Bulb planting continues for me. I’ve been a bit pokey about it this year, just because the lack of a mid-fall warmup has me running a bit frantic in the garden. There’s lots of cleanup to be done, and some jobs, like digging dahlias seem to be taking longer than I planned.
I have about 150 more bulbs—daffodils and alliums—left to plant, but I’ll whip through them quickly with the bulb auger. I finally made a better video on how to use a bulb auger, which you can watch here or below, or you can check out this post.
I got a pleasant surprise a couple weeks ago. I learned that I’d been named to LawnStarter’s list of top blogs for 2018. Some of my favorite bloggers are also on the list, and it’s always nice to be in such good company. Check out all the winners here.
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Last weekend, while procrastinating on doing a few less-than-fun garden chores, I started playing around with some colorful leaves. It was part of the Leaf Stack Challenge, a fun little time occupier created by the hosts of the Plantrama podcast. Check out some of the amazing leaf stacks posted to Instagram and Facebook. It’s a fun way to really savor to the all-too-fleeting color.
‘Acontifolium’ provides such amazing color in all shades.
If you’re yearning for your garden already, please check out this review by my friend Linda of Life in the Garden and Life in the Garden, both by Penelope Lively. I will absolutely check these books out.
I’ve shared a lot of Deborah Silver’s work here before and continue to find her garden design style very inspirational. My favorite posts on her blog are those in which she walks readers through the design process, like this recent post.
I’m taking a break from fall this weekend to attend a family wedding in a place with palm trees, sandy beaches and, with any luck, a great deal of sunshine. I’m not going to lie, I’m ready for a big shot of Vitamin D.
What’s happening in your garden this weekend?
I feel like I am behind in bulb planting also since we have not had a killing frost yet. I have tulips to plant in some large containers but the summer plants in them are still looking good. May get to do it Thanksgiving weekend which I have done before. Finally getting some fall color in the trees and each morning when I go out with the dogs I can see a difference.
Wow! Is that a particularly late autumn for you?
Thank you for letting me know I,m not the only one to finish bulbs later than I was happy with. I just put my last two dozen. When I couldn’t face the thought of kneeling down to open up twenty four more holes, I took may spading fork and opened four places where I planted six tulips each in a small circle, spaces fairly close together. After sprinkling with moth balls to keep the squirrels out, it was easy to replace the clump of soil I had removed and tamp it down with the flat part of the spading fork.
I love digging a hole and just throwing a bunch of bulbs in. I think it leads to a nicer look in the garden too.
Have 11 bags of chopped leaves to use for winter mulch once the ground freezes. Now just need to finish cutting things down and doing more raking. I planted my bulbs a bit early; too afraid to wait and see what the weather might do. Love that leaf stack. I would get the Penelope Lively book from the library if you can unless you really like literary garden books. my current favorite is Tovah Martin’s latest one which I think i also wrote about a while back.
I think I still have that Tovah Martin book on my list from the last time you write about it. Sounds like you’ve got your garden in pretty good shape!
Clean up. Clean up. Seemingly endless amounts of clean up. It’s the best I have every done, but I still have a long, long way to go this fall!
I feel the same way. Why does it feel like there’s more to do this year?
Very helpful article, Thank you for sharing. I love you