Helen, I have begun cleaning up my neglected beds and kitchen garden. I have already put away one hose and will do the rest this week. Since I don't do pots, I won't have much in that area to take care of. I do have a flat of daylily seedlings I need to plant now.

I really should get all the garden tools and have DH clean them and oil the handles (he is a good detail man...I am not!)

Well maybe the weekend forecast will motivate me to get some stuff done outside. It's going to get cold. Today is pretty though. Hope everyone is getting a chance to enjoy it.

Getting firewood in woodshed, and hoping SIL will haul hay before long. Still have hoses to put up--and I want to put cages around potted blueberries again, I fill them with pine needles.
Started taking in Hummingbird feeders yesterday, and had a very insistant little girl clinging to the last feeder-guess I'll leave her's a bit longer.
Hate to have frost, my surviving Dahlias are just now coming on strong.

I went out this morning and planted the new mums and most of the daylily seedlings that have been surviving in 6-pak containers. Most were Grape Magic seeds and one Joan Senior. I have 3 or 4 more to do and then all the potted stuff will be in the ground.

Ceresone, my dahlias have set new buds but I doubt they will make it open.

Happy to report the soil was nice and moist about 6 inches down....all except the front foundation which is always dry.

I guess it's time to start thinking about cutting back and bringing in the large patio pots of gardenias, hibiscus, etc. I just posted a request on greenhouse forum for a good soil drench (insecticide) to use before I bring them in. Anyone here have any ideas? I've never done this drenching.

I have a feeling we're going to have a cold, windy winter. Hopefully no ice, and just pretty can-get-around-in snow, please, for us all.

Hope all our things outside don't get damaged tonight and the rest of the week nights. But I am SOOOOO ready to stop taking care of gardens!
Sunny

We need the ice to kill all the ticks, chiggers and plant pests. I would much rather mother nature took care of them than have to spray in the spring. If you can't get around in the snow and ice you're living to far north.
I brought all the tropicals in last week except for my giant EE planted in my flower bed.

The others did fine outside at 35 degrees. Forecast looks good for the next 10 days. Hopefully I will still get a few more tomatoes blushing before a killing frost.

I have been seeing several light reddish brown woolly worms....should be a mild winter? I need to check the persimmons. Be fun to see if there is anything to those old sayings.

I am still working on garden cleanup. That's what a two month hiatus in gardening will do for you....lots of overgrown weeds.

I think I am going to like the little electric chain saw for yard work. I have already trimmed the broken branches from the cherry tree and cut down some elm saplings and ab out half the old apple tree.

The three light frosts didn't seem to hurt most things.

Taz, can you just leave the caladiums and elephant ears in the ground down there? That is what always keeps me from planting them; I know I won't dig them up.

Yesterday I saw a solid-color brown woolyworm like you saw, Glenda -- looked it up and according to no stripes, solid color, no black on it, we should have a mild winter! How about that?! I sure want to believe it.
Sunny

Yes Glenda, they can be left in ground if the soil drains good and if you mulch heavily. I have a friend that leaves them out. Unfortunately this bed gets lots of rain and doesn't drain well so I will be digging them up. I'll be amending the soil next spring so I can leave them there in the future.
I've been seeing some orange and some black and brown striped cats myself.

Sunny, I;ve seen wooly worms this year all black, all tan, and with different widths of bands. I guess that means all bets are off!

Hope we don't get ANY ice this year, we lost so many big, old, valuable trees in the last big one. Plus part of our house. It was a real disaster. I welcome all the snow we can get tho, it's good for the garden and the plants! I grew up in Michigan so I can get around in the snow. Ice storms are a different proposition altogether, not good for anything except to cause accidents and raise insurance costs, not to mention electric bills.

Ice has nothing to do with "Heating" costs, the temperature does. Insurance costs will go up anyway because of greedy CEOs. There's no such thing as an accident, it's all about cause and effect. Ex. Cause: Tree is too close to house. Effect: Tree branch goes through roof.
BTW I had a tree branch go through my convertible top (2008) because I left it parked under the tree during the ice storm.
Yes I'm an idiot. Sorry for the rant. Haven't slept in over 36 hours. Last gasp, going to bed now.

I don't like the ice either and I just stay home when it snows. I don't drive in either, but lots of people have to get out in it to go to work or lose their jobs. I think it does cause accidents. Also ice ruins the electic lines and causes outages. When my mother lived here on oxygen ice was a big fear. I have a wood stove and save water in the bathtub, but some things just require electricity. We don't get to pick only wish. So I also wish for no ice and very little snow.

During the last ice storm, our electricity was out for 2 weeks, and even tho our furnace is gas, the thermostat runs on electricity. So we had to buy a kerosene heater to keep the house minimally warm so we could stay in it withoout freezing. The cost of the kerosene was astronomical for those two weeks. 2 yrs later, we decided to put in a gas fireplace in case it ever happened again. How quickly people forget! It was nearly impossible to find a gas "fireplace" heater! They were nearly all electric.....and what happens when the electricity goes out? Hmmmm. We did find one, finally, and installed it. We're ready!

As for there being no such thing as an accident, we ARE in tornado alley. Then it doesn't matter where you park your car, or where your trees are. We can't control Mother Nature, we can only control what we can do to prepare for the results of the weather, and maybe not even then. Lightning, hail, violent storms, heavy snows...we are truly at the mercy of the weather, and it has no mercy.

