Savoring Fall! (Or, Savoring the Fall!)

It’s officially Fall and there’s much to savor. The days are shorter and cooler, and some tree leaves are beginning to come down.

Especially outstanding are the Kousa dogwood berries. The seven-son tree (Heptacodium) is spectacular. Called autumn lilac by some, its sepal-like rose calyces elongate after blooming and last into late fall.

Most of our small vegetable garden has been “put to bed” with the tomatoes, pole green beans, pickling cucumbers, peppers, and zucchinis cut down and the climbing/growing cages put away in the cellar. We don’t dig up the plants because the dying roots are good for the soil. Still performing well are the heads of our favorite “Jericho” romaine lettuce.

Before the snows come, we usually cover the beds with compost. We’ve been using Coast of Maine lobster compost the last couple of years, in addition to any home made compost that was ready.

We are missing our hummingbirds and Monarch butterflies and wish them safe travels south. We are told that the hummers may travel up to 2,000 miles to Central America!

The holiday season is fast approaching and it’s always bizarre to see decorated artificial Christmas trees for sale so early. I’ve even been told that Amazon is advertising the sale and delivery of fresh-cut trees this year!

Nice to see, however, are the ads for picking your own pumpkins and apples at local farms as well as many “harvest festivals.”

This year we had the most weeds ever, especially crabgrass. One good thing is that the birds are enjoying eating their seeds in our so-called lawn. And, the fact that they’re annuals, makes them easier to contend with as opposed to the dandelions, which are perennials.

If I get my act together, I may buy some daffodil bulbs and plant them. We’ll see.

According to the National Weather Service, our 2018 summer was one of the hottest in 150 years. Let’s hope that our upcoming winter is not one of the coldest!

Till then, I’ll keep savoring the Fall!