PERSONAL NOTE: The post below was written last week on Sunday. All ready to go for Tuesday. I was so proud of myself for being organized and ready for the week. I would review it on Tuesday a.m. and post. I have no idea what happened on last Tuesday. It did not get posted! Darn!
- Yes, I am retired,
- Yes, I have time in my day,
- No, I am not overly cleaning my bathrooms the house it is still mostly clean but not crazy clean so that is not taking my time.
I have no excuse. I just didn’t get it posted. My kids were in town from N.Y, there was a family dinner that day but there was time.
Six years into retirement and I seem to have let lose. I have let the days navigate themselves. I have walked away from my paper lists, and the pressure to complete so many tasks a day. I think it is a good thing but there is a point of holding oneself to ones goal and commitments.
So I will try to be better. My personal goal was to write at least once a week if not twice and to always comment at Two Writing Teachers on Tuesday. So I will try to tighten up my ship and get back to steering things a bit straighter down the river.
Here is the last weeks post:
I know this garden writing must be getting old for everyone but it is where my thinking and my heart is these days. Minnesota did a quick turn from fall to winter this week and offered up a Sunday morning of snow and chilly weather. This made those of us who garden jump up and get busy. No more long walks in tunnels of colored leaves. It is time to get that garden put to bed for the winter months.
So today being the first day with a bit of sun, and no rain I was out
- pulling out the last of the carrots,
- taking down fences around the raised beds,
- cutting and pulling out the annuals,
- clearing the clay pots and dumping them and placing them in storage up by the house
- mixing old potting soil into the veggie raised beds for next year
- dead heading the wilted flowers
- trimming back herbs and pulling anything that looked usable inside
- breaking up sticks from the last storm
I finally realized my back was going to hurt tonight so I stopped for now. This work was just in the front gardens. I still have mowing to do, the cutting and clearing in the back perennial gardens and then the bulb planting to do.
My hope is that I will plant bulbs on Thursday – I hear it is suppose to be sunny and maybe up to 60’s. ( Ah a bit of summer!) Today was cool and crips and I worked through the very wet beds and pots. I am tired but it feels good to be out in the fresh air with dirt under my finger nails.
I am not sure what I would do without the changing of the seasons. The temperature changes, the color change in trees and smaller plants, the light change as the sun slips south, the sound and smell of fall leaves and fires are something to not be missed.
It is a lot of work but life would feel off kilter to me if all those tasks were not before me each fall. 
So this is a quick good bye to fall and a hello to cold weather. The winter wonderlands that are just around the corner.
Words from JL 
I certainly know what it’s like to have a Slice or two or three ready to post and then let Tuesday slide without having done it. And I also know what it’s like to be (mostly) retired and still not have anywhere the time to get done what I want to get done. Your garden slice makes me both envious and relieved: it would be so wonderful to have my own vegetables and herbs ready to cook, yet it does seem like a lot of work, especially after a cold spell. Did you get your bulbs planted on Thursday?
Yes I got all 150 bulbs in and then I sat down with a small glass of wine!
I can totally understand. I have not yet posted today. Although we were out all afternoon I had time this morning that I could have used more productively. I didn’t. Well, the night’s not over yet. I will think of something to write and get it posted…after I finish my commenting.
Love keeping up with your garden. Congrats on getting in those bulbs.No time for me to post today, maybe next week. The mention of pulling out the last of the carrots reminds me that a friend has been leaving her carrots so that grandson Jack and I can pull one up. He loves the book, The Carrot Seed. Hoping I can remember it when he’s at our house on Friday. I can’t believe you’ve already had snow.
Either can I – it is a bit to early! We are expecting rain and cold for the rest of this week. I do hope it is only rain! I am not waiting for 5 fern plants to arrive so I can get them planted quickly. I think I over bought this summer when looking at new plants for the yard.
Just a small glass of wine? You worked hard enough to have earned much more than that! 😉 I can relate– I have been out until dark for multiple days in a row, trying to beat the winter rains and get an unexpected gardening project done. I should say, done *enough*, because that’s what I am, a “good enough” gardner. My right shoulder, the one the doctor says isn’t 18 any more, is complaining tonight, and I’m sure my husband gets tired of having me track dirt into the kitchen. But there is something about dirt and digging and growing things…. Thanks for your gardening tales.
Your welcome – yes I am always in trouble from bring dirt into the house. Just like when my kids were little.