Catching Up

The Garden Since the end of June

As far as I'm concerned, Autumn has not really arrived in Western Massachusetts. The calendar says so and the mornings have been quite cool but until we get a good frost, there is still some of summer's work going on. Even as we are beginning to watch the leaves turn to color.

Next weekend, I think it will feel much more like Autumn and we should be optimum leaf peeping weather. Hopefully with sunshine. 

I attempt to catch up since the last time I posted here at the end of June.

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. 
May Sarton 

June

July

August

September 30, 2012

(rainy and mild all day)

There's still plenty of basil to make the last batch of pesto.

Quince jam?  I'm not sure I want to tackle making jam. Perhaps when I turn sixty.  ;-)

A few days ago, I brought my potted plants in. They'll get cut back but I want to see if I can keep them alive for the winter.

And here are the feet of your truly, with signature messiness. 

:-)

Memorial Day Weekend - Getting Ready to Plant Annuals

Wayne cut the rotting legs off the old picnic table and I decided to salvage it by turning it into a plant stand. This is the before photo. Wait until you see the after!

I went through the garden shed and found this old wooden ammunition box to plant into. 

Another shed find was the kids' old Radio Flyer wagon which we used to bring the herbs and flowers out to the back yard.

A retro plant stand is brought out for reuse for the first time in decades.

After a couple of coats of paint and some things planted in pots and arranged.

Way After
The most recent photo of the plant stand.

Back to the Garden

 We've neglected to plant vegetables, in favor of flowers but this year decided to put some tomato plants in. Next year I'd like to add a few more veggies.

 There are only a few roses blooming at the moment. This is a mini rose bush that my daughter gave to me on Mother's Day a couple of years ago. I need to think on what to plant that will bloom and bloom through July and August. In New England, of course. Any suggestions?

Now I sound like a dotty old garden lady!  ;-)

It's been years since I planted a pumpkin seed. I'd forgotten how much room they take up!

The Messy Gardener Visits Emily's Garden

I do so frequently, from spring to autumn, as Emily Dickinson is my neighbor to the south, in the town of Amherst. Her father's house a museum now, its garden is still very much the way it was in her lifetime. Sitting on the stone bench in the garden to try to steal a bit of what it may have been like for The Belle of Amherst, has become a sort of personal ritual. Perhaps next time I visit I won't forget a volume of her poems to read!

Nature, the gentlest mother,
Impatient of no child,
The feeblest or the waywardest, --
Her admonition mild

In forest and the hill
By traveller is heard,
Restraining rampant squirrel
Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation,
A summer afternoon, --
Her household, her assembly;
And when the sun goes down

Her voice among the aisles
Incites the timid prayer

Of the minutest cricket,
The most unworthy flower.

When all the children sleep
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light her lamps;
Then, bending from the sky

With infinite affection
And infiniter care,
Her golden finger on her lip,
Wills silence everywhere.

~ Emily Dickinson

Photos from Today

 I made a bouquet of peonies, roses, mint and ferns from the wooded areas of the yard.

It didn't occur to me to take a "before" shot but you should've seen the tangled mess and old oak leaves in this bed along the back of the house. At least I can now envision what I can plant there. I was thinking gladioli. I planted some for the first time along one of the other large beds. I want to see how they'll do. 

We put in tomato plants in with the flowers and herbs this year. The gladioli bulbs are to the left of the these. A week later, I've not seen anything grow up from the ground that indicates the glads will grow well.