A Generator or 2 and a supply of gas at the house is the best way to prepare for power outages if electricity is that important. Other than that having a gas or wood stove will keep you from freezing. The only thing important I have here that's electric is the water heater so I'd have to heat water the old fashioned way to bathe or do dishes. You don't have to worry about the food in the frige going bad because when it's that cold you can pack it into ice chests and set it outside. I am lucky to live near town and in an industrial area so I've never been without power for more than 24 hours even when others close by were out for 2 weeks. You'd think it would be the opposite but industrial power is the first to be restored. It's funny that big business power is more important even when the employees are off work.
Before the 2008 ice storm apartment buildings used to advertise "All Electric" with BIG signs out front. LOL I haven't seen one of those signs since.
Yes Mother Nature is the closest thing that I can think of for the meaning of the word "Accident". Otherwise it's just a made up word by those trying to escape fault. It's better to be careful than say "Sorry, it was an accident" later.

Oboy, Helen, I'm with you on driving out on ice and snow. And I can really get into "siege mode" when there's a weather emergency.

I wonder if I should have not discouraged my mother about fitting the wood-burning fireplace to gas logs -- that is coming back to haunt me now that I would probably have trouble getting down (and up) on two replaced knees to light a fire and keep it going. What do you think -- is there enough heat from gas logs to consider them? It seems it would be an awfully expensive way to heat when the electric is out.

Also, I wish I knew where the well pump was, but have a friend who is a dowser coming sometime to find it. Hope it's not under the compost pile!

We just got sewer service in Silver Creek so no more septic system, YEA!

On another thread, Beerhog said let's "get this thing on fire" and I chuckled because I had never heard that expression. I like it. lol

Is anyone else having trouble getting their gardens/yard cleaned up because it's just so warm and lovely lately? If I wait too long, though, winter will fall on us like a load of bricks and boy, will I be sorry!
Sunny

My friend's daughter had a gas burner installed in her fire place. She is on natural gas so it was not hard to do. They hired the install. I don't like that it is the non vented kind. I don't know much about them but I would want a vent. Anyway they put it in because she was cold during the ice storm. This gas heater has flames that you can see and gives out warmth enough for her living room. She was very happy with it. Make sure the heater needs no electricity at all as her main gas furnace required electicity for the fan and was not working in the ice storm. To clarify on the "set this forum on fire thread", I am perfectly aware that I am not a woman of few words. I just was at a loss for that brief moment.

We put in a fireplace heater with gas logs, it sure puts out a lot of heat! Needs no electricity, which is what we wanted "just in case" but it is also great for the ambiance on an ocasional cold winter evening. Ventless, but all you need to do is crack a window. We didn't have the option of a "real" fireplace.

Sunny, You got sewer in Silver Creek! Great, wish we did in Dennis Acres, we just spent the week digging up lateral lines that were full of roots. And they WERE under the compost pile, LOL!

Sandy

I think we are having perfect, for me anyway, weather for garden cleanup. I spent a couple of hours yesterday with my new favorite garden tool, a little 6.l lb. electric chain saw. The well house bed had lambsquarter and elms saplings and a couple of poke weeds about 7 foot tall. I got them all cut out and then hit it with the mower set on highest cut. Now just need to use the string trimmer to get it really nice. I think I will till it up in the center.

One more bed that needs some work is the Cellar Bed. It isn't too bad though.

I mowed the Orchard Garden for the last time (I hope).
I have a couple more hoses to drain and put away.

I am feeling much better about getting caught up now.

Still have the jungle kitchen garden to attack. I cringe thinking about all the weeds that have gone to seed.

I do not recommend becoming disabled for two months during late summer!

So Glenda is your problem resolved or do you take medicine that helps? I hurt my back last week but it was just muscles from reaching too far; I do not have arthritis. I am better now; earlier in the summer I lifted rocks and hurt myself. Mine is all self inflicted. It is very, very dry here again. That is not a big issue because the plants are dying back anyway, but dry cycles kind of make me uneasy. The young trees and shrubs probably need to be watered. I am going to mow my walnut leaves; there isn't much grass because it is dry.

Glenda I didn't know you'd been hurt. It's impossible enough to keep caught up on everything without a setback like that.

Mine was not an injury. I just woke up one morning and couldn't raise my arms above my head.....I began a regimen of taking 6 coated aspirins daily....thinking arthritis...then that got better and my hands swelled and hurt, particularly my left hand (I am left handed).

After seeing Urgent care who sent me to a Primary Care doctor, both tossing around the scary term rheumatoid arthritis, I saw a rheumatologist. He says no to the RA, he tentatively diagnosed me with Polymyalgia rheumatica. He eventually put me on Prednisone (steroid)a very low dose. He said it works like a wonder drug on my thing.....not for me. My left hand began hurting 24/7.Finally it took the most painful shot ever of cortisone in my swollen wrist. By the next morning I was well! I haven't felt this good in years and years. I am hoping it will last. It took two months and about 6 trips to various doctors. I am keeping my fingers crossed! I was supposed to stay on the steroids until I see him again, but I have weaned myself off....steroids are not a good thing. I won't share this info though.

Glenda,You should talk to Peggywho, my sister, who has had similar weird smyptoms. She thinks it is chemicals they put in every thing even when it isn't on the label. If she follows a strict plain diet she is OK. There are dyes and preservatives ect. in everything. Some people are more sensitive than others. Hopefully though your problem is cured.