Fall Cleanup

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You know what I love about carrots? The fact that they can stay in the ground as long as it doesn’t freeze. They outlasted the plague that went through our family,  all through the month of October and were ready and waiting for me to harvest the remnants in November. They weren’t as sweet and new as they were this summer, but they still tasted better than store bought, and actually, inspired me to try parsnips next year, which are the best when left late to harvest in the cold ground.Frost actually improves the taste because it increases the amount of sugar in the roots.  And, I really, really love parsnips.

So the garden was cleared out, and we moved on to the flowerbeds. My little helper loved pulling out all the dead gladiolas.

But then she started pulling them out bulbs and all, and I had an idea.

We are trying to dry out a few of them and store them in the dark over winter to see if we can grow them again next year. People have and do actually do this every year. I am going to pack them in some peat moss as soon as they are dried a bit more.  It is definitely not something I will do every year, it is a heck of a lot of effort and time for bulbs that cost cents apiece, but for an experiment with the kids, sure, why the heck not!

And then once everything was cleared out, I planted my fall bulbs.  I didn’t get around to replacing the wooden edging around the garden bed, that will be my spring project, to put higher wood around and make it an even more raised bed this coming summer.

All in not, not bad considering how sick, tired and busy we’ve been the past month! All I have to do is get this birthday out of the way, and then it’s alllll Christmas alllll the next 5 weeks!