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You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Garden Chat: Soft Landing

Sunday Garden Chat: Soft Landing

by Anne Laurie|  November 17, 20135:14 am| 46 Comments

This post is in: Garden Chats

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marvel FallFront
.

From faithful commentor Marvel:

The Fall garden is making its slow progress (read: not dying; not growing; just an elaborate outdoor veggie storage system).

What’s got my eye lately, though, continues to be the spectacular Fall colors available wholesale all over the Willamette Valley. It’s as though the specter of weeks on end of bare limbs and muddy fields prompts the trees to send out one last Valentine to ensure our affection through the coming dreary months — a last romantic walk in the park with a Summer love….

Makes me jump out of bed and fling open the drapes every morning, u-bet.

***********

More prosaicly, I need to do a bunch of leaf-raking (last yardwaste recycling pickup until April is Thursday) and then give the grass one more trim before storing the mower for the winter. Ergo, predictions call for the first serious rain in our area since August…

What’s going on in your gardens this week?

marvel FallMorn

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46Comments

  1. 1.

    raven

    November 17, 2013 at 5:22 am

    Nice photo’s! For some reason we just didn’t get a very good color fall this year. Yesterday I had the yard re-graded and we’ll now put the deck, stairs and fences back up and wait a year to hopefully resume our addition.

  2. 2.

    JPL

    November 17, 2013 at 5:49 am

    The leaves continue to fall here. Monday is yard waste pickup and I need to gather some for pickup. I mulch some for the garden though. Twenty some years ago when we move to the Atlanta area, most leaf pickup was finished the first weekend in November, now I’m hoping that the fall clean up will be finished by December. We’ll see!

  3. 3.

    JPL

    November 17, 2013 at 5:50 am

    @raven: Have you recovered from the game? Unfortunately, that last touchdown by Auburn will be shown over and over and over, as a reminder.

  4. 4.

    raven

    November 17, 2013 at 5:54 am

    @JPL: No, got maybe 3 hours.

  5. 5.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    November 17, 2013 at 6:07 am

    *Sigh* I was planning to do yard/garden cleanup today. Then I got a call yesterday evening kicking me down to Alabama for the day. By the time I get back to Detroit it’ll be past dog walkies time.

    Our leaves are pretty much down by this point, and with a cold snap coming in the next few days the trees will be bare by next weekend. Need to get into the ferns, annual beds, etc. and clean that stuff up.

    Oops. Gotta roll for the airport.

  6. 6.

    Anne Laurie

    November 17, 2013 at 6:09 am

    @JPL: Most of ‘our’ leaves — from trees surrounding our property — are oak, too tannic to mulch and lousy for composting even if we had the space. (The town was actually settled, 350 years ago, to take advantage of those trees; the high school football team are still called Tanners!)

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    November 17, 2013 at 6:17 am

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    Happy jet trails. Hope there’s some good food or something in Alabama for you.

    We’ve passed peak leaf in Northern Virginia. Mild weather yesterday; low hanging cloud all day.

    To make some coffee and see how weather is.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    November 17, 2013 at 6:18 am

    @Anne Laurie: I have a nice size maple in my front yard but the real gift that keeps on giving are my neighbors three maples. Two of their trees overhand my driveway and the roots have cause some upheaval. At some point the driveway will have to be replaced and the roots will be cut. It’d be a shame if one of them didn’t make it. Last June a tornado went through and uprooted a two hundred year old oak but the darn maples were untouched.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    November 17, 2013 at 6:33 am

    Please tell me why they are calling a complete defensive f-up by GA, a miracle catch for Auburn? Do they just feel bad for GA and don’t want to call it what it is?

  10. 10.

    raven

    November 17, 2013 at 6:35 am

    @JPL: I really don’t care to discuss it.

  11. 11.

    satby

    November 17, 2013 at 6:49 am

    Beautiful pics Marvel. Fall and spring are my favorite months. I finally finished all my “summer projects”; we have mild rainy weather today and tomorrow after 6 inches of snow earlier this week. So today I’ll finish the “fall projects” and be all ready for winter. And spend all winter planning to be more on top of things next year.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    November 17, 2013 at 7:11 am

    Do enjoy Marvel’s pics and updates.

    It’s foggy in NoVa. Subdued fall colors through a light grey scrim. Dark decks and tree trunks.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 17, 2013 at 7:11 am

    One of these days, I will finish cleaning up the garden and get a layer of manure in. One of these days. Got a break in the weather now. 15 degrees earlier this week, gonna hit 73 today. Winds at 20-25 with gusts to 40. Lousy deer hunting weather for opening wkend. That’s OK for me as I don’t hunt anymore but all week long I will have to listen to the whining.

    Got the grade beams poured for the cold storage room, now I am pouring the floor, 3′ x 3′ at a time. Would have been nice to have a truck bring it in but it is too small a pour, just a little over a yard. I’ll get there.

    Electric keeps cutting out as the wind blows the wires around. Wonder if I’ll be firing up the generator today.

  14. 14.

