Already?

It seems ridiculous to say, but the cooler weather of early September has taken me by surprise. Last night I was perusing my garden, doing the daily just-ripe tomato pick, and noticing the new chill in the air that has just settled in this week. In the middle of summer when everything is just bursting to grow new life, it seems impossible that it should all come to and end. But here it is, almost true autumn, and I’m pretty sure I’ve picked my last cucumbers off the vine.  Almost time to start the clean-up as I put my last winter veggies in – collards and january cabbage that I picked up Saturday at a plant sale in Richmond (we were out there for a wedding, so I stopped by to see what was on offer for fall planting).

I ordered a little more garlic yesterday – and am thinking of a run over to Gardenworks to see what’s on special as people turn away from gardening and into their homes. We’re going to plant our boulevard this fall (with help from a grant that we received for a project called Boulevards Alive) – and I’ve got my eye on some cranberry and huckleberry bushes that I’m pretty sure will do well in our shaded front. I’m not decided on a garden plan just yet, but since we’re getting our soil in a couple of weeks, I’m going to be working on it this weekend. It’s a good excuse to go to the garden store anyway.

In other projects, I’m preparing a spot to move my raspberry cane to in the early spring, and I’ve got a top-bar-hive to get built, and hopefully we’re going to get started on our frontyard permaculture project as well in October. Just as long as it doesn’t start raining too early – I should have lots of time to wrap up my summer garden and get some work in that will make next spring just that much easier.