still gardening in november and don't plan to stop

13 years ago

Well just a note to say hi to all. I am so happy I am still able to garden. The weather was sunny and bright with a high of about 59 F. I do love the South! I know the real cold will come (teens and even some single digits) but there are still days even in January when the sun will be shining bright, and when working I won't feel cold, even on a cold day. Today I planted pansies, deadheaded knockout roses (I leave some hips on some roses but the KOs are still blooming). Cut back some stuff that froze last week (coleus, cannas, lantana), turned (3 piles) and watered the compost (from the rain barrels that we'll have to drain soon) and used some in the gardens. There is one more pile mostly leaves.

Yesterday I mulched mowed the lawn and the leaves that had fallen. Not all have fallen yet. The crape myrtles, Bradford pear, and others are still on and very colorful. We have pretty nice fall color here in north Ms. I am constantly on the lookout for bags of leaves and other organic matter I might use, and I am reclaiming a strip of grass in the very back of my yard, where I don't want to mow; I am using lasagna method with newspaper and grass/leaves. I am happy that over the last couple of years, mostly last year, I have put in evergreens to enjoy in the gardens, so that things are not just bare. So the yew, camellias (starting to bud and bloom), pieris, mahonia, pyracantha, viburnum, nandina, cleyera, mophead, holly are beautiful. I am enjoying the fall colors of the forsythia, nandina, burning bush, abelia and more. I also bought more good birdseed as the regulars and the ones who winter here are visiting. And I'm fixin' to take a drive on the Natchez Trace to bring my dtr's friend home. The Trace is lovely in autumn.

Laurie/Louisianagal now in Mississippi

"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each." - Thoreau

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

gardenweed_z6a
13 years ago
I sure envy you that drive along the Natchez Trace. Here in shivery New England, the leaves are mostly on the ground waiting for the leaf blowers to get them off the grass & onto a tarp so they can be hauled away to the compost pile. The trees stand naked like threatening features in a cartoon about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and it's dark before 5 p.m. If I get home from work before it's pitch dark I go walkabout searching for seeds to harvest from my perennials. Every few weeks I check the seeds on my neighbor's dwarf pieris--I'm determined to harvest & winter sow them along with St. Johns wort & spirea that I harvested from another neighbor's shrubs.

It no longer surprises me when I get home from work in the dwindling daylight and there are seeds shoved inside the storm door with a note from someone asking me to "grow these for me." In another scenario, there are dahlia tubers or canna rhizomes in large sacks set beside the door with a note telling me to save them, plant them or give them away. I should hang out a shingle that says, "Horticultural Salvation Army drop-off."
girlgroupgirl
13 years ago
I do my "heavy" work all fall and winter. This year it will be moving and breaking my "rocks" (pieces of concrete) and stacking them and filling the areas with really nice organic soil. Got a bit more cutting down of plants to do (cut them up for composting!). I have a ton of plants to move that don't mind transplant in winter weather either, and I also start winter sowing. Winter is often quite a "heavy" gardening time of year for me. I love it! It never stops.
Related Professionals
San Juan Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Dudley Landscape Contractors · East Lake-Orient Park Landscape Contractors · El Mirage Landscape Contractors · Hayden Landscape Contractors · Plantation Landscape Contractors · Ringwood Landscape Contractors · University City Landscape Contractors · Vineyard Landscape Contractors · Franklin Roofing & Gutters · Greenwich Roofing & Gutters · Murfreesboro Roofing & Gutters · Wilmington Roofing & Gutters · Eau Claire Siding & Exteriors · Marion Siding & Exteriors
natal
13 years ago
For me it's the best time of year to garden. I don't have to overload gardening days ... it's a more leisurely time. In the past month I've accomplished a lot of cleaning up, transplanting/relocating, and replacing summer annuals with snapdragons, violas, and pansies. I still have to pot one more container of pansies and then start thinning the larkspur seedlings. Next month I'll sow English peas in the kitchen garden.
bev2009
13 years ago
We are suppose to have a few more warm days, so I got busy today and cleaned out some gardens along the walkway. It was in the 50's, perfect gardening weather for me. I don't do heat and humidity well, so I understand you zone 8 people gardening now. I'll be planting 200 bulbs tomorrow and if I have any more energy after that, I clean more beds. I really want to get the hosta's cut off and cleared out, it is suppose to help with the slugs!
natal
13 years ago
Bev, your post reminded me of a late October visit to my mom's home in Ft. Wayne years ago. I think temps were similar the day Dh & I weeded and edged her beds and planted a bunch of bulbs. By the time we finished we were both chilled to the bone. My mom had cooked the most wonderful Polska Kielbasa and sauerkraut dinner for us. It hit the spot!

I don't do heat & humidity well either, but living down here I'm stuck with it. ;) Have you ever tried Sluggo or Escar-Go! for the slugs? It's safe and it works!
tkhooper
13 years ago
"Horticultural Salvation Army drop-off." I love it lol, that is just great.

Well I'm still sowing fall seeds and I still need to move a few things. then it will be mulching up the leaves for the flower beds, adding more leaves to the compost piles and saving up so I can rent a mulcher for the tree limbs that are from the select cut. At least 99% of the fire wood is stacked and that's a good thing.

I love being able to garden all year round.