    Gindy51

    November 17, 2013 at 7:12 am

    Most of our trees have lost their leaves and with 50 mph gusts forecast with our newly arrived cold front, whatever is left will be off the branches pretty soon. It’s supposed to get up to 69 and plummet overnight to the low 40’s. VERY soupy and windy already and it is the perfect recipe for tornadoes and damaging winds. You’d think it was spring or something. I mowed in November for the first time, ever, no matter where we have lived (CA, UT, TX, VA, KY, IN). The garden is a distant memory and was not all that great due to so much rain in the spring. We had early blight and it made our tomato yield one eighth of what it was last year. Great year for peppers, though,

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 17, 2013 at 7:29 am

    @raven: Look on the bright side. A week from now you will be able to rub my face in the egg-laying Mizzou is going to partake in down in Oxford. Never underestimate the power of Mizzou to disappoint. Just when I begin to think something special might be happening…

  16. 16.

    mikej

    November 17, 2013 at 7:43 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: They’re much better at basketball.

    When did Google add these emotes to my keyboard????⁉

  17. 17.

    Greg

    November 17, 2013 at 7:46 am

    Leaves in central Illinois, yes. Russian Kale is holding its own and the cold snp sweetened them up considerably. Chard is doing, well OK. I’m playing with late turnips to see how long they can go. Ginko tree “fruits” are down. I now know what caused dinosaurs to go extinct.

  18. 18.

    carbon dated

    November 17, 2013 at 8:14 am

    Purdy pics, Marvel. Now I’m inspired to find a bottle of Willamette Valley vino for today’s football viewing.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 17, 2013 at 8:18 am

    @mikej: Past few years it’s “One and Done” in the tourney. I continue to have faith in Haith but we’ll see how long that lasts.

  20. 20.

    R-Jud

    November 17, 2013 at 8:22 am

    The summer squash finally gave up the ghost, but I’m still fighting with the slugs for my share of the chard and dino kale. There’s a mess of apples on our Bramley tree which we’ll be picking today. Things continue to flower: the nasturtiums are aglow; the climbing rose has new buds. However, the frost and snow we’re expecting Tuesday and Wednesday should put paid to all that.

  21. 21.

    Botsplainer

    November 17, 2013 at 8:22 am

    The first night of my paid for vacation will be spent not in lovely St Lucia, which is already paid for, but instead in some shitty Atlanta hotel.

    Delta sucks ass. They were dicking with soft soaping and keeping us in seats, and let a workable ATL flight slip away.

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    November 17, 2013 at 8:35 am

    @Botsplainer:

    Yikes. Sorry to hear that. When you jetting out for sunnier shores today?

    Let us know if you have any “emotional support animals” on your flight.

    NYTimes most emailed story, and it’s a hoot.

    [A 29 year old writer/humorist and her tiny dog are living large, all over the world. The dog can do this because] Luna is certified as an emotional support animal, a designation under federal law that allows her — if so desired — to sit on her companion’s lap, instead of being in a cage under a seat, where regular pets must ride. And at a time when airlines are flying at near capacity and charging for seemingly everything but peanuts, Luna rides free.

    … “It’s out of control,” said an American Airlines flight attendant, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly.

    The attendant, a 30-year airline veteran, recalled one passenger whose dog, while not big enough to throw a saddle on, filled the entire seat area, its paws and tail spilling over the arm rests.

    … She did not approach the passenger about removing the dog from the cabin because it was perfectly acceptable where it was.

    For that matter, so would have a cat, a monkey, a miniature horse or even a potbellied pig, if they were certified. The Air Carrier Access Act allowed for emotional support animals to be taken on planes, broadening the American Disabilities Act, which recognized service animals in public places, said Robert Farr of the Pacific A.D.A. Center.

    I have not flown for a while, but what are you guys seeing on airliners these days?

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    November 17, 2013 at 8:36 am

    And I’d still rather find Luna sitting next to me, rather than a bankster, a Tea Partier, or a human with questionable hygiene.

    Article from the NYTimes’ business section.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 17, 2013 at 8:42 am

    @Elizabelle: Crazy people. Lots of crazy people.

  25. 25.

    nancy darling

    November 17, 2013 at 8:44 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I live south of you in the Arkansas Ozarks. I am planning to buy a generator. What do you think of gas vs diesel?

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 17, 2013 at 8:52 am

    @nancy darling: Diesel stinks, but it is far more efficient and far easier to maintain. If you can keep it downwind I would go with it. But if I had to have it right next to the house? No way. My wife gets migraines and especially from strong odors (some women’s perfumes at work drive her nuts).

  27. 27.

    Southern Beale

    November 17, 2013 at 9:02 am

    Started the fall clean-up but put off cutting back those flowers which were still blooming. Finally got a cold snap last week though so I need to cut back the lantana because it’s all dead now. Leaves pretty gone on most of my trees save the one holdout which never drops its load until January.

    Probably need to put some grass seed out.

    That’s about it.

  28. 28.

    JPL

    November 17, 2013 at 9:04 am

    @Elizabelle: My son was on a flight from Chicago to Atlanta with a tiger cub. The cub entertained the passengers with his roars.

  29. 29.

    nancy darling

    November 17, 2013 at 9:08 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thanks!

