Those freezes really toasted all the annuals and encouraged the last of the ash and first of the birch/hickory/sassafras leaves to fall.
It was too cold to work outside the end of last week, but by Monday the afternoons were sunny and decent.
So Monday (after 3 loads of laundry - I always let it go to the very last minute) I got out and mowed the front and side yards not so much to cut the grass, but the chop up the leaves as much as I could. They were a tad moist so I left them lay for a couple days. (pic 1)
On Tuesday I really went at the near beds (new veg, crab, 2 zins and the butterfly bush) and removed everything I could. I didn't have the heart to clip back the catmint, though. Its still blooming and filled with bees. (pic 2)
Then I cleaned the gutters and even applied a coat of TWP to the deck table. (oops, no pics)
Today (Wednesday) found me bagging up all the now dry leaves (14 bags) from the front/side yards and spread them around on the cleaned beds. (pic 5)
That took me way less time than anticipated so I headed back toward the golf course and cleaned out the 5 raised beds back there. *woof* Those things were just awful! I'd really let them go this summer. (pic 3)
Well, they're cleaned out now. There sure was a lot of debris between those back and the front beds. There are no perennials in that pile, just zins, and marigolds. Gosh there were a lot. (pic 4)
There are still the middle beds to do. Oh joy...
Anyway, I'm sorta caught up and ready for the next round of leaf drop. Might be tomorrow. There's a warm front (a little rain tonight) and then a big cold front tomorrow afternoon with high winds and even tornado potential.
I'm not liking that one bit. I hope it's more hype than happening.
Looks like the warnings cover a large area so I hope that you aren't one of the targets.
I'm whipped. These last 3 days of nice weather made me feel that I just HAD to spend every minute I could cleaning up outside. I was a real wreck Monday night, but *knock wood* I seem to have caught my 2nd wind. Too late. LOL I've decided to take tomorrow off and spend some time with Mom.
All work and no play makes Kris a kranky kid. Hope the storms pass you by.
You sure have gotten a lot done.
ReplyDeleteI finished my leaves, but still have 12, 356,222,399 alyssum plants (and a few other annuals) to pull /shred/compost. The darn things look so good edging a bed, but when it comes time to get rid of em,.......ARGH!
Have a great weekend and enjoy the "mom" time.
I had a few alyssum at the other house (around the pond), but compared to YOUR load, not all that much. Here I used to try and compost all my debris, but now I the big cleanups to the township where they compost it for the parks. Even only composting kitchen scraps and summer weeds, I've still got bins of finished compost at the ready. Lucky you, we'll be working on leaves until December around here. Hope you have a nice weekend too! :-D
DeleteWow! you got a lot done.
ReplyDeleteYou deserve some down time and I know your Mom will enjoy having you spend some time with her.
Yep, a lot done. It was the initial 'big' Fall cleanup. The rest will have to get done here and there as weather dictates. Mom and I enjoyed a nice couple of hours - got her a hair cut then lunch here and some good chat (all while my car was being fixed - gotta love that multi-tasking gene :-D).
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