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The garden is beginning to shut down

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It feels like it’s gotten so cold outside! I think that’s only partly true though. I’m sick again with fever and sore stomach so I’m just freezing, even inside my own home!

Looking outside at the garden that I don’t dare walk in when I’m feeling this cold indoors I can see that the leaves from the big maple tree have begun to fall over the lawn and garden, and some of my plants have started to die down.

Those that are shutting down for the winter include the balloon flowers and the Phlox. As I mentioned in earlier posts many of my flowers are still going strong, although I suspect they won’t be for much longer!

We still haven’t had any frost … or at least I don’t think we have, certainly we haven’t had any hard frosts, but I expect within the next week we’ll have our first. That might be the only thing that shuts down my roses! I swear they want to keep blooming and blooming. Silly plants!

Some of my visitors have mentioned in comments that their gardens have been hit by frost already. How is everyone else’s garden fairing this first week of November?






Have you ever thought of using a professional landscaper?

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I know that many of you who read this blog have lovely gardens that you’ve worked on for years. Others are just starting out and some of you would eventually love to have a beautiful yard, but you’re still trying to figure out how you’d like your landscaping to look.

Have you ever thought of contacting a professional landscaping company? The company that I’m writing about today is called Leisure Landscapes and they service the Triangle area of North Carolina.

I’ve written about landscaping in past articles. Some people contact a landscaper and are provided with landscape design ideas that they can then either approve and have the landscaping company begin work on their yard, other people pay to have a landscape designer come to their home, provide design ideas that would work with their layout and their gardening zone and then begin the design projects themselves. In the last case they’ve just payed the landscape company for an opinion and design ideas.

Most landscaping companies provide a variety of services such as the installation of patios, walks and walls, landscape lighting, gardens, fountains, decks and arbors. Many will also install fences, lawns, irrigation systems, ponds and even plant small to large trees on your properties. I believe most landscaping companies also offer a maintenance service to keep your newly landscaped yard looking lovely. Certainly Leisure Landscapes provides all of these services and more.

Do think about contacting a landscaping company if you want to revamp your property and create something special.

Do you put mulch on your garden beds?

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If you’ve been reading my garden stories you know I was a very very bad gardener this year. I didn’t complete my summer gardening tasks until last week! Those tasks included adding a three inch or so layer of shredded red cedar mulch to my garden beds.

Time and time again I’m amazed at what a difference mulching the garden came make. If you use an attractive mulch it makes your garden beds look nicer. I find it also makes your garden look tidier.

Other benefits of mulching include:

  1. It cuts down on weeds and the task of weeding since weed seeds can’t penetrate the thick mulch easily.
  2. Mulching helps hold the moisture in the soil so you don’t have to water as often.
  3. Mulch helps keep your plants roots cool.
  4. I find fewer animals digging in my garden beds when they have a good layer of mulch.
  5. Plants look healthier.
  6. It’s been said that red mulch placed around Tomato plants reflect certain light rays back at the plant and actually help make tomatoes grow better.
  7. The mulch eventually breaks down in the soil and adds nutrients for your plants.

Since putting mulch down we’ve only watered the garden twice and the plants look great. I did rain on Sunday though so you could say the gardens had three waterings. Prior to adding the mulch the plants were wilting in the hot summer heat within two days. The soil was just drying out too fast.

Now my plants were fairly healthy despite the lack of care I’ve given them this summer, but still, I can see an improvement in how they are withstanding the summer heat in the short time that the mulch has been down on the garden beds.

I’m not new to mulch. Ever since I put my garden beds in six years ago I’ve been putting mulch down on the garden beds by the end of each June. This is the first year that I did it so late and I won’t ever be late again. It really helps!

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