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    November 17, 2013 at 9:15 am

    @JPL:

    Wow. The best I can do is beagles in the cargo hold.

    Was the cub in cargo?

  31. 31.

    gvg

    November 17, 2013 at 9:20 am

    Oranges aren’t ripe yet but getting close. Tomatoes are done. Pine trees starting to drop needles which I have to rake for mulch. North Florida fall color is starting but one reason we don’t appear to have much is the species have all different times for color and aren’t concentrated. Maple now, Shumardi Oaks usually around February.

  32. 32.

    Elizabelle

    November 17, 2013 at 9:22 am

    @JPL:

    And speaking of cats, non-domesticated: a latest addiction:

    The Metro Richmond (VA) Zoo’s cheetah-cam.

    Five cubs born to a first time mother on October 6.

    At this very moment, mom is eating and the cubs are piling upon each other as they wait.

    They have a night vision camera too.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    November 17, 2013 at 9:22 am

    @Elizabelle: The cub was in the aisle in the back, in a kennel. My son couldn’t see him as much hear him throughout the trip.

  34. 34.

    JPL

    November 17, 2013 at 9:25 am

    @Elizabelle: Definitely cute. Schrodinger’s cat needs to see that.

  35. 35.

    Elmo

    November 17, 2013 at 9:38 am

    Thick, thick fog here in SoMD. Piles of leaves everywhere and I don’t have the energy to pick em up. So down to the basement for video games.

  36. 36.

    tybee

    November 17, 2013 at 10:08 am

    @Greg:

    yes, quite the lovely scent, eh?

  37. 37.

    Gretchen

    November 17, 2013 at 10:24 am

    @Anne Laurie: @Anne Laurie: @Anne Laurie: @Anne Laurie: Oak leaves aren’t good for composting or much? Why not?

  38. 38.

    chopper

    November 17, 2013 at 10:41 am

    today is garden cleanup day. getting the kinder to help raking and setting out new plants, weeding and going over the irrigation system.

    putting out broccoli, kale, peas, lettuce. winter in the central coast is gonna be great.

  39. 39.

    WaterGIrl

    November 17, 2013 at 11:03 am

    Marvel, I want to live in your house with that beautiful window and the amazing view.

    What is the tree on the left in the photo with the chair and window view?

    After 5 months of construction to repair my house after my huge silver maple fell on it, I am now to the point that I am considering what trees to plant in early spring. So I’m especially interested in knowing what that tree was.

    One tree I am considering is the seven sons. Anybody know anything about them and have a recommendation either way?

  40. 40.

    Marvel

    November 17, 2013 at 12:23 pm

    Gretchen: Oak leaves take a long time to break down, so while they make good mulch, they aren’t good candidates for composting (because when everything else has turned into sweet, loamy wonderfulness, the leaf bits will still be brittle little leaf bits).

    Watergirl: That screaming coral wonder is a dogwood. Breathtaking, huh?

    PS — these colorful pix were taken a couple of weeks ago.

  41. 41.

    Stella B

    November 17, 2013 at 12:25 pm

    I planted broccoli for some reason this year. It’s huge and beautiful, but free of tasty flower stalks. Any ideas why? It was an impulse buy and now I have no room for chard.

  42. 42.

    Marvel

    November 17, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    Stella B: Stress caused by heat or drought can stall head development in brassicas (e.g., broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower). I’ve had cauliflower stall out on me a few times. If the plant’s healthy and you have a way to protect it from the worst of Winter, you might end up with beautiful broccoli heads early next Spring.

  43. 43.

    cckids

    November 17, 2013 at 1:01 pm

    Here in S. Nevada, we are having the fall that just. won’t. end. It is still in the 70’s & 80’s, though nights have been cool-ish. We’re still getting tomatoes & peppers, the mint is going wild, I have so many Serrano peppers I could launch some sort of attack. The leaves have not even begun to turn.

    I shouldn’t bitch, but man, I am ready for winter, or what passes for winter here.

    I’m so living in the wrong place.

  44. 44.

    Violet

    November 17, 2013 at 1:59 pm

    I took pictures a few weeks ago of my garden and just haven’t got them off the camera yet to send them in. Living in a warm climate, we’ve got a different perspective on fall. It’s finally cool enough to get out and do something in the garden–well, not so much today, which is hot and humid.

    Marvel, your photos are amazing. I do miss fall colors. We get a smattering some years, but mostly the leaves just fall off.

  45. 45.

    JustRuss

    November 17, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    Heading outside to rake some of those colorful Willamette Valley leaves (gum trees, mostly)to cover the weeds popping up in the ever-shrinking yet-to-be-finished sections of our yard. At least it’s not raining…at the moment.

  46. 46.

    Anne Laurie

    November 17, 2013 at 5:51 pm

    @Gretchen: As Marvel said, oak leaves take forever to break down in compost… and when they finally do, they’re really acid. That might not matter in some areas, but our soil is too acid already (the azaleas love it, but even blueberry bushes struggle).

    And they’re really really slippery on concrete and asphalt, too, so they’re dangerous to us humans in wet/icy/snowy weather!

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