October 2022 - First Fall Cleanup

Never plant more than you can weed.

~ DMF

I love hoverflies. This is an Oblique Streaktail (I think) on a loofah blossom (volunteer).

Mom and Dad are always with me in the garden. So many lessons were learned (or ignored - don't tell). Mom loved wildflowers and added them to her garden beds long before anyone talked about "pollinator gardens." She gathered seeds, spread them, and successfully grew them among the more common landscape plants - basket flower, Queen Ann's Lace, Gaillardia, horsemint and so many others. Her yard was stunning (and she won the "Garden of the Month" from one of the local garden clubs a few times.

Daddy had large vegetable gardens and grew many things I've not even thought of trying (Brussel sprouts to name one). I think of Daddy whenever I'm picking anything. I've still got tomatoes, peppers (4 varieties thanks to the generosity of my friend GL), onions, chard, okra, shallots, and herbs growing well. The cabbage loopers have attacked the broccoli and cauliflower plants. <Sigh> I'm not giving up and check on the poor holy leaves. I've prepared a shaker with diatomaceous earth and keep the plants "dusted" as best I can.

Dad's garden was orderly - rows of veggies. He used a big rototiller. I haven't a clue about his fertilizer or any insecticides. He was not an organic gardener, but I imagine he would have embraced it today.

They worked hours in the garden every week. No lazy gardeners they.

So, it was time to channel my parents and get some work done. I headed out into the garden in the cooler morning hours to finish off the wild sunflowers (at last). I'd left them in the wild garden as the birds and bees were happy with them. Among the creatures I've seen seen in the sunflowers this summer were wrens, sparrows, goldfinches, hummingbirds, all kinds of bees, spiders, and bugs. Because of concerns about some bird illnesses with feeders, I thought it best to leave the volunteer sunflowers until the end of the season.

But what a mess! The sunflowers had taken over such large sections of the wild garden. As I cut them down I discovered gaillardia, bachelor's buttons, Anacacho Orchid tree, and a few other plants stunted by life in the shadows. After piling up the sunflowers I thought I should remove some of the other "self-seeders" that will likely give me trouble in the spring - basil, tropical sage, and a variety of weeds I'd missed.

I piled the branches and roots into a good sized pile and then remembered the young fellow who mows would arrive some time on Saturday. I'd need to get up early and clear the lawn. Hurrah. [Company - visitors and workers - are a blessing. They keep me somewhat organized.]

It was a morning of work and discovery. Frank reappeared! Paths were cleared. Lists were made of future pruning. There's work ahead, but I'm done for today...4 large bags of waste as well as an armload of trimmings for the compost pile. It's always a challenge to figure out what can stay in the pile, what can be dropped on the garden floor, and what must be hauled away.

Here are a few views of the garden and the work. There is so much more work to come.

That is not a tree. That is the trunk of the common sunflower. I had no loppers or clippers large enough to cut it smaller. The roots had to be individually snipped.