Saturday, October 20, 2018

Gardening, soup, books not in that exact order

Since the season is winding down, and yes I know there are readers out there already under snow and some just coming into spring, anyway here it's time to Thin the Pachysandra.

It's served the garden well, always a nice bed of green under and around everything. But it does get aggressive and I have to finally get around to pulling some. This side of the path yielded five enormous armloads now strewn about in the woods, where it will create undergrowth for little animals.  It's always more work than you planned on, but there are weeks yet before the weather makes it dodgy.




But, as you see, it's looking barely touched. No danger of overdoing it. Each day I do about one armload, enough pulling and hauling at a time.  There's a newcomer ground vining plant trying to take over. It arrived originally in a planted container, then escaped and went mad. No doubt considered a pest but I love the bright color and its undaunted attitude.  So if it ducks in where the pachysandra was, I'll be quite okay with it. It trails a treat. And as I pull out the ground cover, the wild flowers show up. This is good. And I notice several volunteer Montauk daisies getting along there.

I cut herbs finally, stuffed the last bunch of the year in the freezer, delivered a bag of rosemary across the street to Michael the Contractor and artist and cook. All getting set now. I'm hoping to make space for bulbs, too, along the path. I had planned on moving the herb pots to the patio, but they had put down roots, so I thought I'd leave them and see if they grow again next year. I have saved seeds of both basils.  The thyme and lavender and rosemary are all shrubs, really, not annuals, so they can stay.

This frenzy of activity is partly a result of reading Penelope Lively's Life in the Garden. You really want to run out and do things.

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