to shape and cut off any winter dieback when you see new growth, typically in April. Prune in fall and you just might miss a lovely flower!
I call myself the Lazy Berkshire Gardener because I don’t want to work too hard in my gardens. I want to enjoy them. I find it easier to observe my landscape and let the compost happen, the water pool up, or daisies to self-sow. I look for ways to do the minimum task for the biggest impact. For example, mulching is better than spraying and much better than weeding all season. I look for beautiful, low-maintenance plants that thrive in or at least tolerate my garden conditions. Plus, I am willing to live with the consequences if I miss something.
