The spurt of dry and warmer days that we've recently experienced made it possible to get most of the garden cleanup done. There are still lots of locust pods hanging on but most of the leaves are down. If we have time and energy we'll do a little more raking, but all the critical jobs have been done.
None is more important than protecting all of our outdoor garden pots. Some of these are used for focal points in the garden and are displayed without being planted up. Others hold water or mostly foliage plants. But none of them can be left with soil in them or sitting out where they could fill up with snow and ice which would make them freeze and crack.
Once upon a time we used to bring all of our pots into the house for the winter. We'd put a few in corners in the living room and library and bedroom. Now and then we even put one up on a pedestal for added drama. The rest found a winter home in the garage.
But over time we've accumulated too many large pots. So we've started to leave the biggest ones in the area where they will be displayed in the summer. They get emptied out, turned over and usually raised slightly above ground level. They've come through the last few winters that we've done this with no problems.
All of the "smaller" pots are sheltered out of doors on this shelving unit on the east side of the house. Nice to know the garden is ready for winter and we don't have to work outdoors in miserable weather trying to finish up fall projects.
Everything looks neat and tidy. All here is also ready for what winter brings us.
Posted by: Lisa at Greenbow | Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 06:42 AM
I always figure if we make it through Thanksgiving with no bad weather, then we've passed the first hump.
Posted by: Linda Brazill | Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 06:50 AM
Just settled down for a long winter's nap! Nice that you got to do all of this prep work in pleasant weather. Once again I'm reminded of how lucky (lazy) we are here. Most of our pots can stay outside all winter.
Posted by: Peter/Outlaw | Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 09:04 AM
One winter I nearly forgot about a big brown (empty) pot that would have frozen and broke for sure, since it was full of water. Luckily I dumped it, and turned it over as you show, just in time.
Isn't it a good feeling to have the prep complete? This weekend we'll clear the gutters and I've got a couple of dig/take cuttings things left to do but things are winding up here as well. Looks like we might get our first freeze next week.
Posted by: Loree / danger garden | Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 10:15 AM
They're predicting light snow for next Wednesday but that's too far away to worry about.
Posted by: Linda Brazill | Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 10:35 AM
Well done for getting everything done. I didn't achieve that but I have drawn a line under it for this year. Sadly the soil has become just too difficult to work. Perhaps we'll get a winter dry spell.. well I can dream.
Posted by: rusty duck | Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 10:43 AM