Frost Warning

Last Sunday I received an alert on my cell phone that Wellesley was expected to get a frost that night.  I knew what I had to do that day besides watching football - get all of my porch and patio plants inside before nightfall.  Luckily, I have my husband to help - I cannot easily move the hibiscus, lemon tree, agapanthus or mandevilla.  I was able to move the orchids, Christmas cactus (it should be in bloom by Halloween),  and fuschias  into the house.  The geraniums that I keep on my front steps went into the garage.  My amaryllis plants that had been summering in the shade of a large ornamental grass were also brought into the garage.

Here is my one small lemon that I hope will grow big enough to be used.

I hope that this mandevilla is happier in my sunny den than the one I bought last year, which languished in my not-so-sunny bedroom.

We did not get a frost Sunday night.  That is good news for me, because it means that I can still harvest parsley, rosemary, cherry tomatoes, and maybe an eggplant or two.  I also have two dahlias that are budding but have not flowered yet.  My 'Silver and Gold' Chrysanthemum Ajania has not bloomed yet, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will soon.  I still have a few plants to move and some tidying up to do.  My husband was able to spread an organic lawn fertilizer a day before a Nor'Easter blew into town and dropped several inches of rain - which we have needed.

This post is probably my last for the season, although I am not promising that I will not post once in a while, especially if I get some eggplant or my chrysanthemum blooms.

Fall jobs

Most people look at gardening in the fall as "clean up" time.  I think of it more as "evaluate" time.  There is a relaxed pace to fall days - not so much planting and weeding and watering as in the spring and summer.  The last of the flowers are either blooming or about to bloom.  Everything is established.  Here are the jobs  I have come up with after taking a long, hard look at my growing environment.

1. Move.  Lots of perennials need to be moved.  I planted daisies in my pastel section in the spring, and they are very happy.  They would look better if I moved them over to the left a bit.  The lavender that is to their right has finally established itself, and the daisies are being crowded by it.

One of my favorite plants, asclepias tuberosa, (butterfly weed) spread a few years ago.  I am going to remove the plant that is in the front of the border, and move my sedum 'Autumn Joy" to where the asclepias  tuberosa was.  The sedum has been suffering because my anise hyssop has been so happy and is overshadowing the sedum.

I am also going to move some Russian sage that is in one of my sunny borders.  The plant has a lovely way of bending and bowing over its neighbors.  I like this effect more in the back of the border than in the front, where it tends to confuse the eye.

 

2. Fertilize.  I tested my soil recently and found that the earth was deficient in everything - nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash (potassium).  I will fertilize my beds and lawn in the next few weeks with organic fertilizer, and test again in the spring.  Once I get on a more regular feeding schedule, I hope that my lawn and perennials are happier.  I bought the testing kit at a local hardware store.  It helps to have distilled water and patience; other than that, testing is pretty easy.

3. Top dress.  I bought a few bags of good quality top soil, and spread it out thinly over the really sad parts of my lawn.  Two of the sections had been leveled, enhanced, and re-seeded in the last twelve months.  I don't think I did a bad job last year, I just think that the lawn was stressed by the harsh winter, the animals burrowing in the soil, and the very dry summer.  I did not spend lots of time top dressing, and I plan on buying several more bags of top soil to dress the rest of the lawn.  I did put down more grass seed, and the grass has sprouted.

4. Water.  We had a really dry summer.  There has been some rain in the last few weeks, which helps.  I still need to water, especially where I put down the grass seed.  The trees and shrubs need water, too.  Some of my rhododendrons look exhausted.