The Potager

The Potager

Monday, October 21, 2013


Listen! the wind is rising,
and the air is wild with leaves.
We have had our summer evenings,
now for October eves.
~Humbert Wolfe, P.L.M.: Peoples, Landfalls, Mountains, 1936

Our crabapple trees are loaded with fruit this year.
I should learn how to make crab-apple jelly.
Not being big jelly eaters, would we even eat it if I did?
I have never seen the trees so heavy laden with fruit. Does this portend a cold long winter? Or is it just because of the extra watering the trees have had since the sprinkler system was installed in the back yard?


The Montauk Daisies are full and lovely. The bush missed a cutting and has sprawled to the ground, but the daisies keep it from looking bad. How could anything look bad with pretty daisies covering every inch of it?

Our Pampas Grass has no heads this year. It is over 6 feet tall and looks amazing, but I miss those fluffy seed heads. 
The Virginia Creeper which we've allowed to climb on our fence, and spend a lot of time trying to control everywhere else, has turned a beautiful shade of red.  This is one of those plants that got away from us quickly. It was a volunteer in a potted bush we bought at a nursery. We quickly learned that if you pull it out and then throw it on any type of ground, it will root and take off. I could see this covering Sleeping Beauty's castle in no time flat. But it has no thorns. And it is a lovely vine, when controlled.
Spring is exciting, and summer is glorious, but Autumn has a very special charm of its own. 

Friday, October 18, 2013

Hello,....did you miss me?
It has been a busy summer, and now look! fall is upon us.
The marigolds have taken over the garden.
 They are spilling into the paths and should be cut back, but I am letting them have their last hurrah. They are so pretty.
We are still harvesting cherry tomatoes, but the larger tomatoes all succumbed to cooler temperatures and died away.

The peppers are still producing, as is the lettuce and the Royal Burgundy Bush Beans.
We still go into the potager daily to harvest these and fresh herbs.
It is such a pleasure to have these fresh vegetables to put into our fall stews and soups.
The beets I planted did not do well and none of my radishes came up.
I think my soil may need some serious work.
Unfortunately, I had another surgery, a minor one, that is prohibiting me from lifting, so garden work is being pushed off again.
The swiss chard is doing great. We are just tired of eating it!
The flower garden is quite over grown, with flowers obscuring the path. But it has it's own end of season charm, so it is being left alone for now.
The fall garden should be very productive, but this fall gardener gets behind every year. I really don't mind my neglectfulness. Overgrown and neglected seems just right this time of year.