For the Garden that is…sniff, sniff….

Spring time is my favourite time in the garden.  I get to play in the warming soil, carefully prepping and planning what I am going to plant where.  The days fly by into Summer and then I am cursing how fast the herbs can grow.  Soon, I am able to start harvesting tomatoes, peppers and lettuce and the herbs are shoved to the back of my mind, until they rear their green tentacles once again to menace the garden.

Serrano Peppers!

Fall arrives and brings with it that nip in the air and I spend days and days picking, sorting, canning, processing, cutting and tying up herbs until I am ready to waive a white flag in surrender.

October 1st arrives and I survey the garden and realize….  It is finally done.  Finito. Kaput.

WAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

BUT I AM NOT READY TO LET IT GO YET!

But Mother Nature is telling me it is time to chop, pull and yank everything out of the ground and toss to the compost heap. 

Fine. 

I hate it when she’s right.

After one of its many brush cuts, it ‘looks’ ok…but don’t turn your back on the mighty Sage-Brush!

The one thing I was looking forward to though, was finally, FINALLY, banishing the mighty ‘Sage-Brush’.  This thing has been in the ground for 3 summers now and had gotten HUGE.  Even with regular brush cuts, it came back each time with a vengeance, threatening to take over the garden.  I grabbed my pruners and started hacking away, saving 4 good size branches for my GangUp Challenge and tossing the rest.  Wow, there were a lot of stems in this plant, the bottom 4 inches of the plant was a mass of brown, woody, tough stems.  Then it was time to get the shovel.  Heeheehee, I giggled with glee, MY turn to uproot your life you fuzzy, green-leafed blob!  I dug and I dug and I dug, and finally, it popped free from the ground, desparately trying to hang onto the ground with every last root.

I WIN!

Next year I will start a new one, but this time it will stay in a pot like my other herbs.  They just grow so fast, like dandelions in May.  All the other herbs that were in pots this summer were placed in their winter resting spots once the toms and peppers had been cleared out.

I dug each one a hole, about 8 inches down and sat the pot into the hole, backfill with dirt, mounding up the sides of the pot and then mound mulch on top of the dirt.  There, all set to ride out the winter in their cozy beds until they are released next Spring.

Left to Right – Lavender, Oregano, Mint and Rosemary

I take the Thyme plant out of the rectangular window box it was in and decide to plant it in the ground.  Thyme creeps along slowly, not as vigorous as Mint or the Sage.   So I am hoping it doesn’t try to take over the garden next year.  The other annual herbs were yanked out of their pots and composted.  Basil, Parsley & Chives said bye-bye to the summer.  Although I did keep a few sprigs of Basil for bruschetta in the next day or two.

Thyme

I take the hanging flower baskets down and empty their contents into the compost heap, they didn’t do so well this year, too dry and hot for them.  I may forego them next year at home, but keep them at the Homestead as the Hummingbirds love the Fuschia I plant in them.

So that’s it, everything ripped out and gone for another year, leaving behind an empty, brown space.  It looks so forlorn.  I will miss playing in the garden….but, in another 4 months or so, I can dig out all my little starter pots and get my seeds planted for next summer.  Something to look forward to in the dark, chilly days ahead.