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Putting plants to bed for the winter

October 29, 2012

I hope everyone had a good weekend. For anyone on the East Coast I’m sure your weekend was filled with hurricane preparation and I’m crossing my fingers for all of you that it’s not as bad as they say it’s going to be.

I made these pumpkin banana muffins this weekend and they are amazing. And even better they are little health bombs. There is no sugar in them at all, an entire cup of flaxseed meal and whole wheat flour. And the “fat” in them is coconut oil, which I think is supposed to make me live to 150 or something like that. Anyway, the recipe is from Dana Slatkin who runs Shutters on the Beach uber chic boutique hotel in California. Her cookbook The Summertime Anytime Cookbook is one of three cookbooks I use regularly. The other two are Julia Child’s The Way to Cook and The Joy of Cooking so she’s in good company. Anyway, try those muffins. (And if you’re interested in more recipes that I fancy, you can check out my Food board on Pinterest, but be aware not everything on there, like the cosmopolitan Jell-O shots that I just pinned, is quite as healthy.)

When I wasn’t playing Suzy Homemaker this weekend, I was trying really hard to get my but in gear on cleaning up the garden. The first part of that was leaf management, which thankfully is handled almost exclusively by Mr. Much More Patient who mulches them all up into little bits for the compost bin and their own pile for use as mulch later one.

The first item on my garden agenda was tucking away what I call “the forgotten plants.” These are all the things that didn’t get planted during the summer. Although I know that technically you can still plant at this time of year, I’m not a huge proponent of it. I feel like plants just don’t have the opportunity to put out any real roots in their new spot before they are tested by the Midwestern winter so I prefer to keep the forgottens in their pots and heel them into the ground until spring. I discovered last year that the raised veggie garden is the perfect place to do this. The soil is very easy to work so it’s no problem to sink them, then I just fill up the beds with leaf mulch. When spring comes, I can pull them out, work the leaf mulch into the soil and plant them when the ground is workable. Of course, that’s not always how it works out, especially since I know I stick a few of those pots in the ground for at least the second year, if not the third. Oh well, they’ll have big root systems by the time I finally get around to planting them.

Plants nestled into the veggie garden for the winter. Throw on a layer of leaf mulch and they are good to go.

I also found a certain amount of irony in how beautiful some plants were looking, even as I cut them down for winter. I don’t cut back all my perennials in fall, just the ones that get particularly floppy or are prone to reseeding themselves. I like to leave some things, especially grasses, standing for some winter interest, but at the same time I don’t like making more work for myself when cleanup time comes in spring. Last week, a nursery owner speaking to our master gardener group said that he cuts all the perennials back in fall but leaves all the plant material on the ground to act as a mulch. In fact he never cleans it up, allowing it to compost in place. That’s too messy of a proposition for me, but the concept of letting the material lay in the garden over winter is interesting. After all, a lot of people add evergreen boughs to the garden after Christmas to act as mulch after they spent a lot of time pulling out all their plant material.

These are a few shots from the Instagram file. Funny how looking at a photo of something sometimes helps you appreciate its beauty more than just looking at it in the larger environment.

The fringe tree seems to be hanging onto it’s leaves longer than any other tree in the yard. When they are this beautiful, that’s a really good thing (plus it is very late to leaf out in spring).

The gingko is starting to drop it’s leaves but they are the most wonderful golden color right now.

I cut all the hyssop back mostly because it was just too floppy to stay, but it was still beautiful. As I carried it out to the compost pile I thought that I should have trimmed the blooms and brought them inside instead.

What beauty are you finding in your autumn garden? Or is it mostly just mushy hosta leaves by now?

fall Instagram vegetables
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
3 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

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Comments

  1. Modern Mia says: October 30, 2012 at 12:23 am

    The last of our fall veggies are starting to get to the harvest time. My roses are fading fast. We are in the midst of a 3-day cold snap that will take out any remaining plants. My cheap and hardy-as-Hades sunflowers refuse to give up the ghost.

    I love the picture of your ginkgo tree. I just found out this week that they will grow in my zone and I'm so excited to get one next year.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says: October 30, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    What a timely view for me. I had thought that I was a horrible gardner because I, at times, end up with extra plants come fall. Wahoo! I can just sink them into my garden and cover them. Thank you! (I still have a clematis…i'm so ashamed :()
    My zone 7(North Central Idaho) is slowly, but surely, going to sleep. I have been taking note of which annuals are holding strong so I can introduce them into my year-round containers. So far, these have lasted thru a few hard frosts and will, most likely, do okay on my deck butted up against the house.
    Kent Beauty Oregano, Solenopsis Blue Star(this one's still putting on buds and blooming, what a rock star), Diascia hybrid(all colors), Persian Shield, my new favorite Flamenco Cha Cha Cuphea, and, Bourbon Leaf Copper Plant.
    I've also considered getting a Ginko tree, they're beautiful.

    Reply
  3. LINDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD says: November 1, 2012 at 9:54 pm

    I cut down a lot of things that were looking good to take advantage of some nice weather for working outdoors. We still have lots left to do and here it is November. Think i got so tired of the heat that i really lost time at the end when I should be prepping for winter. Also have bulbs still to plant. Bad gardener!

    Reply

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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
In a few days ‘Rosy Teacups’ dogwood is going In a few days ‘Rosy Teacups’ dogwood is going to be absolutely spectacular. There are so many bracts!
I just love doubledile viburnums that present thei I just love doubledile viburnums that present their flowers on a serving plate all neat and orderly. This is ‘Shoshani,’ which I got from Classic Virburbums.
When choosing plants for a container I think it’ When choosing plants for a container I think it’s best to start with one “hero” plant. It can fill any role in the container, but it should be the one that’s non-negotiable in your mind. The one you love the most. Then work from there to decide what plants you need to make the design work. For me, and in particular when it comes to this urn in the middle of my patio garden bed, which is a riot of color and texture that borders on chaotic, texture is the key. So I designed this container with an out-of-box hero plant (Lemony Lace elderberry) and then chose a few other plants to create a simple but bold design that will stand out from everything happening around it. See the whole design and how I chose the plants in my video today (easy link in stories).
On the far edge of the property there is an only l On the far edge of the property there is an only lilac that in our 20 years here has done nothing more than produce a few sporadic blooms. The other night I looked out and saw it full of blooms (well, more than it’s ever had) and immediately made myself a bouquet. To be honest they are almost too fragrant. I need to have a window open to have them inside or it’s full-on Yankee candle (an apt description borrowed from a friend). I absolutely love them in this mustard vase from @wakefield_handmade
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