is this louisville or orlando?!
but i love it, because the gardening season this year has been extended by almost a month past our expected frost date. (generally, we get a frost here the first or second week in october.) and, even though my mom and dad out in shelby county have had several frosts, i haven't had really even one down here in germantown. my summer flowers actually are reblooming and looking better than they did in july, thanks to the cool night temperatures and warm sunny days we are having lately! nonetheless, you know that one morning we will all wake up to frozen puddles of water, white frost on our cars, and mushy black dead plants all over the yard. so, be prepared. here is my general, brief list of what needs to be happening in the yard in the next week or so, so that when the unseasonally warm weather leaves us behind, you won't have a lot of chores to do outside in the freezing cold damp november weather.
all the terra cotta, ceramic, or stone pots outside need to be emptied of dirt and turned upside down. this is to prevent any moisture from getting into microscopic cracks in the pots, then freezing and thawing. the expansion then contraction will cause your pots to break into pieces all of a sudden. this happens to me every single winter...it seems there's always one small pot tucked away into a corner that i forget about until it cracks into a million pieces. same goes for your birdbaths, fountains, whatever-- anything that holds water.
if you have something you want to keep planted up all winter (like the fir trees i keep on my front porch, for example) you can either a) use a pot made out of wood, metal, or plastic. b) put the plant in a plastic pot sitting inside the pot you want to use. this way, the dirt that holds freezing and thawing water is not directly against the porous walls of the ceramic or clay pot. also, do not let it sit directly on the dirt on the ground. use it on a patio or porch, or sit it on pot risers or a concrete block.
another thing i do now is cut back all the spent summer foliage. anything that will not live through the winter or is looking crappy, dropping leaves, etc (this does not include trees or perennial bushes. don't chop those off!) i go ahead and cut back or pull up. this makes my yard look neater and eliminates a lot of the slimy black leaves that will be all over your plants after the first hard frost. you can leave big grasses and bushes the way they are to add some winter interest to your yard. dig up any cannas, banana plants, elephant ears...any tropical bulbs will need to be stored somewhere cool and dry for their winter dormancy until you plant them back outside in may.
anything in pots that you are not bringing inside (like some of my herbs, giant hanging ferns, baskets of petunias and other annuals) all get dumped out and the pots need to be stored. i dump the dirt, plant, and all, right over my raised bed to insulate the soil until spring. (don't do this if the plant in the pot had any kind of fungus or disease.) stack the empty pots neatly outside, or hose them down and bring them inside if you have the closet space or a garage to keep them in.
be really vigilant right now about harvesting every veggie you can. a hard frost can hit at any time right now, and you want to save as many tomatoes, peppers, eggplants etc, as you can. chard, spinach, lettuce can actually survive a light frost for a few weeks, so you don't have to worry as much about getting all of that kind of produce inside and on your plate as soon as possible. you can pick unripe tomatoes and let them ripen on a windowsill or make fried green tomatoes with them :) i watch the weather forecast and temperatures VERY closely this time of year.
also, if you have cute candleholders, votives, lanterns, etc-anything with glass- outside, don't forget to bring those inside as well. they will fill up with rainwater and when it freezes, it will break the glass just like your pots and birdbaths. i bring in all my hanging glass candleholders, run them through the dishwasher, and hang them over my bathtub for winter candlelit baths. it's better than trying to find a spot to store them in my tiny house!
good luck closing down the season. it's sad to see summertime leaving, but its also important to have downtime to let your soil rest and get some good gardening magazines to do some planning for next spring! it's a hard lesson for me to learn, but my garden needs rest and so do i. another blog coming soon! enjoy the pretty weather today :)
